Community Blog

Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat Nitzavim, which we read again on Yom Kippur and will hear more about then. The Haftarah this week, from Isaiah chapters 61-63, is the final of seven Haftarot of Consolation, read in the seven weeks between Tisha B’Av and Rosh HaShana. In it, the prophet tells of the shared pain of God and the Heavenly Hosts along with the people of Israel as they endure the hardships of conquest, the deaths of their loved ones, captivity, and enslavement. While these seven haftorot are chosen for this time of year irrespective of their accompanying Torah portions, this one indeed does share something of a common theme with Parashat Nitzavim, which I also find to be a parasha of hope and consolation after the trying 40 years in the desert. 

In the Torah portion, the people of Israel are preparing to finally enter the Holy Land after their grueling journey and are promised a nation of equals under God. In the Haftarah, the people are told that though they have been sinful and will be punished through the conquering Babylonians, they will also be redeemed and return to their homeland and to their holy status with God. In the Torah portion, God via Moses reminds the people that all of Israel is responsible for one another, and each person upholds their corner of society. In the Haftarah, God via Isaiah reminds the people that even God shares in the trials and triumphs of the people, that not only are they responsible for each other, but they are responsible for God’s reaction to them. Setting aside for a moment the power imbalance and the slightly textbook-abuse language around that, I find the idea that humans can affect the Divine in this way rather beautiful. We are the world we create. 

The Talmud relates a very famous parable: some men were on a ship. One of them took a drill and started drilling underneath him. The others said to him: What are you doing?! He replied: What do you care. Is this not underneath my area that I am drilling?! They said to him: But the water will rise and flood us all on this ship.

Presumably there were still some pious people in the Holy Land at the time of the conquests. The fact that the prophets were there to warn the people of the coming destruction is proof of that. But the discord within society was great enough to make them all vulnerable to the attacks of outside forces, and the whole of Israel paid the price. This week's parasha warns of those who will sin in secret, that they too will still bring down their neighbors and co-religionists. Of course, the Torah is talking about worshiping foreign gods which hardly seems sinful to our modern pluralistic society. If we reimagine those foreign gods as the temptations of greed or bigotry, though, we can see how one who still holds those sins in their heart or nurtures them in secret will act on them boldly if given the chance, and likely hurt others in the process. Isaiah reminds us that when we hurt one another, we hurt the Divine. The Torah and Haftarah both make clear that if we want Divine protection, we must protect one another. We must remember that we are all connected on this shared Earth, and each of us has a responsibility to be neighborly, accountable, and to behave sustainably. 

The new year is upon us. As we close out 5782, let us reach out to someone new and offer a kind countenance, a helping hand, a caring heart. Amen and Shabbat Shalom.