When was a time where you really connected with something Jewish? (E.g. a holiday, a ceremony, a trip to Israel, a class, etc.)
(9) You stand this day, all of you, before the ETERNAL your God—your tribal heads, your elders and your officials, all the men of Israel, (10) your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to water drawer— (11) to enter into the covenant of the ETERNAL your God, which the ETERNAL your God is concluding with you this day, with its sanctions; (12) to the end that God may establish you this day as God's people and be your God, as God promised you and as swore to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (13) I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone, (14) but both with those who are standing here with us this day before the ETERNAL our God and with those who are not with us here this day.
- What is happening? What are the Israelites about to do?
- Who is standing here this day? Who's included?
- Why does it say that God makes the covenant with those who are here and not here? Who might not be there? What might this imply?
ואת אשר איננו פה [not with you alone, but both with those who are standing here with us this day before the ETERNAL our God] and with those who are not with us here this day. -- i.e. with the generations that will be in future.
- How does Rashi interpret "those who are not with us here today?"
- Why do you think Rashi interprets the text this way?
Rabbi Paul F. Cohen
Each of us—and the text makes clear that this means all of us—was worthy of standing before God and entering into the covenant. The text of Nitzavim lays out the entire spectrum of human ages, genders, ethnicities, and occupations—and it recognizes that all of us are worthy of standing before God and entering the covenant: from leader to follower (Deuteronomy 29:9), from elder to child, from tribal members to visitors, men and women alike (Deuteronomy 29:10).
Rabbi Paul F. Cohen, Dmin, DD, "Anavah--Humility: Living a Life of Humility," in The Mussar Torah Commentary (ed. Rabbi Barry H. Block; New York: CCAR, 2020), pp. 321-324
- Deuteronomy describes all sorts of people standing at Sinai entering into the covenant. What does Rabbi Cohen say about these people?
- Why would Torah emphasize that everyone is worthy?
- What does that mean for each of us?
Rabbi Dianne Cohler-Esses
The covenant is made not only with those who stood in Moab listening to Moses' words, but also with future generations. Every Israelite since that day, and every Jew to come into this world in the future, is directly and personally included in this covenant. Thus are we—those reading the Torah now—empowered to forge our own relationship to the contents of the ongoing revelation. The tradition is not fixed; quite the contrary, it is our very active and receptive listening that gives this text its meaning and its very sanctity. The text gains its k'dushah ("holiness") from those in every generation who read it and add their voices to the endless, sacred conversation about what this all means.
Dianne Cohler-Esses, "Contemporary Reflection" on Parashat Nitzavim, in The Torah: A Women's Commentary (eds. Dr. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Rabbi Andrea L. Weiss, Ph.D.; New York: URJ, 2008), 1230-1231
- What does Rabbi Cohler-Esses add to the idea that we all entered the covenant?
- Why does she say we are able to "forge our own relationship" to Torah and to add our own voices?
- How might each of us—how might you—add your own voice to this "endless, sacred conversation?"