Oct 1/05 - Shabbat Nitzavim: Who Will “Jew” for You?

Commentary by Rabbi Lawrence Pinsker

One of the great teaching rabbis of the twentieth century used to warn his congregants that he wasn’t in the pulpit to “Jew” for them. If Judaism is truly alive, every Jew undertakes some commitment to study, prayer, and actions that heal some part of the world’s imperfection. Holy and revered rebbes, bubbies and zaydes are great inspiration—but in pointing to their piety and holiness, we may end up avoiding personal commitment to “doing Judaism” ourselves.

The idea that God expects more than isolated symbolic representatives of spiritual commitment comes from the opening verses of this week’s Torah portion: “You stand this day, all of you, before the Compassionate One your God—your tribal heads, your elders and your officials, all the men of Israel, your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to water-drawer—to enter into the covenant of the Compassionate One your God, which the Compassionate One your God is concluding with you this day, with its sanctions; to the end that He may establish you this day as His people and be your God, as He promised you and as He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” (Deut. 29:9-12)

What makes this a momentous occasion is not only that it finalizes the covenant with God but also that it includes everyone as part of God’s people. The covenant is not the property of only “tribal heads, elders and officials”—people with economic and political power, royalty, etc.—but also of children, women, even persons of other faiths who have chosen to live among the Jewish people—and even of those who are at the bottom of the chain of status like woodchoppers and water-drawers.

For millennia, Jewish commentators have wondered why a list that already makes abundantly clear that God’s covenant is genuinely inclusive should specify “from woodchopper to water-drawer.”

There are a number of explanations, but the most intriguing is from an ancient collection of Midrash called Tanchuma (see section Nitzavim 5). There we learn that the opening words of today’s Torah portion teach us that “all are equal in the covenant” (“kulam shavim lefanai”). The list is not only inclusive, but also prescribes a philosophy of community: tribal heads, elders and officials, women, children, woodchoppers, and water-drawers are all equal.

The Midrash Tanchuma goes further: this equality also means that all are equally responsible for each other (“kulechem areivim zeh ba-zeh”). We are wrong to think that having even a Tzaddik—a spiritual master—in our midst is good enough. That presence doesn’t relieve a single person of his or her obligation to act responsibly for the sake of his or her community.

The opening verses of today’s portion tell us that equal opportunity and equal responsibility define us as Jews. Customary ways of assigning status to people through their social positions, incomes, educations—even by their piety and virtue!—must not blind us to the fact that in God’s eyes all are equal under the covenant in terms of rights and obligations. How well is each of us keeping his or her part of the covenant?

That is why this text is always read on the Shabbat before the New Year—to remind us that the health and well-being of our community depends on each person “standing up” and fulfilling his or her part of the covenant with God. Nobody else can do this for us.

At the beginning of the new year, we start out as recipients of God’s good faith—that we will choose life and goodness by fulfilling our part of the covenant. Keyn yehi ratzon. Shabbat Shalom, and Shanah Tovah to you all!