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ROSH HASHANA-YOM KIPPUR-SUCCOT SPECIAL EDITION THE OHR SOMAYACH TORAH MAGAZINE ON THE INTERNET • WWW.OHR.EDU SHABBAT PARSHIOT NITZAVIM-VAYELECH-HAAZINU • TISHREI 5778 - SEP. 2017 • VOL. 24 NO. 52 PARSHA INSIGHTS Nitzavim-Vayelech O H R whNere existence has no sEhape, like a world of fTormless mat - NOT WRITTEN IN STONE ter yet to be defined. When we enter the waters of the “And the L-rd your G-d will circumcise mikveh we regress to an earlier stage of creation, to that pri - your heart and the heart of...” (30:6) mordial world before definition and form. And in that water on’t you sometimes feel like your life is written in we are re-formed, as new. stone? That you can’t change? Sometimes we want The word mikveh comes from the same root as the word to go back to a more innocent time, a time when we tikveh — “hope”. The essence of hope is that we are not Dwere pure and our hearts unsullied. But we feel we can’t bounded and trapped by our present reality. Hope says that break the mold we’re stuck in. We’ve created a treadmill we can connect to that which is outside and beyond our - from past bad decisions, and now we seem doomed to run selves — to the Source. Every mikveh is like a little sea. The like a rat round and round, visiting and re-visiting all the mis - gematria of yam (sea) is 50. The number 50 represents the takes we’ve ever made. transcendent. It represents the gateway to that which is Hopelessness is the feeling that things are forever written “beyond”. in stone. This is the essence of purity, of taharah . Life is not written When the world came into being, it first existed as pri - mordial matter without form: “Darkness on the face of the in stone. Hope tells us that we can return to the world of deep, and the Divine Presence hovering on the face of the water to be become purified. This is the essence of hope: water.” The world was then a world of water, the ultimate That things can be re-made, that we can change ourselves, symbol of matter without form. Water flows where it may, that we can break the treadmill. The mikveh tells us that we taking any shape at all, waiting for the vessel that holds it to can go back to the world of water, to that world of pure give it shape, to give it true purpose. matter. The mikveh tells us that we can regress to a world There are times when we lose contact with our true pur - before form, that we can re-make ourselves and become pose. Times when the form that we have made for ourselves pure. is not what the Creator intended. We have become sealed The astrological sign of the month of Elul is “ Betula ” — and unresponsive to spiritual reality. In Hebrew this is called the Maiden — the essence of purity. Betula is a water sign. tuma , impurity. Impurity means to be cut off from the The sign of the Hope. Source. To be “sealed”. The landscape of that sealed exis - “Your heart and the heart of...” tence is a world of hopelessness. The first letters of this verse spell “Elul”, the month of If only we could return to a world where things were not teshuva , in which we can return to a state of unsullied purity. written in stone, where we could refashion ourselves in the And the last letters spell tichatev — “You will be written” — form that the Creator intended for us! to hint that through teshuva – a return to pristine selves — The waters of the mikveh are like an amniotic world may we be written and sealed for the continued on page nine OHRNET BEREISHET-NOACH can be found on page 21 www. 1 ohr.edu PARSHA OVERVIEW NITZAVIM Moshe and Yehoshua that after entering the Land the people n the last day of his life, Moshe gathers all the people, will be unfaithful and worship other gods. G-d will then com - young and old, lowly and exalted, men and women, pletely “hide His face”, so that it will seem that the Jewish in a final initiation. The covenant includes not only People are at the mercy of fate, hunted by all. G-d instructs Othose who are present, but even those generations yet Moshe and Yehoshua to write down a song — Ha’azinu — unborn. Moshe admonishes the people again to be extremely which will serve as “witness” against the Jewish People when vigilant against idol worship because, in spite of having wit - they sin. Moshe records the song in writing and teaches it to nessed the abominations of Egypt, there will always be the Bnei Yisrael . Moshe completes his transcription of the Torah temptation to experiment with foreign philosophies as a pre - and instructs the levi’im to place it to the side of the Holy Ark, text for immorality. Moshe describes the desolation of the so that no one will ever write a new Torah Scroll different Land of Israel which will result from failure to heed G-d’s from the original, for there will always be a reference copy. mitzvot . Descendants of that generation and foreigners alike will remark on the singular desolation of the Land and its HA’AZINU apparent inability to be sown or to produce crops. The con - lmost all of Ha’azinu is a song, written in the Torah in clusion will be apparent to all — the Jewish People have for - two parallel columns. Moshe summons the Heavens saken the One who protects them in favor of powerless idols. and the earth to stand as eternal witnesses to what will Moshe promises, however, that the people will eventually Ahappen if the Jewish People sin and do not obey the Torah. He repent after both the blessings and the curses have been ful - reminds the people to examine the history of the world and filled. However assimilated they will have become among the note how the Jewish People are rescued from obliteration in nations, eventually G-d will bring them back to Eretz Yisrael . each generation — that G-d “pulls the strings” of world events Moshe tells the people to remember that fulfilling the Torah is so that Bnei Yisrael can fulfill their destiny as His messengers in not an impossibility; rather it’s within the grasp of every Jew. the world. G-d's kindness is such that Israel should be eternal - The parsha dramatically concludes with Moshe’s comparing ly grateful, not just for sustaining them in the wilderness, but the Jewish People’s choice to follow the Torah to a choice for bringing them to a Land of amazing abundance and for between life and death. Moshe exhorts the people to choose defeating their enemies. But this physical bounty leads the life. people to become over-indulged. Physical pleasures corrupt the morals of the people. They worship empty idols and pow - VAYELECH erless gods and indulge in all kinds of depravity. G-d will then n the last day of his life, Moshe goes from tent to tent let nations with no moral worth subjugate Israel and scatter bidding farewell to his people, encouraging them to them across the world. However, their only purpose is as a “keep the faith.” Moshe tells them that whether he rod to chastise the Jewish People. When these nations think Ois among them or not, G-d is with them. He summons that it is through their own power that they have dominated Yehoshua, and, in front of all the people, exhorts him to be Israel, G-d will remind them that they are no more than a tool strong and courageous as leader of the Jewish People. Thus, to do His will. The purpose of the Jewish People is fundamen - he strengthens Yehoshua’s status. Moshe teaches the mitzvah tal — that man should know his Creator. Neither exile nor of hakhel : Every seven years on the first of the intermediate suffering can sever the bond between G-d and His people, days of Succot, the entire nation, including small children, is to and, eventually, in the final redemption this closeness will be gather at the Temple to hear the king read from the Book of restored. G-d will then turn His anger against the enemies of Devarim. The sections read deal with faithfulness to G-d, the Israel, as though they were His own enemies, showing no covenant and reward and punishment. G-d tells Moshe that mercy to the tormentors of His people. G-d then gives His his end is near, and he should summon Yehoshua to stand with last commandment to Moshe: That he should ascend Mount him in the Mishkan , where G-d will teach Yehoshua. G-d tells Nevo and be gathered there to his people. v c u y v b a The Ohr Somayach Family wishes you and yours and all of Israel a year filled with happiness, health and peace. www. ohr.edu 2 PARSHA Q&A ? Nitzavim Vayelech 1. Why did Moshe gather the Jewish People together on 1. How old was Moshe when he died? the day of his death? 2. Why was Moshe unable "to go out and come in"? (31:2) 2. Who are the wood-cutters and water-drawers men - 3. What happened to Moshe’s Torah knowledge on the day tioned in verse 29:10? of his death? 3.