Parashat Nitzavim - Seventh Aliyah
Read the biblical text and try to understand it on your own, before reading the commentary.
And you shall choose life
The last aliyah of the parasha sets before Israel a clear choice between two directions: life and good on one side, and death and evil on the other. The way to life is bound to loving God, to walking in his ways and to keeping his commandments, his statutes and his judgments. Out of that way come life, increase and blessing in the land Israel are about to enter.
On the other side, the Torah warns of a state in which the heart turns away from the way, a person stops listening and is drawn after other gods. In such a case it describes a distancing from life and from blessing, and even the loss of the hold on the land.
Moses calls the heavens and the earth as witnesses to this moment and stresses that the choice is set before the people. The Torah is not satisfied with presenting the two possibilities, but points explicitly toward choosing life, so that a person and their offspring will live.
The last verses connect the choice of life to loving God, to listening to his voice and to clinging to him. Life is not described only as a length of time or as survival, but as a bond with God and as the ability to go on dwelling in the land he swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.
Insights from the aliyah
Life is presented as a choice
The Torah does not describe a person as someone merely carried along by reality. They are called on to choose. At the level of the idea, spiritual and moral life is built out of a sequence of decisions and not only out of outward conditions.
The heart sets the direction before the act
Before the service of other gods is described, the turning of the heart appears. This teaches that a great change sometimes begins long before it can be seen from the outside, in the place where a person directs their will and their loyalty.
Choosing life is not for the person alone
The Torah connects the choice to the offspring as well, to the coming generations. At the level of the idea, a person’s decisions do not always end with them, but create a direction that their family and their surroundings may continue in.
Life is not only avoiding evil
The aliyah does not only say not to choose death and evil. It defines a positive way: love, listening, walking and clinging. That is, life is built out of active content and not only out of avoidance.
The blessing and the land are bound to the way
Dwelling in the land is not presented as something detached from the covenant. It is connected to the way the people live, listen and choose. The land is part of the bond and not only a geographical place.
Clinging is the peak of the choice
At the close of the parasha we are not left only with obedience to commandments. The process arrives at clinging to God. At the level of the idea, the goal is not only to perform correctly, but to build an inner and deep bond.
The end of Nitzavim brings the whole parasha back to the person
After covenant, exile, return, gathering and homecoming, the Torah ends with a very personal question: what do you choose now. The whole large national picture gathers at the end into a person’s choice about the way they want to live.
More Questions on the Parsha
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