Transcript
Okay, good morning, everyone. I want to thank our series for the parsha here this year, Becky and Avi Katz. Just saw them at the OU Torah in New York, good friends and their family, sponsored in memory of Becky's father, David Grossman, ליל נשמת דוד בן מנחם מנוס שהנשמה שלה תהיה עליה L'iluy nishmas Dovid ben Menachem Manos, she'haneshama shela tehe aliyah. Amen. Also, I want to thank Linda Gordon who sponsored this morning's specific shiur in memory of her beloved husband, Harvey, whom we all miss on the occasion of his שלשים shloshim. His נשמה neshama as well, special soul, should have an עליה aliyah. Thank you, Linda.Okay, today we have the privilege of studying פרשת נצבים Parshas Nitzavim. Short parsha, sometimes we read it together. This year we read it alone, and yet, it's a parsha which packs a punch. It's the reason that we have the custom to always read it before ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah because in many ways it is a wakeup call, both a wakeup call to make the right choices, to craft and mold the right life, but also an invitation that contains the formula and the secret for how to persevere, how to succeed in judgment. You may not have heard, in a few days it will be ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah. Way too few days. And we will, that will launch a period of 10 days of of course, introspection, self-reflection, in which not only will we be evaluating ourselves, but we'll come before the Almighty for our evaluation by Him. And if we want to pass the evaluation, if we want to pass the test, we hope to be signed and sealed for a year of good health and happiness, then פרשת נצבים Parshas Nitzavim contains within it some of the secrets or the messages for how to do that.So what do I mean by that? Let's start from the beginning, which is always a good place to start.אתם נצבים Atem Nitzavim, the Artscroll on page 1086, 1,086. 1086. אתם נצבים היום כולכם לפני השם אלוקיכם ראשיכם שבטיכם זקניכם ושוטריכם כל איש ישראל Atem nitzavim hayom kulchem lifnei Hashem Elokeichem, rasheichem, shivteichem, zikneichem, v'shotreichem, kol ish Yisrael. You're standing this day before Hashem, ראשיכם rasheichem, the leaders of all your tribes, your elders, officers, every person, טפכם נשיכם וגרך אשר בקרב מחניך tapchem, nesheichem, v'gercha asher b'kerev machanecha, your young and your women, converts in your camp, מחוטב עציך עד שואב מימיך meichoteiv eitzecha ad sho'eiv meimecha. It's the great equalizer says Moshe. There is no class system, there's no hierarchy, no socioeconomic status, everybody equally is standing here together, everyone equally is here having a portion in the in the רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam.The, we'll start, there's so many things. I don't know if we'll get past this first pasuk today. There's a lot to say. The קאצקער רבי Kotsker Rebbe. Kotsker Rebbe pointed out that the word אתם atem not coincidentally, is the same letters as the word אמת emes. Kotsker was an איש אמת ish emes. Kotsker Rebbe was a man of truth. In fact, the Kotsker Rebbe had no tolerance. He was allergic, not only to lies, blatant lies, but any, any distortion of the truth whatsoever he couldn't stand. He couldn't stand. That was the Kotsker. In fact, he had to go into hiding, not into hiding, he lived in seclusion for many, many years, focused on his own personal עבודה avodah because he was so fiery and so fierce and had such an intolerance for the human foibles and frailty and the fact that people tend to to bend and twist the truth. So he offers here a great insight. You know what's standing before God? אתם אמת Atem emes. If you want to stand upright, if you want to carry yourself with pride, if you want to fully operate and participate in society and in the world, if you want to be among the נצבים nitzavim, you want to stand upright, then אתם atem need to be אמת emes. You have to be filled with אמת emes. שקר אין לו רגלים Sheker ein lo raglayim. Lies have no legs to stand on. Truth stands firmly grounded on two legs. So said the Kotsker, אתם נצבים היום כולכם Atem nitzavim hayom kulchem. Do you know what is standing together before God? How do we operate, שבטיכם ראשיכם shivteichem, rasheichem, how do we operate? All of us, every category of society. What is the social contract that we have to have in order to function, in order to operate, in order to be one? Said the Kotsker, you know what stands? אתם נצבים Atem nitzavim. Where is the foundation from where do we draw the strength to stand? אתם Atem, from אמת emes, from being people of truth. If you tell the truth, you don't have to try to remember because it's the truth. But the people who tell lies who bend the truth, the people who offer distortions, they get caught in those lies. It's hard to remember what lie you told who and about what and how you balance it and weave it all together. So if you want to stand upright with pride and with staying power, then אתם atem is the letters of אמת emes. Once I mentioned the Kotsker, I said it last week to the women's shiur. I'll tell you because this is my favorite Kotsker. It's already quoted in הלכה halacha that we have a custom not to eat nuts on ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah. Why don't we eat nuts on ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah? Because אגוז egoz is a gematria of חטא cheit. אגוז Egoz, the Hebrew word for nut, nuts, is the same numerical value as the word חטא cheit, which is the word for sin, mistake, indiscretion. אגוז Egoz is gematria חטא cheit. So when you're planning your ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah recipes for next week, of course, don't plan any dishes that have within them nuts. That's our custom. We don't have nuts. אגוז Egoz is gematria חטא cheit. So you want to know the Kotsker? The Kotsker said, you know what else is gematria חטא cheit? חטא Cheit. Says, how many people they come to their meal on ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah, and they're not eating nuts because the nuts have a gematria of חטא cheit, but they're sitting there gossiping, they're rating the חזן chazzan, they're rating the רב rav, they're talking about their friend's hat, outfit, what they were wearing, what time they got to shul. So says the Kotsker, this is the Kotsker, איש אמת ish emes. Kotsker says, we're not eating אגוז egoz because it's gematria חטא cheit. You know what else is gematria חטא cheit? חטא Cheit. חטא Cheit is also gematria חטא cheit. So we should avoid חטא cheit. Good. Now, next, so אתם נצבים היום כולכם atem nitzavim hayom kulchem, we saw, what is standing? The Kotsker says what's standing before God is the concept of, the concept of אתם atem. Where are we standing? What's going on here? Again, they're on the cusp of entering the land. Moshe is delivering this monologue, this inspirational speech, motivational talk, trying to charge them with a mission. When you come into the land, be a model for the world, be loyal to one another, be honest and truthful to Hashem, keep his Torah and mitzvos, his prescription, his formula for a most meaningful life. And so all of a sudden, in the middle of his speech, he remarks to them, \"You're standing here today all of you.\" Where are they standing? And why is it relevant now to reference their posture, that they're standing there all together now? Why is it important that they're all together? What's going on in this long monologue that we've called ספר דברים Sefer Devarim, that all of a sudden now he's referencing אתם נצבים היום כולכם atem nitzavim hayom kulchem? Why now and why here? Let's look at some of the classic מפרשים meforshim and then I'm going to share some other ideas. So, what's going on? Rashi says אתם נצבים היום atem nitzavim hayom, מלמד שכינסם משה לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא ביום מותו להכניסם בברית melamed shekinsam Moshe lifnei haKadosh Baruch Hu b'yom moso l'hachnisam b'bris. Rashi is clearly bothered by this and he says Moshe is gathering them on the day of his death in order to for them to re-enter the covenant, to re-enter the ברית bris. We have several times that the Jewish people have entered the ברית bris. And the Soloveitchik expands on this Rashi. Says the Jew has two degrees of sanctity rooted in separate covenants between Hashem and the Jewish people. They're actually three covenants, but two of them are counted as one. The covenant at חרב Chorev with those who received the Torah, and the covenant made in the plains of מואב Moav, ערבות מואב Arvos Moav, with the people entering the land. בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael were sanctified through these covenants and the sanctity was passed on by inheritance from generation to generation. And besides these two, there's a third described here in נצבים Nitzavim. And this one applied not only to the generation but to every member of the Jewish people. That's where we're going to read, not just with you, not just with those who are standing here, but those who are not yet born, those who are not here, all those. From here we derive the original independent sanctity of every individual in each generation and every era. We thus have a dual connection with the Master of the Universe, as individuals and as descendants of our forefathers. And the Rav goes on and elaborates, we have two בריתים brisim. We have a ברית bris, we have a covenant, we have an individual relationship with Hashem. That's our private conversation. Who am I? And what am I about? What's my personality? What are my talents and skills? What are my liabilities and faults? What am I meant to contribute, the difference I'm meant to make, what legacy do I want to leave? What relationship do I have with Hashem? When do I speak to Him? How, where, and when do I feel Him speaking to me? That's the personal covenant. It's a commitment that I make in a personal relationship that I have. But we're also part of a corporate covenant, covenant. And the corporate covenant is כנסת ישראל Knesses Yisrael, the Jewish people. And that's a commitment that my parents and grandparents and great-grandparents were part of, my children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, please God, will be a part of, and it is a collective commitment. Now, this all stems from the question which unfortunately, tragically we're hearing in our time, which is alluded to in our commentators here, that when Moshe tells them, you know, not only are you entering this covenant, but your great-great-great-great-grandchildren are bound by it. And now we're at a generation of great-great-great-great-grandchildren who are saying, \"What right did you have to bind me in your covenant?\" I didn't sign on any dotted line. I didn't buy in. I didn't make that commitment. I didn't join membership. Why am I bound by this? I'm opting out. I'm opting out. I'm leaving. So, here we have a more national or global covenant than the individual one. It's a, it's binding on us in a, in a bigger way. It deserves to be elaborated on, not for now. But that's what the Rav says is where Moshe Rabbeinu is telling them and why he's gathering them once again. It's not just a feel-good moment. It's not just a goodbye tour, retirement party. This is to re-enter them into the next level of, of the covenant, of the covenant. That's what Rashi says. Who is he gathering? זקניכם ושוטריכם zikneichem v'shotreichem. says Rashi, החשוב חשוב קודם ואחר כך כל איש ישראל hachashuv chashuv kodem v'achar kach kol ish Yisrael. He is a hierarchy. He starts with the most חשוב chashuv. He starts with the board of directors, chairman of the board, זקניכם שוטריכם zikneichem shotreichem, and then he makes his way down all the way to מחוטב עציך meichoteiv eitzecha, the, the woodchopper. Rashi says, מלמד שבאו כנענים להתגייר בימי משה כדרך שבאו גבעונים בימי יהושע וזה אמר בגבעונים melamed sheba'u Kena'anim l'hisgayer bimei Moshe, k'derech sheba'u Giv'onim bimei Yehoshua, v'ze omer b'Giv'onim. When asked of Moshe, who are these woodchoppers? So Rashi says, this is an allusion to the fact that there were Canaanites who came to convert and to join the Jewish people, and that was their designation, that was their status. Although the פסוקים psukim here are very clear and very, very straight and very strong to tell us that we have to treat, we have to treat the convert as a full member of the Jewish people, גרך אשר בקרב מחניך gercha asher b'kerev machanecha. Once they convert, they're entitled to say אלוקינו ואלוקי אבותינו Elokeinu v'Elokei avoseinu. What do you mean in davening, you're going to reference your grandparents who are Jewish? You're a convert, you're a first-generation Jew. The answer is no. When the convert comes, when they join, they are a full member of the Jewish people. Zohar quotes, it's referenced in Kabbalah, that converts their souls were present at הר סיני Har Sinai too. And even though their soul was housed by a body which technically wasn't Jewish until they made that choice to opt in, but their soul is as connected to the Jewish people and Torah from the time of Sinai. And that's why בקרב מחניך b'kerev machanecha, they're part of our camp. We have most off-repeated mitzvah in the Torah is ואהבתם את הגר v'ahavtem es hager, to love the convert, to love the stranger, to love the foreigner, to love the immigrant, to love the person who has every reason to feel as an outsider. It's a very, very strong core Jewish value to not make a person feel as an outsider because we knew what that was like. We lived it. We were there. And because we've suffered that pain, we experienced that pain דוקא davka so that it would make us more empathetic, and we would therefore be able to show greater love and empathy. A convert is the same status by accepting upon himself the yoke of מצוות mitzvos, קבלת עול מצוות kabbalas ol mitzvos. So when we say אתם נצבים היום כולכם Atem nitzavim hayom kulchem, when we list the totality of the Jewish people that if anyone were missing, we'd be incomplete, among them are, among them are converts. It bothers me a lot that in the שידוך shidduch system and the world that we have, it's the opposite of the way we're supposed to behave. We have a mitzvah to love the convert, to never differentiate, to not remind them that they're a stranger, an immigrant to our people, that they've joined our people, that they converted. And you see that people דוקא davka do the opposite. It's tragic and it's a violation of our, of our core, of our core Torah principles. Why were we joined together? לאברך בברית השם אלוקיך ובאלתו אשר השם אלוקיך כורת עמך היום l'ovr'cha bivris Hashem Elokecha uv'alaso asher Hashem Elokecha koreis imcha hayom, as Rashi alluded to earlier, to join us together in this, in this ברית bris. The Ibn Ezra says, where were we gathered? אתם נצבים לפני השם אלוקיכם Atem nitzavim lifnei Hashem Elokeichem. We were gathered. So the Ibn Ezra says, where is this? סביבות הארון Svivos ha'aron, surrounding the ארון aron. The ארון aron held the לוחות luchos, the broken לוחות luchos. It's on צנצנת המן tzintzenes hamon, it held the container of the מן mon, which was evidence of the מן's mon's existence. It held the first ספר תורה Sefer Torah that Moshe wrote. Inside this ארון aron was from the ארון aron, the light of Torah was projected to the world, and we were standing around that ארון aron, also inviting us and reminding us who has access to Torah, for whom is Torah relevant and instructive, informative, inspiring? The totality of the Jewish people. From our elders to our young, men, women, and children, the one born Jewish, the one who converted, we're all around סביבות הארון svivos ha'aron, we're all around that ארון aron, because the ארון aron and its contents and the Torah are meant to continue to illuminate and to inspire and to inspire all of us. The גערער רבי Gerer Rebbe, the חידושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim has a beautiful insight. Moshe tells them, when are you standing? When? It's not a trick question, people. It's in the pasuk. When? היום Hayom. Today. When is that day? Which day was it? אתם נצבים היום Atem nitzavim hayom. So a simple understanding is it's every day. We stand together united every day. And that's exactly what the חידושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim says. He says, איזה היום eizeh hayom? Which היום yom? Which when is the היום hayom? And is when are you נצבים לפני השם nitzavim lifnei Hashem? When are you standing in front of God? You want to know when you're standing in front of God? Only when כולכם ראשיכם שבטיכם זקניכם שוטריכם כל איש ישראל kulchem, rasheichem, shivteichem, zikneichem, shotreichem, kol ish Yisrael. When you're part of the whole Jewish community, and when you care about every Jew, and when you don't neglect or dismiss or marginalize or judge or eliminate or create barriers or see yourself as different, only then. So the אתם נצבים היום atem nitzavim hayom, when is it you're standing, when is it today you're standing before God? Only when on that day, you're כולכם kulchem. You feel united and unified. You feel part of the Jewish people. That infighting, that divisiveness, that judgment that's offered, who you're like, who you're not like, who you'll never be with, who you'll never be like, that is a barrier, not just to our own interpersonal relationships, that's a barrier to a relationship with Hashem. And it makes so much sense. I say this so often. All of the relationships that we have in our lives are metaphors for our relationship with Hashem. We see this actually very poignantly in our יום הדין Yom Hadin davening. היום יעמיד במשפט hayom ya'amid b'mishpat. היום Hayom, we're going to say, אם כבנים אם כעבדים im k'vanim, im ka'avadim. There are paradigms of relationship that our human relationships lay out for us, and those are paradigms or options for our relationship with Hashem. And we make the choice of what kind of relationship do I want to have with Hashem. A master-slave, a parent-child, a romantic husband-wife, best friend, employer-employee. In Kabbalah it says the reason Hashem created all these relationships in our lives, in this world, are for us to project them or to understand from them a dynamic of my relationship with Hashem. So why did Hashem create a world which would have marriage, parenting, friendship, employment, even slavery at one time? Why did He create a world with each of those relationships? Because those relationships are the paradigm, and then we choose אם כבנים אם כעבדים im k'vanim, im ka'avadim. Do I love God like a father? Then he's going to love me like a son, like a child. If I only do what God asks of me as a master, then he's going to treat me more coldly and callously like a slave. That choice is up to us, what is the dynamic and what kind of relationship. So if we want God to be our parent, what is the most important thing with parents? You got to get along with your siblings. Parents, no matter how much pride, your child could get into Ivy Leagues and make $400 million a year and run a billion-dollar hedge fund and be accomplished, they could finish ש\"ס Shas once a day. No matter how accomplished your child is in any arena of life, if they don't get along with the other children, you struggle to feel נחת nachas from them. All a parent wants is for their, not all, among the things or the sort of prerequisite, the foundation of what a parent wants is for their children to get along, for the children to get along. I spoke last week in Atlanta and I spoke about צדקה tzedaka, and why is it that when we give צדקה tzedaka, מעבירין את רוע הגזירה ma'avirin es ro'a hagzeira. תשובה Tshuva transforms me, תפילה tefillah transforms me. I understand why I'm worthy of a new decree. But I write a check and am I bribing God? Am I buying him off? How does that earn me a new decree? And the answer is, be really generous and good and kind to my children, and I'm going to really like you. Forget me. If you're really good to my children, I'm going to like you. Not only if you're good to my children if you're unrelated to me, but if you're one of my children and you're good to your siblings, I'm going to, I'm going to love you. I'm going to love you. Rabbi Eli Mansour is speaking here tomorrow night. I believe it was one of the previous times that he spoke here that he said, I'm not saying it, he said, that when משיח Mashiach comes, Boca Raton Synagogue is going to be the first place he stops. He said. And why did he say that? It's very generous of him to say, very nice of him to say. Why did he say that? He says because if you have, if you have many children, and each of your children has one sibling they don't get along with who's not welcome in their home. And then you have one child who gets along with everyone and they're all welcome and invited, and that's the only home that they all go to together, so as a parent, which child do you like visiting the most? Which home are you most comfortable? And which home do you get the greatest pride? When you have diversity and when you have different minyanim and different types of people and different beliefs and levels of observance and different background, when all those siblings get along only in the home of the one that invites all the siblings, no matter what they look like and how they're behaving, that's where the parent wants to be. That's the paradigm of the relationship. So said the חידושי הרי\"ם Chidushei HaRim, when are you נצבים לפני השם nitzavim lifnei Hashem? Do you want to know what it means, when are you standing before God? When? כולכם Kulchem. When it is ראשיכם שבטיכם זקניכם שוטריכם rasheichem, shivteichem, zikneichem, shotreichem and so on and so forth. Only when we feel united, only when we feel as one, that's when we are, that's when we are before Hashem. Question is when was Moshe delivering this? So how did last week's parsha end? How did last week's parsha end? With the תוכחה tochecha. We had the תוכחה tochecha. What was the תוכחה tochecha? 98 harsh, graphic curses that are given to the Jewish people if we misbehave, if we don't behave properly. So at the end of last week's parsha we had the תוכחה tochecha. Moshe warns them, listen to my voice, your life will get a lot of ברכה bracha. ברוך אתה בבואך ברוך אתה בצאתך Baruch ata b'voecha, baruch ata b'tzeisecha and so on. Neglect what I want from you, don't listen or pay attention, then, ארור arur. And we have the long תוכחה tochecha. It's read quickly, in an undertone, but it's long, it's detailed, it's graphic. It's painful to listen to or read, let alone to experience. The קלויזענבורגער רבי Klausenberger Rebbe famously one Shabbos morning, when the בעל קורא baal korei was reading it in an undertone, the קלויזענבורגער רבי Klausenberger Rebbe said louder, and louder, and wouldn't stop 'til the בעל קורא baal korei proclaimed it and he said, \"We lived it, we don't have to say it in an undertone.\" Those who survived, those who went through the Holocaust, they lived the תוכחה tochecha, he said. So last week we had the תוכחה tochecha. And then comes this week, and Rashi and Moshe says, don't worry, you're all standing here, you're good, you're all together. Look at Rashi on פסוק י\"ב pasuk yud beis. Says Rashi, what's going on here? למה נסמכה פרשת אתם נצבים לקללות Lama nismicha parshas Atem nitzavim laklalos? Why do we have our parsha of Nitzavim following, juxtaposed right after the curses? ששמעו ישראל מאה קללות פחות שתיים הוריקו פניהם Shesham'u Yisrael me'ah klalos pachos shtayim, horiku pneihem. They heard the 98 curses. ואמרו מי יוכל לעמוד באלו V'amru mi yuchal la'amod b'eilu. התחיל משה לפייסם אתם נצבים היום כולכם Hischil Moshe l'faysam, Atem nitzavim hayom kulchem. They heard the תוכחה tochecha and they said, \"Whoa, what chance do we have? We're finished. None of us are perfect. We make mistakes. It's hard to follow everything Hashem asks of us. We're finished. We've got no chance. We're going to be victims of the תוכחה tochecha.\" Their face lost all of its color. They turned pale, they turned green. It was terrible. So Moshe says to them, \"No, no, no, relax. It's all good. אתם נצבים היום כולכם Atem nitzavim hayom kulchem.\" What does that mean? So the Kli Yakar is bothered. Look at the Kli Yakar on פסוק ט' pasuk tes. If any of you still bring your מקראות גדולות Mikraos Gedolos. אתם נצבים Atem nitzavim says the Kli Yakar. He quotes Rashi. What's going on here? Why does he join them together here more than any of the other mitzvos that he gives them? What is so significant about here? He says really Moshe wanted to give them a new, a new ברית bris. He says what was missing in the first ברית bris which is being introduced here and why is Moshe דוקא davka doing it this way? Says the Kli Yakar what was missing was a sense of כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh, that all the Jewish people are guarantors one for another. That word ערב arev means a guarantor. In הלכה halacha it's a guarantor. If you go to an Israeli bank today, and for the loan they require you to have a guarantor, you need an ערב arev. כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה Kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh means we are guarantors one for the other, one for the other. Now if I'm your guarantor, if you borrow money and I'm your guarantor, which means that if you default, they come to me. And then I see you squandering money. So you borrow $10,000, and I'm the guarantor that if you don't pay it back, I'm on the hook for it. And now I see you heading off to the casino. Now I see you squandering that money on something stupid, foolish, and you'll never get it back. And I'm your guarantor. What am I going to do? I'm going to walk up to you, I'm going to tackle you. I'm going to walk up to you, I'm going to stop you, I'm going to block you. Minimally, I'm going to try to influence you and say, \"Please, don't waste your money that way. I'm on the hook for it. This is not your personal decision. This is not for you alone to decide. I'm the guarantor. I'm on the hook. I'm on the hook. I'm the ערב arev.\" I'm going to try to stop you. Had the Jewish people felt that, then one would have stopped the other from giving their golden jewelry to the עגל egel. If they really felt I'm your guarantor, you know what's going to happen? You donate your greatest, most precious possessions to something so foolish and fleeting, and then you're going to need food, tomchei Shabbos, I'm going to have to pay it. So therefore, I'm going to stop you. Don't give it to some place so foolish. That was missing with the חטא העגל cheit ha'egel. So says the Kli Yakar, that's why now, כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh, אתם נצבים היום כולכם atem nitzavim hayom kulchem. You're all standing here together. I'm introducing the new ברית bris and I'm introducing the new covenant, the new commitment, the new ברית bris with the nature of your relationship. You're not just a conglomerate of a bunch of individuals who happen to be in the same place, but there is a guarantor relationship between you, one to another. כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה Kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh, such that one will prevent the other from squandering their money. And he says, he says, it's a long comment here by the Kli Yakar. He says that's what's going on. Why did they accept תנחומים של הבל tanchumim shel hevel? He says, Moshe Rabbeinu reassured them, \"Ah, you've got nothing to worry about. Don't worry.\" Moshe Rabbeinu tells them, even though we just read the תוכחה tochecha and it described this harsh, harsh punishment, \"Ah, אתם נצבים היום כולכם atem nitzavim hayom kulchem. You're all good.\" What was Moshe reassuring them? Says the Kli Yakar, what's going on over here? So you know what the answer is? The תוכחה tochecha is directed at the individual. You know how we endure and persevere in judgment? You know how you avoid a תוכחה tochecha in your life? The more you connect to the ציבור tzibbur, to the קהל kahal, the more you're part of community, the more you care about, about people. That's why we're reading this, Kli Yakar continues, we're reading this דוקא davka ערב ראש השנה erev Rosh Hashanah. We're reading this ערב ראש השנה erev Rosh Hashanah. Because we're going to stand before God in judgment. Do we want חלילה chalilah a תוכחה tochecha in our lives? Do we want to experience the worst, the harshest, the most painful? Do we want the greatest pleasure, the highest highs, and the greatest blessing? And part of the answer which will determine how we're signed and sealed is do we detach from community? Are we responsible for a breakaway from community, or do we see ourselves as part of community? Do we only love some Jews? Do we only love the Jews who are exactly like us? Or do we love all Jews? Who are we? And how do we behave determines, determines our success and our perseverance on the יום הדין Yom Hadin. On the יום הדין Yom Hadin. Do we see ourselves as individuals, or do we attach ourselves to something so much bigger? Do we attach ourselves to the ציבור tzibbur and to the and to the כלל klal? And I think that's very much what this parsha is about on, on many ways. The, we're going to read later, skip forward, parsha says, פרק כ\"ט פסוק כ\"ח perek kaf tes pasuk kaf ches. The Artscroll on page 1090, 1,090. So the section concludes with the pasuk, הנסתרות להשם אלוקינו והנגלות לנו ולבנינו עד עולם לעשות את כל דברי התורה הזאת hanistaros la'Hashem Elokeinu v'haniglos lanu ul'vaneinu ad olam la'asos es kol divrei haTorah hazos. הנסתרות להשם אלוקינו Hanistaros la'Hashem Elokeinu. The hidden things, they're for Hashem. The revealed, us and our children, עד עולם ad olam, forever, לעשות את כל דברי התורה הזאת la'asos es kol divrei haTorah hazos, to carry out all the words of this Torah. What in the world is this pasuk talking about? What is this pasuk talking about? הנסתרות להשם אלוקינו והנגלות לנו ולבנינו Hanistaros la'Hashem Elokeinu v'haniglos lanu ul'vaneinu. What is this talking about? What are the hidden things? The hidden things, they're for God. The revealed things, that's for us and our children. What are the hidden things, what are the revealed things? So Rabbeinu Bachya on the pasuk says, the hidden things הנסתרות להשם אלוקינו hanistaros la'Hashem Elokeinu means the טעמי המצוות ta'amei hamitzvos. The reason for why we do the mitzvos, the purpose, the meaning, the why of mitzvos, that's for Hashem. We can conjecture, we can study, we can suggest, we can offer ideas, but says Rabbeinu Bachya, in the end of the day, הנסתרות להשם אלוקינו hanistaros la'Hashem Elokeinu. Only Hashem knows the purpose and the reason for every mitzvah that we do. We have to do the mitzvos whether we understand them or not. Several weeks ago in Ki Seitzei, we had the mitzvah of שלוח הקן shiluach hakein. The Gemara says anyone who says the reason we send the mother bird away is because of pity and mercy on the mother bird, משתקין אותו meshatkin oso, we silence such a person. From there, it says, we don't learn the טעמי המצוות ta'amei hamitzvos. We don't concern ourselves with the why, we concern ourselves with the what. What am I meant to do? What am I responsible or obligated to do? What's incumbent upon me to do? But to get distracted or obsessed by the why is not us. Ah, so why are we spending time learning about mitzvos? We spend time, טעמי המצוות ta'amei hamitzvos is a whole area. The ספר החינוך Sefer HaChinuch is מטעמי המצוות mita'amei hamitzvos. He ever tries to give us the deeper reason and the deeper meaning of a mitzvah. Why do we spend our time on this? So Rav Zev Leff in his book on Chumash, Insights and Outlets has a great interpretation. Says, you know, what's the word, the Hebrew word for reason? טעם Ta'am. טעם Siba but טעם ta'am. ט' ע' מ' tes ayin mem. טעם Ta'am. טעמי המצוות ta'amei hamitzvos, what's the reason for the mitzvah? The Hebrew word טעם ta'am also means taste. also means taste. Does it have a good טעם ta'am? Does it have a good taste? Why do we have the same word to mean both taste and to mean reason? Why do they have the same word to mean both? So Rav Leff explains the following.Why do I eat? Because I need to eat to live. If I were to neglect eating, I'd become malnourished and I'd die. So why do I eat? I eat to live. Now, could I subsist on bread and water? Absolutely. Not, forget the carbs and whatever, gluten and carbs and. But if I ate bread and water every day, the right amount, a healthy amount, I would, I would live. I'd be just fine. So why do I eat anything other than bread or water? Because I need to eat in order to live, but once I'm eating, the more taste it has, the more I enjoy the experience.Now even if something has no taste, but I'm starving and there's access to no other food, I'm going to eat it, because I need to eat to live. So I'm not eating because of the taste, I'm eating to live. But when it has taste, it enhances the eating experience. Says Rav Leff, why do I do מצוות mitzvos? Because I need to eat to live. I need to consume מצוות mitzvos, I need to do מצוות mitzvos in order to live spiritually. If I don't, I dehydrate, I'm malnourished, I die spiritually. The way we are alive spiritually is through מצוות mitzvos. We'll get to, we won't get to, but ובחרת בחיים uvacharta bachayim in our פרשה parsha. If I choose life, then I live. We were going to go through what of משה Moshe, what of משה Moshe is bothered. What do you mean if I choose life, then I live? Isn't that redundant? If I choose life, then I live. The answer is, if I choose life means I choose מצוות mitzvos. If I nourish my soul, then I'm alive. If I neglect my soul, then dehydrates, malnourished, and it dies. So I need to eat מצוות mitzvos, I need to do מצוות mitzvos to live spiritually. But if I understand their טעם ta'am, if they have a taste, if they have a reason, then they're more delicious. I enjoy them more, it enhances the מצווה mitzvah experience. So the same word טעם ta'am means both reason and taste, makes sense because it functions the exact same way. I eat to live, but when it has a taste, it enhances the eating, I enjoy it more. I do מצוות mitzvos to spiritually live, but when I understand the reason, it enhances the experience and I want to do it even more. Says רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya, I do the מצוות mitzvos and I try to learn about them. But I have to submit and concede that in the end of the day, the real reason, the deeper meaning for the מצווה mitzvah, I don't have access to. It's conjecture. I'm offering a suggestion. I'm trying to to dig and to find what is that reason which will enhance my life, that gives the מצווה mitzvah a taste, that makes it delicious, that gives it flavor. הנסתרות לה' אלוקינו Hanistaros l'Hashem Elokeinu. The reason for מצוות mitzvos ultimately, that's hidden. That's God. הנגלות Haniglos, that's לנו ולבנינו lanu u'levaneinu. The revealed, namely, the charge to perform מצוות mitzvos, that's incumbent on me, ולבנינו עד עולם u'levaneinu ad olam, my children forever and ever. So for רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya, the פסוק pasuk's coming to to tell us, leave the reasons to השם Hashem. The מצוות mitzvos, the details, the performance, the actions, that's in the end of the day what our children will see and emulate. If we're caught up and focused on the reason, and we're only willing to do a מצווה mitzvah we understand, then our children are going to drop out. If you want it to be לנו ולבנינו lanu u'levaneinu, if we want it to be intergenerational, to have a continuity, then it has to be הנגלות לנו ולבנינו haniglos lanu u'levaneinu, they have to see us doing it.רש\"י Rashi describes this פסוק pasuk as not focusing on our relationship with השם Hashem and His מצוות mitzvos, but the פסוק's pasuk's focusing on our relationship with one another. הנסתרות Hanistaros, the hidden mistakes, the concealed indiscretions of a fellow Jew, that belongs to God. I can't be held accountable. What my neighbor does בחדרי חדרים b'chadrei chadarim, what my neighbor does in the privacy of their own home, on their own devices of technology, what they do that I can't possibly know, I can't be accountable for. How could I be accountable for הנסתרות hanistaros, that which is hidden, that which is concealed? That's להשם l'Hashem. השם Hashem will bring consequences and accountability. But הנגלות haniglos, what my fellow Jew is doing wrong that I can see, it's נגלה nigleh, it's revealed, לנו ולבנינו lanu u'levaneinu. That belongs to me and my children if I don't get involved. If I don't address it, if I don't try to make it better, then I too am responsible for it, for not helping, for not supporting, for not reaching out. So this too is a continuation of כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh. הנסתרות להשם Hanistaros l'Hashem. So we have the פרשה parsha begins, אתם נצבים היום כולכם atem nitzavim hayom kulchem. When are you standing before God? When you stand כולכם kulchem together, when we're all together. That's when we're before God. And we see this theme continue, הנסתרות לה' אלוקינו hanistaros l'Hashem Elokeinu. Not for רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya who saw it as about טעמי המצוות ta'amei hamitzvos, but for רש\"י Rashi, this theme is continuing that הנסתרות hanistaros, what my neighbor's doing wrong that I can't know, that's for God. I how can I be held accountable? But הנגלות haniglos, but what I can see my neighbor doing. If we have a שול shul where people feel comfortable talking, that's not just an indictment on the talkers, that's an indictment on the whole שול shul who enables a culture and a climate where people feel comfortable to talk. And the same is true for every other example. When we tolerate incorrect or inappropriate behavior, when we have an environment where someone can speak לשון הרע lashon hara at my שבת Shabbos table, that's not just an indictment on the one who is speaking the לשון הרע lashon hara. But if the whole שבת Shabbos table is a place where the person felt bold and brazen enough, comfortable enough to be able to speak that way, it's an indictment of the whole שבת Shabbos table. If a person is willing to take shortcuts in business, to be dishonest, and not only do they get away with it, but they're lauded. Oh yeah, that's a great חאפ chap. I also declare that a business expense, I also do this, I also do that. If we have an environment which not only tolerates but even applauds or lauds it, then the entire community is an accomplice to that behavior. That's according to רש\"י Rashi what this פסוק pasuk is telling us. הנסתרות לה' אלוקינו Hanistaros l'Hashem Elokeinu. What a person does בחדרי חדרים b'chadrei chadarim in the privacy of their own home, that's for God. How could you blame me? But הנגלות haniglos, whatever whatever we see is happening, the phenomena that we see happening under our nose that are revealed, talking in שול shul, dishonesty in business, gossip, whenever we see that are communal plagues, that's לנו ולבנינו עד עולם lanu u'levaneinu ad olam. That's not only are we responsible and accountable, but our children are going to pay. We have a shared responsibility and a shared accountability and we have a shared destiny. We're one unit and we're one simple single conscience. ר' סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik in his חומש Chumash points out, it's not merely what he calls a theoretical הלכך halachic construct, but it's a central fact in the history of the Jewish people in respect to how the rest of the world looks at us. It's an amazing thing. It's an amazing thing. An Italian person can commit a crime and the headline is just that this person committed a crime. Nobody even reflects the fact that they're Italian. A German, a Frenchman, a Christian, a Muslim, anyone else can do something wrong and it only is a reflection of the individual. But the way that the whole world relates to us is that a Jew makes a headline and it's the whole Jewish people. A Jew cheated in business, a Jew committed fraud, a Jew ran a Ponzi scheme, a Jew, חלילה chalila, had a terrible case of of sexual abuse or sexual impropriety, the headline, the judgment is not just about the individual, it's about all of us. And ר' סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik says that that's terribly hypocritical, it's terribly unfair, we should protest it, but in the end of the day, it's a reflection of God's view. They're just reflecting, mirroring השם's Hashem's image of us, which is that the rest of the world is not accountable one to the other. They're not guarantors one for the other. They're not responsible to intervene and intercede and elevate the whole culture and the whole community one for the other. So that's why the headline is about the one person. But the way השם Hashem designed us, the way he wants us to see ourselves, the whole world is holding us accountable based on the way we're supposed to be seeing ourselves. That if a Jew made a headline, we should all be ashamed. We should all be embarrassed. We should all reflect and introspect and ask, how could it happen within our חבורה chabura, within our community?Our neighbors have always condemned all of us for the crimes of one of us. They don't allow a Jew to be judged on his or her merit alone. They point to the behavior of the individual as a means to indict the entire community. And we know there's no other nation, no other race, no other ethnicity that is held to that standard, that's judged in that manner. They understand better than we do that כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh. The editors of the newspaper who make those headlines understand כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh, so one does something wrong and they write about all of us. And if they're going to see us in that way, shouldn't we see ourselves that way? Shouldn't we hold ourselves accountable in that way?So ר' סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik says it's not just theoretical that כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh. And by the way, it's הלכך halachic. We have a principle, גמרא בברכות Gemara b'Brachos says, מצא יצא מוציא matza yotzei motzi. ראש השנה's Rosh Hashanah's next week. We're going to blow the שופר shofar. So let's say I actually blow the שופר shofar in one of our מנינים minyanim, make a ברכה bracha and I blow the שופר shofar. And then I come home, I have lunch, and my neighbor says, you know, wasn't feeling well enough, didn't go to שול shul, could you come over and blow the שופר shofar? Can I make a ברכה bracha for them? Absolutely. Why? I made קידוש kiddush, and then the guests come and they need to hear קידוש kiddush, so I make קידוש kiddush again. How can I make קידוש kiddush? It's a ברכה לבטלה bracha l'vatala. Aren't I wasting God's name saying it in vain to repeat a ברכה bracha that I already said? I fulfilled the מצווה mitzvah. I made the ברכה bracha. So how can I make the ברכה bracha again for my neighbor, whether it's the שופר shofar or קידוש kiddush? So the גמרא Gemara says יצא מוציא yotzei motzi. We have a principle. Even if you were יוצא yotzei the מצווה mitzvah, you fulfilled the מצווה mitzvah, you can still be מוציא motzi, you can help the other person fulfill theirs. Why? How does that work? I fulfilled mine, I'm done. Why can I take God's name again? So רש\"י Rashi there and the גמרא בברכות Gemara b'Brachos explains, you know why? כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה Kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh. So here's how we're supposed to view it. If you haven't fulfilled your מצווה mitzvah, then I haven't completely fulfilled mine. It's not that I fulfilled my מצווה mitzvah and you haven't fulfilled yours. If there's a Jew who hasn't fulfilled his or her מצווה mitzvah, then I have not fully fulfilled my מצווה mitzvah. You understand what an amazing, amazing הלכה halacha? הלכך Halachically, it's not just theoretical. הלכך Halachically, if a Jew hasn't fulfilled their מצווה mitzvah, then I have not fully fulfilled mine. And therefore I can repeat a ברכה bracha and it's not לבטלה l'vatala. It's not in vain. It's not in vain. Extraordinary. So ר' סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik adds to that that not only is כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh and יצא מוציא yotzei motzi a הלכך halachic construct, it is a historical construct. The fact that the nations of the world judge us based on the actions of the individual means that God built into the fabric of history and destiny, into the way the world interacts with us, this construct. It's not just theoretical, it's not just מוסר mussar, it's not just הלכך halachic, it's historical. It is a historical construct of the way the world arrives. And the מדרש Midrash says, אתם נצבים היום כולכם לפני ה' אלוקיכם atem nitzavim hayom kulchem lifnei Hashem Elokeichem. When is it אתם נצבים atem nitzavim? When are we standing? When כולכם לפני השם kulchem lifnei Hashem. We're crippled, we're crumbling. We can't function. We're not standing upright. We are disabled if we're individuals. On our own, we're frail and we're fragile. On our own, we are spiritually disabled. It's only when we connect with others, when we are a community, when we are united, when we are כולכם לפני השם kulchem lifnei Hashem, only then are we together.A man on his deathbed handed a bundle of reeds to his children, and he told them, try to break them in half. And they passed them around, and as hard as each of them tried to bend them, to break them, they couldn't. Then he separated the reeds and he handed them to them individually and he said, try to break it. And each one bent it and it snapped easily right away. And the man on his deathbed said to his children, I want you to learn this lesson, that when you're together, when you're united as one, you're strong. You'll persevere, you can overcome any force that comes your way. But if you're divided, each of you stands on your own, then you can be snapped in half so easily. You're vulnerable and fragile. And that is exactly this message. אתם נצבים היום כולכם Atem nitzavim hayom kulchem. הנסתרות לה' אלוקינו Hanistaros l'Hashem Elokeinu, but הנגלות לנו ולבנינו haniglos lanu u'levaneinu. What's נגלה nigleh, what we see is going on, that's an indictment of us. It's our responsibility to create a community and a culture that endorses and promotes and creates a peer pressure for the right things and creates an intolerance for the wrong things, for the wrong things. That's how we're going to get through דין din. That's how. We're going to start saying Sunday night, ויעשו כולם אגודה אחת לעשות רצונך בלבב שלם V'ya'asu chulam aguda achas la'asos retzoncha b'leivav shalem. We're going to start reciting, it's up to us to make ourselves ויעשו כולם v'ya'asu chulam. השם Hashem we ask him, help us. Help us become אגודה אחת aguda achas. What does that mean? Help us become members of the אגודה Agudah? What is אגודה אחת aguda achas? Nothing wrong with that, but what's אגודה אחת aguda achas? And אגודה agudah means one bundle. Help us not be individual reeds which can break in half. Help us become an אגודה אחת aguda achas. To see our reed as part, our branch as part of a stronger bundle that can't be broken, that won't be snapped, that can withstand any force or pressure that's placed upon it. ויעשו כולם אגודה אחת V'ya'asu chulam aguda achas, that's our wish, that's our dream, but it's really all for, it's all for us. And that's what these words are what continues in the פסוק pasuk. What's the continuation of the פסוק pasuk? את אשר ישנו פה עמנו עומד היום ואת אשר איננו פה עמנו היום Es asher yeshno po imanu omed hayom v'es asher einenu po imanu hayom. The covenant is both with those who are standing here today and it applies equally to those who are not here that day. Meaning, our commitment, our responsibility for those who are here, for the Jews we see in front of us, for the ones who will make it to שול shul on ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah, ואשר איננו פה עמנו היום v'asher einenu po imanu hayom. Equally or even more, that commitment and that אגודה אחת aguda achas, that sense of community has to be with the people who don't make it into a שול shul on ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah. To care about our brothers and sisters in Israel, to care about the unaffiliated and the un-shuled, and to care about all those who are not standing right in front of us, who yet we still have to see ourselves as part of one continuation, as part of one whole. So all that's one interpretation of the first פסוק pasuk, אתם נצבים היום כולכם atem nitzavim hayom kulchem, that when are we going to persevere in judgment, when we can overcome the warning of the תוכחה tochacha of last week's פרשה parsha, when is it? When we are community. Many of the things I'm telling you now I've said before, I apologize. I'm a big environmentalist, I believe in recycling. But I'll tell you, I recycle not just things because I'm lazy. I I repeat the things that I think are so core and fundamental that they're so important to reinforce of who we are. And I know I'm preaching to the choir. It's it's younger people who need to hear this, but there's a notion of community that transcends and supersedes the individual. We're seeing a movement in the תורה Torah community of everyone focused on their special need, what they need, what they want, individualized needs, and failing to be willing to sometimes put aside what I want because there's a value that transcends me, which is called community. There's a תורה Torah principle called community, called כולכם kulchem. I want a מנין minyan on my block. It's convenient, it's comfortable, it's accessible, it's when I want it to be. I don't want to make it to שול shul. It's an extra four minutes of walk. I don't want to come. What happened to כולכם kulchem? What happened to נצבים כולכם nitzavim kulchem? The שול's shul's now half empty because every development's got three local מנינים minyanim, private מנינים minyanim. And I'm not going to rail on this right now, but nobody can tell me, nobody will convince me that you can דאווען daven as well in a living room as you can in a שול shul. Nobody's going to tell me that the environment doesn't have an impact on the quality of our דאווענען davening, on the quality, I'm not talking about the length of our דאווענען davening. It doesn't have to drag out in שול shul. It shouldn't be any faster in a home. There's a reason that the גמרא Gemara says that השם Hashem goes to שול shul waiting for you and he hears your תפילות tefillos at שול shul more when you דאווען daven in שול shul than you דאווען daven outside of it. And הלכך halachically we're supposed to דאווען daven. Leave all that aside, I'm just talking about community. So what, you don't care about going to the יום השואה Yom Hashoah program? So what, you don't care about showing up at the funeral of the person that you didn't know, but this is a tragedy for the whole community? So what, you didn't feel like coming to celebrate some, the שול shul dinner. You don't know the honorees, this year I'm not coming because I don't know the honorees. Why do I have to go? There's a notion of community that's so much bigger than ourselves. It is an independent, important value called community. And nothing reinforces it like פרשת נצבים Parshas Nitzavim. It's a הלכך halachic concept, יצא מוציא yotzei motzi, because we care about community. כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה Kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh, we care about community. When are we standing before God? Only when we're כולכם היום kulchem hayom. When we're divided and fragmented based on which subdivision we live in, which נוסח nusach we דאווען daven, what age group we want to be with. I'm very opposed to, there's, we have eight מנינים minyanim on שבת Shabbos morning. It's not that we believe that everybody should have what they need, but we're all on one campus, one community, we come together. I'm very opposed to there are שול'ס shuls that have a young professionals מנין minyan. To me, when you make separate מנינים minyanim, it should be because it's at a different time, you דאווען daven in a different נוסח nusach, but just based on an age, that creates division. First of all, it's foolish because those young people, I don't know if they know how time works, but they're not going to remain those young people. So it's only a matter of time in a few years till they become the bitter people who are now excluded from the young person's מנין minyan. But also, there should be only legitimate reasons that we divide into different groups. I don't think age should be one of them, ever. Two מנינים minyanim that go on at the same time but just divided by age? That's not נצבים היום כולכם nitzavim hayom kulchem. That's not the notion of זקניכם ראשיכם, גרך אשר בקרב מחנך zikneichem rosheichem, gerecha asher b'kerev machanecha. We're all together, we're all together. There's a concept of community. But I want to share one other thought. I want to share 400 other thoughts. But I want to make sure to get to one other thought about this פסוק pasuk, about אתם נצבים היום כולכם atem nitzavim hayom kulchem, and about what we're trying to do. And this is radically different from where we were a moment ago, coming from a different angle and a different direction. Is an insight of the קרבן העני Korban Ha'ani, a beautiful interpretation, where he says the קרבן העני Korban Ha'ani, ר' יעקב קטינא Rav Yaakov Katina, ר' יעקב קטינא Rav Yaakov Katina, he says the following. He says, look at the names of the פרשיות parshiyos. And these two פרשיות parshiyos in succession tell us an enormous amount. אתם נצבים היום כולכם Atem nitzavim hayom kulchem. And what's next week's פרשה parsha? How does next week's פרשה parsha begin? Not just וילך Vayelech, who is וילך Vayelech? וילך משה Vayelech Moshe. אתם נצבים היום כולכם Atem nitzavim hayom kulchem, וילך משה Vayelech Moshe. And he points out the contrast between we, the Jewish people who are ניצבים nitzavim, Jewish people are standing in one place, stagnant, complacent, still. And משה Moshe is וילך משה Vayelech Moshe, he's in perpetual motion. He's constantly moving, he's constantly walking, he's constantly growing. He's on the path of striving. He's always driven, he's never arrived. The imagery of ניצבים nitzavim is standing still. The imagery of וילך Vayelech is to be on the move. And he, the קרבן העני Korban Ha'ani, contrasts the two. אתם ניצבים Atem nitzavim says משה Moshe, you're standing still. וילך משה Vayelech Moshe. It's amazing about וילך משה Vayelech Moshe, this is a דבר תורה dvar Torah for next week's פרשה parsha now, but what's amazing about וילך משה Vayelech Moshe is what day is it in משה's Moshe's life? His בר מצווה Bar Mitzvah? He's a וילך Vayelech. Oh, משה Moshe has so much potential and he's going to grow and he's always moving, we're so proud of him. He's under his חופה chuppah, is this a שבע ברכות sheva brachos comment? וילך משה Vayelech Moshe, משה's Moshe's moving his שבע ברכות sheva brachos is amazing. What day is it in משה's Moshe's life? It is the day of his death. And even on the day of his death, he's described as וילך משה Vayelech Moshe. Still in motion. Always in motion. Never done growing. Never done growing. Doesn't matter what stage of life, we're never retired. You may be tired from your vocation, but you're never retired from your avocation. We're never retired from being alive and purpose and meaning and the difference we're trying to make. So he contrasts the אתם נצבים atem nitzavim and the וילך משה Vayelech Moshe. Are we standing still? Are we stagnant and complacent? Do we feel we've arrived? Or are we with a sense of וילך Vayelech? Are we with a sense of וילך Vayelech? So this פשט pshat is nice, but it bothered me because how do we understand it in the context of אתם נצבים atem nitzavim being a praise? We just finished saying that אתם נצבים atem nitzavim is all about how do you overcome the תוכחה tochacha because you're standing here all together. אתם נצבים atem nitzavim and you're all together. Moreover, we see the בעל הטורים Baal Haturim has a comment which seems to praise אתם נצבים atem nitzavim. Go back to the beginning. אתם נצבים היום כולכם Atem nitzavim hayom kulchem, so says the בעל הטורים Baal Haturim. נצבים כדרך שנאמר בסיני ויתיצבו בתחתית ההר nitzavim k'derech she'ne'emar b'Sinai v'yityatzvu b'tachtis ha'har. באו בלשון אמר כאן אתם נצבים Bo b'lashon amar kan atem nitzavim. משה Moshe was telling them, you know what this is reminiscent of? You know what this is a throwback to? הר סיני Har Sinai. How are we described when we stood at הר סיני Har Sinai? We were described as ויתיצבו v'yityatzvu. ניצבים Nitzavim. We stood at the base of the mountain and we're standing collectively as a community now all today. So which is it? Is ניצבים nitzavim good or is it bad? To be stagnant and still, to be standing, is that a good thing, just like at הר סיני Har Sinai we stood that way before God all together united? Or is it a bad thing that we're supposed to be וילך vayelech, we're supposed to be on the move all the time, everywhere we go? I'll add in, there's an amazing מדרש Midrash. The ילקוט שמעוני Yalkut Shimoni says the following. ראה שחביבים ישראל לפני הקב\"ה יותר ממלאכי השרת Ra'ah she'chavivim Yisrael lifnei Hakadosh Baruch Hu yoser m'malachei hashareis. God loves the Jewish people more than the מלאכים malachim. Why? כיצד? נקראו עליונים מלאכים ונקראו ישראל מלאכים Ketzad? Nikru elyonim malachim v'nikru Yisrael malachim. Both of us are called angelic. שנאמר ברכו ה' מלאכיו She'ne'emar barchu Hashem malachav. קרא לעליונים קדושים... שנאמר... וישראל קדושים, ואמרת אליהם קדושים תהיו Kara l'elyonim kedoshim... she'ne'emar... v'Yisrael kedoshim, v'amarta aleihem kedoshim tihiyu. ומי חביב יותר? מי שהקב\"ה ביניהם, שנאמר אלקים נצב בעדת קל U'mi chaviv yoser? Mi she'Hakadosh Baruch Hu beineihem, she'ne'emar Elokim nitzav b'adas Kel. Who does God love more? The one that God stands among. We're both called angels and yet it says God stands with us. וישראל נקראו עומדים, שנאמר אתם נצבים היום V'Yisrael nikru omdim, she'ne'emar atem nitzavim hayom. ומי חביב יותר שהקב\"ה משבח U'mi chaviv yoser she'Hakadosh Baruch Hu m'shabeach. So on the one hand, we're being compared to angels. Angels stand still. Angels are complacent. Angels don't move. The נביא navi describes angels are עומדים omdim. So who's ניצבים nitzavim, who's standing still? Angels. An angel doesn't have free will. They don't make choices. Those choices don't yield results of either closeness or distance. They're standing still. They're pre-programmed. They're robots. We are even greater because we have free will and choice and when we use it correctly, then we have an enormous growth spurt. So God says we are also like angels, but we're even greater than angels. So which is it? And how do we understand this all? And I want to suggest to you the following. I'm going to speak about this on שבת שובה Shabbos Shuva. We're going to talk about resistance. In each of us is an angel. Inside each of us is the best version of ourselves. And yet, that doesn't match who we are in real life. Who I am inside is thin, smart, good looking, a full head of hair, patient, kind, spend a lot of time with my children, learn a lot of תורה Torah, חזקה chazara, disciplined, organized. In between, in between who I know I can be and who I am is something called resistance. Resistance. We have a name for it, we call it the יצר הרע yetzer hara. But we're going to talk about it psychologically, it's called resistance. What's holding me back? Why do I feel the resistance that is blocking me from breaking through to be that best version, to accomplish what I know I could accomplish? That's what we're going to talk about on שבת שובה Shabbos Shuva, so I reserve the right to revisit some of this. But what I want to say to you is the following. אתם נצבים Atem nitzavim, is that good or bad? Yes. Both good and bad. When it comes to when we're out there in the world, when we're at home, when we're at work, when we're in the בית מדרש beis medrash, how are we supposed to feel? וילך משה Vayelech Moshe. We're not supposed to be like angels. We're supposed to be out there, growing and exploring and challenging ourselves and breaking through that resistance. But when does it say אתם נצבים היום כולכם atem nitzavim hayom kulchem? לפני השם Lifnei Hashem. When you're in front of God, you're not וילך vayelech. Then we're ניצבים nitzavim. Because the sense of ניצבים nitzavim is, I'm standing still, I can't go anywhere. I can't move, I can't do anything on my own, I entirely rely on, depend on, and turn to you. And why did I come up with this פשט pshat? So in other words, generally speaking, the, he's right, ר' יעקב מקטינא Rav Yaakov M'Katina. He's right. וילך Vayelech is better than ניצבים nitzavim, generally speaking. We're better than angels. But when do we emulate and imitate angels? You know, every day, three times a day, we emulate and imitate angels. You know when we do it? When we stand still for דאווענען davening. Famously, since we're kids, we know, why do we stand still for דאווענען davening? I have more כוונה kavanah, let's say, if I'm pacing the whole room when I דאווען daven. Not allowed to. Maybe I have more כוונה kavanah if I've got a great step, a great bounce. I'm not allowed to. Why do I have to stand still with my feet together as if I have one leg? I'm immobile. I'm like an angel standing before God. We human beings have legs, we're הולכים holchim. Angels are עומדים omdim. When I stand before השם Hashem, I'm so incompetent on my own, I'm so impotent on my own, I so rely on and depend and submit to השם Hashem, I'm like an angel with nowhere to go and no capacity to go anywhere. So I want to humbly suggest to you that maybe that's what's going on here. Is that when we're outside, when we're not לפני השם lifnei Hashem, we're always לפני השם lifnei Hashem, but I mean when I'm not engrossed in a conversation with השם Hashem, when I'm in the world, when I'm running to do חסד chesed, when I'm running to do well at work, when I'm running to grow in my learning, I have to be a וילך vayelech. I'm never done. To my last breath, to my last day on earth, we have to be a וילך vayelech. But when I'm standing in front of השם Hashem, לפני השם lifnei Hashem, then אתם נצבים atem nitzavim. My אמונה emunah, my בטחון bitachon is so strong that I have a feeling like an angel, I entirely rely on you. My life is entirely dependent on you, there's nowhere else for me to go. Wishing everyone a great day. Next Tuesday morning, we're not meeting. We are meeting just not for the פרשה parsha. So let me wish everyone a כתיבה וחתימה טובה ksiva v'chasima tova, a good געבענטשט יאר gebentched yohr. Should have only ברכה bracha, נחת nachas, שמחה simcha.
