Parashat Nitzavim by Jeroen Reuven Bours

Please Rise! HaShem demands Bnei Israel to stand before him and makes it clear that the past, present and future generations are also here. For this is the moment in which the entire nation makes their covenant with HaShem. This is the moment and this is all future moments. It is Abravanel who struggled with the question how one covenant could be held up for all future generations to come. He answers it in a practical way. A man, who receives a loan from another, has the duty to repay it and if he cannot, than his future descendants will have to. Similarly, HaShem conferred a privilege upon Am Israel when he set them free from Mitzrayim. Thus Bnei Israel owes HaShem in all future. This is what the Sages call is a priori bound by Sinaitic revelation. Abravanel points out that the covenant implies that we are perpetual slaves to HaShem and will never be free of his yoke. The Sages refer to this in the Midrash Tanhuma, when they stated that the souls of the entire nation were present at the time of the covenant. Judah Ha-Levi points out that the Ten Commandments start with: “I am the Lord their G’d Who brought thee out of the Land of Egypt from the house of bondage,” and not with “I am the Lord they G’d who created heaven and earth.” The reason being that the covenant is based on the freedom that was given to us and that the responsibility to keep it, is that of the all of Bnei Israel forever. Moshe Rabbenu explains to Am Israel that at the age of 120 years, he’s not moving from where he’s standing anymore. He shall not be crossing the Jordan River. Instead, HaShem will go before them, followed by Joshua. This should be a happy time. Finally Am Israel will enter the Promised Land. Yet HaShem calls for Moshe and Joshua to be with him and reveals a prophecy that speaks of Bnei Israel’s forsaking of the covenant - and that many evils and troubles will befall them - and that they will say on that day: “Is it not because our G’d is no longer among us that these evils have befallen us?” HaShem tells Moshe and Joshua: “I will hide my face that day, because of all the evil they have committed.” Here’s where G’d asks Moshe to write a song as a reminder so that Israel and its future generations may not forget this prophecy. This is Moshe’s Swan Song. HaShem asks Moshe to write it that same day. There is confusion as to which song Moshe writes that day. So far we have two specific songs in the Torah: The Song at the Sea (Shemot 15), and The Song of the Well (Bamidbar 21). Next up is the song Ha’azinu. Is this the song Moshe writes? The Talmud in Nedarim 38a declares the entire Torah to be the song. Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehudah Berlin (known as the “Netziv”) and author of Ha’amek Davar (A Matter Profound, asks how the entire Torah could be designated a song when it is not written as one? His response is that the Torah possesses “both the nature and singularity of poetry, which is to speak in lyrical language.” Whether it is in fact the Ha’azinu song that Moshe wrote that day or not, does not really matter. After all, we can simply remember the covenant by reading this Parasha. What does matter is that we “stand.” Because the act of standing is what should remind us that alone, we never stand. That when we stand, all of our past, present and future souls are standing there aside us. Especially, when you find yourself standing somewhere in the world - all alone.