Parashat Nitzavim-Ya'ye'lech, Deut. 29:9-31:30

Intro – The Portion in a Nutshell

This week’s portion – Nitzavim-Va’ye’lech – is one of the great examples of great quality without much quantity (“a little that holds the plentiful,” to translate a favorite Mishna saying). Though being one of the shortest in the Book – in fact, so short that these are two, very short portions combined – they contain some of the most comprehensive summaries of philosophical puzzles that are still of great interest to us today.

To recap, we are still in one of the last portions of the cycle, and hence the main theme is a summary of the relationships between the Chosen People (a term on which I elaborated in my last posting) and its God. But if last week we have introduced the ideological framework – the duty to commit the Mitzvot (orders of God) in order for God to treat you as a part of the Chosen People – this week the discussion moves to the realm of actual implementation, or compliance as it is sometimes called in legal circle. And what does the Portion have to say on compliance? Two very important things: First, everyone can do it. Second, you have to do it. Sounds confusing? Let us approach the text, which is one of the most wonderful ever written.

Anyone Can Do It

After concluding that in order to stand before God we should properly follow his ordinances, the question arise: What if I can’t do it? What if the Torah is so lofty, so complicated, so divine that the question of what to do and how to do it is simply beyond me? The text’s answer is concise and beautiful:

Deut. 30:11-13:

(11) Surely, this Instruction (Mitzvah) which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. (12) It is not in the heavens, that you should say “who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it”? (13) Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say “who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?”

Indeed, I personally always liked to hear that the Torah “is not in the heavens” (“Lo Ba’sha’ma’yim hee”). I think this is a direct message from the text to everyone who is interested in reading it. And although through the years, hundreds and thousands of years, there were always people and institutions who insisted that they should stand between the reader and the text, pretending that they alone knew what the text really means, or what it really instruct us to do, it was always very comforting to me to return to the text itself and to find this beautiful phrasing – “it is not in the heavens.” Note that the text does not stop there: For fear that other self-proclaimed experts would instruct us that “not in the heavens” means something else than it really does, the text continues: no one should “import it to us,” no one should “ascend to the heavens” or “cross to the other side” in order to really understand what it means. As written in the Passover Hagadah (in Aramaic, no less) – all that want may come in and feast. And boy, is that a happy meal…

Choose Life

The second point – after we established that we can all approach the text – is what to do next. Again, the text could not be clearer, or more beautiful in describing one of the great philosophical puzzles of all times – that of choice or lack thereof; that of free will versus determinism. And the text reads:

Deut. 30:15-20

(15) See, I set before you this day life and prosperity, death and adversary. (16) For I command you this day to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep His commandments, His laws, and His rules, that you may thrive and increase … (19) I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day: I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse, and you choose life, for you and your offspring shall live.”

This great decree – “And you [should always] choose life” – is one of deepest ever provided to us by the Torah. Even devoid of context, it requires that always, between two options, every one of us should opt for “life,” for the option that represents viability, optimism, and hope over death, cynicism, and hopelessness. But considering the context, here the choice is even deeper: It is God who put before each of us the option of “life and prosperity, death and adversary.” We can always choose one over the other – we have the power to do so; but if we are observant Jews, if we choose to be committed to our end of the bargain with God, then we must follow him and choose life. Choose the life of fulfillment, not only of the Mitzvot (religious decrees), but of your own life as you see it – because there is no meaning to life, unless you really choose to live your life in a meaningful way. And you should choose life.

Shabat Shalom.