Nitzavim: We’re Still Standing

This week we leave our curses behind. While the Torah reading cycle is specifically designed for the curses of Ki Tavo to be read before Rosh Hashana, we experienced that last week. This Shabbat, the light of Rosh Hashana is already in the air. This is the time to feel the brachot of new beginnings, and to let that inspire us.

The Zohar in Bamidbar tells us that every time it says, “vayehi hayom, it happened one day” (as in the first chapter of Iyov) it is a reference to Rosh Hashanah. Rav Schorr expands this idea, and says that the first words of our parsha, “You are standing today,” are a refence to Rosh Hashana as well. Just as we stood so many years ago together as a nation, preparing for the transition from Moshe’s leadership to Yehoshua’s, we stand together as a nation this Shabbat, jointly preparing to transition from one year to the next.

On that day in the desert so many years ago, Rashi (Devarim 29:12) tells us that we needed some encouragement to move forward. When we heard the 98 curses of Ki Tavo added on to the 49 curses in Vayikra, we got scared. How would we survive? Moshe told us, as a nation and as individuals, “You are standing today, all of you, before Hashem your G-d.” You angered Hashem many times, but you will always endure. You stand as the day stands. It may become dark for a time, but it will become light again. The purpose of the curses is to enable you not just to stand, but to stand before Hashem.

The first message of Parshat Nitzavim is that the goal of everything we experience, including all of our challenges and difficulties, is to bring us, ultimately, to a place of bracha. This happens when the Kingship of Hashem is revealed, and is the essence of Rosh Hashana. The avodah of the day is to crown Hashem as melech of the world. There is a specific aspect to a Melech, a king, as opposed to a moshal, a ruler. A melech is a king chosen by the people. A moshal is a ruler who dictates by force. On Rosh Hashana we are choosing to recognize Hashem as our King.

This is why we celebrate Rosh Hashanah not on the 25th of Elul, when the world was created, but on the first of Tishrei, when man was created. Of course Hashem rules over the world from the moment it was created. But it is only once we humans, with our faculty of free choice, exist that Hashem can be crowned melech and not just moshal.

The deciding factor is our ratzon, our will. It all depends on the choice we make about what we want. This is expressed clearly at the end of the parsha, when Hashem tells us (Devarim 30:19): “I have placed life and death before you, blessing and curse; and you shall choose life.”

The essence of Rosh Hashana is connecting to our desire for life. What is real life, eternal life? The psukim continue: “To love Hashem your G-d, to listen to him and to cleave to Him, for that is your life and the length of your days.” At the moment when we were created, Hashem blew into us “the breath of life.” The desire and the ability to lead a life that is alive with connection to the eternal is an intrinsic part of who we are.

Each year Hashem’s kingship in the world is renewed. Each physical piece of Hashem’s creation has its part to play in the revelation of Hashem’s kingship in the world, as does each moment in time. The judgement of Rosh Hashana is a judgement on how we fit into the plan. We are gifted with this Shabbat as a time of inspiration before we step into the next year. The break in the week and in our routine gives us a moment to contemplate. What part do we want to play in Hashem’s plan for the upcoming year?  Can we open up our hearts to choosing Hashem as the guiding force in our life? Do we want to choose the life that Hashem wants us to live?

Rosh Hashana: Choose Life

As humans, we don’t have a great record for choosing life. From the very beginning, Adam and Chava chose to eat from the Tree of Knowledge instead of the Tree of Life. The result? Adam was banished from Gan Eden lest he “send forth his hand and take from the Tree of Life and eat and live forever (Bereisheit 3:22).” Rav Schorr explains that after the sin, Adam could not live forever. He needed the tikkun that comes with death.

Where Adam failed, Avraham succeeded.  At the akeidah he “sent forth his hand (Bereisheit 22:10).” When Hashem tasked him with an almost impossible mission, to sacrifice his beloved only son, he chose to do exactly what Hashem asked of him. The kabbalists tell us that at that moment Avraham grasped the Tree of Life. He created something eternal. The spiritual energy that Avraham created was not actualized in the slaughter of Yitzchak in this world. But it was powerful enough to create the spiritual reality of Yitzchak’s ashes resting before Hashem forever. The message is that our spiritual reality can sometimes be different than our physical reality.

How perfect that we read this on Rosh Hashana. Tosafot tells us (Rosh HaShanah 27a) that Rosh Hashana is the time when the world is created in thought and in potential. Sfat Emet explains what Rashi means when he tells us that the world was created first with strict justice, and then upon seeing that that could not endure, with a combination of justice and compassion. Rashi is expressing that the first reality that Hashem created, the world of Din, continues to exist in the higher spiritual realms, in the world of thought, but it can not be expressed completely in our world. In this way, Yitzchak’s ashes rested before Hashem in the spiritual world even as he continued to live in our world.

This cosmic reality parallels our personal reality. We too have a world of thought and a world of actuality. We are not guaranteed the ability to express ourselves in actuality exactly as we might want to. On Rosh Hashana we are judged on the aspect of ourselves that we have control over. We are judged on who we want to be. Our job is to clarify our ratzon.

We are helped tremendously by the spiritual reality of the akeidah. Avraham created a lasting reality in the world of thought. The Sfat Emet points out that as Avraham leaves his servants behind and prepares to walk with Yitzchak to Har Hamoriah, he tells them, “I and the boy will walk to koh, to there (Bereisheit 22:5).” He is echoing the language of Hashem, who promised him (Bereisheit 16:5), “koh yihiyeh zarecha, so shall be your children (like the stars).” And his actions echo through all the generations of his descendants.

Rav Schorr explains that Avraham accomplished perfect action in the world of thought. His entire, perfect intention was to fulfill the Will of Hashem, over and against his own desires. With this spiritual action, Avraham activated potential revelation for all the generations. He gave us the ability to offer ourselves up as korbanot the way Yitachak did—sort of. Rav Saadiah Gaon explains that while we don’t offer ourselves or our loved ones physically as a korban, what we can offer to Hashem on Rosh Hashana is our will. We give over our will to do His Will. The spiritual potential that Avraham activated at the Akeidah is a spiritual inheritance that lasts throughout the generations. However, it remains our job, in each generation, to bring this revelation from potential into actuality.

In the words of the Midrash this is expressed through the concept that the horns of the ram became the shofrot that are sounded throughout history. When we stood at Har Sinai the first shofar of the original ram was sounded and we experienced the greatest spiritual freedom. As the words of the aseret hadibrot were carved into the luchot, this freedom was carved into our soul. The shofar of Rosh Hashana reawakens our connection to the part of ourselves that remains spiritually free.

The second shofar of Avraham’s ram will be blown at the end of days, when we enter into a world of eternal life. R’ Tzadok Hakohen explains that, just as there is a lasting impression made in time from things of the past, there is an impression from the future which reaches backward throughout time and impacts us. When we blow the shofar, if we open ourselves up to it, we can experience an awakening of the freedom of Moshiach.

What is this freedom of the time of Moshiach? It is a freedom of expansion. Yishayahu (27:13) describes the shofar of Moshiach as “gadol.” It is so great, so expansive, that nationally it will reach to those lost in Assyria and exiled in Egypt and bring them to Jerusalem. On a personal level, it is so great, so expansive, that it can reach the hidden point of untouched kedusha within us and awaken it to expand throughout our bodies.

The blowing of the shofar is a time that exists beyond time. When we hear the shofar we are transported to stand before Hashem. We are grounded in the spiritual potential of Avraham. We experience the spiritual influence of Matan Torah. And we are given the opportunity to meet our future selves. It is a moment of din, when we are asked, who do we want to be?

There is a pose in yoga called the star pose, where we spread our hands and legs wide and allow ourselves to take up space in the world, to expand and express ourselves. On Rosh Hashana we are the children of Avraham. We are like the stars. When we hear the shofar, we can connect to the spiritual inheritance we received from him, that spark of will deep inside, and let that spark expand and take up space within us. We can be moser nefesh, sacrifice the will of our nefesh, our lower self, and connect instead to our higher will, our desire to take our rightful place in creation as a beautiful and unique expression of our Creator.

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