This is the final Shabbat of the year 5784 and on Saturday night, motzei Shabbat, we have our Selichot service. In the Ashkenazi tradition, from Selichot through the end of Yom Kippur we recite special penitential prayers, asking for Divine forgiveness and guidance in our process of teshuvah, turning away from our bad habits and toward our best selves.
The High Holy Days, or Days of Awe, as they are called in Hebrew, are a strange way to celebrate a New Year, not through merriment but through deep self-reflection and the commitment to change and grow. But perhaps this should not be so surprising as, according to our tradition, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and the days in between are when we reach the greatest intimacy with God. It is as if the entire Jewish people stands together on these days as we once did at Sinai.
This week’s Torah portion, Nitzavim-Vayeilech, reinforces this idea as it begins, “You stand this day, all of you, before your God—your tribal heads, your elders, and your officials, every householder in Israel, your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to waterdrawer—to enter into the covenant of your God יהוה, which your God יהוה is concluding with you this day, with its sanctions; in order to establish you this day as God’s people and in order to be your God, as promised you and as sworn to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone, but both with those who are standing here with us this day before our God יהוה and with those who are not with us here this day.” (Deuteronomy 29:9-14)
Commenting on the final verse, Rashi (11th C. Germany) wrote, “That all of Israel, from the generation that physically stood at Sinai and all future generations were present when the Torah was given at Sinai. The process of revelation that began thousands of years ago was not a one time event, but an ongoing process of which we are a part. Whenever we engage in the hard work of changing and becoming our better selves, or turning away from selfishness toward service we are present at Sinai and helping to bring Torah into the world. Shannah tova u’metukah. May we all merit a sweet and good New Year.
Nitzavim-Vayeilech, Deuteronomy 29:9-31:30; Parashat HaShavua for Shabbat, September 28, 2024
September 27, 2024 by tbhrich • Drashot
This is the final Shabbat of the year 5784 and on Saturday night, motzei Shabbat, we have our Selichot service. In the Ashkenazi tradition, from Selichot through the end of Yom Kippur we recite special penitential prayers, asking for Divine forgiveness and guidance in our process of teshuvah, turning away from our bad habits and toward our best selves.
The High Holy Days, or Days of Awe, as they are called in Hebrew, are a strange way to celebrate a New Year, not through merriment but through deep self-reflection and the commitment to change and grow. But perhaps this should not be so surprising as, according to our tradition, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and the days in between are when we reach the greatest intimacy with God. It is as if the entire Jewish people stands together on these days as we once did at Sinai.
This week’s Torah portion, Nitzavim-Vayeilech, reinforces this idea as it begins, “You stand this day, all of you, before your God—your tribal heads, your elders, and your officials, every householder in Israel, your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to waterdrawer—to enter into the covenant of your God יהוה, which your God יהוה is concluding with you this day, with its sanctions; in order to establish you this day as God’s people and in order to be your God, as promised you and as sworn to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone, but both with those who are standing here with us this day before our God יהוה and with those who are not with us here this day.” (Deuteronomy 29:9-14)
Commenting on the final verse, Rashi (11th C. Germany) wrote, “That all of Israel, from the generation that physically stood at Sinai and all future generations were present when the Torah was given at Sinai. The process of revelation that began thousands of years ago was not a one time event, but an ongoing process of which we are a part. Whenever we engage in the hard work of changing and becoming our better selves, or turning away from selfishness toward service we are present at Sinai and helping to bring Torah into the world. Shannah tova u’metukah. May we all merit a sweet and good New Year.