Parshat Nitzavim: Deuteronomy 29:9 -30:20 By: Rabbi Denise L. Eger

On the edge of the beginning of the New Year we come to Parshat Nitzavim. Its words resonate so loudly because we recognize it as our reading on Yom Kippur morning. We will hear parts of this Torah portion again in just two weeks! But in this last week before 5768 ends and Rosh Hashanah arrives we are reminded through Moses urging to the Children of Israel of the importance of our Covenant with the Holy Divine One. Moses reminds us that the covenant “ ...is not too baffling for you nor it is beyond reach” (Deut. 30:11).

After a year of difficulties, of missing the mark, of errors and letting our spiritual lives take a back seat this parasha helps remind us that our traditions, our covenant and our ethical foundation in the Torah are important and worthy of our attention. Especially in this season of reflection with the New Year and Day of Atonement so close by we Jews are called back into the fold with positive force and optimism that the New Year can be a good one for all of us. The New Year and the blasts of the shofar call out to us to return to the fold and to reground and regroup our lives around the Jewish values that help to make us strong.

Parshat Nitzvamim read and studied in this last week of the year reinforces for us that we should “return to Adonai your God.” This turning towards God and away from the many distractions of contemporary life can help us strengthen our ability to cope in a frenetic world. When we turn towards the Divine Flow of Life that we call God, we help connect ourselves to something greater and a positive force for good in the world. This flow of divine Energy lifts each one of us up out of the mire and connects our souls in a deeper and more profound way. It is as the Torah portion says, “Then Adonai your God will open your heart …in order that you may live” (Deut. 30:6). By turning toward the Holy One and turning toward the Divine Flow of Life we open our hearts toward compassion, love and most importantly hope.

Rosh Hashanah comes to restore our hope that life can unfold with joy and love. We wish one another –a sweet New Year. We wish one another a good inscription in the Book of Life. It is all about hope for the New Year: our hopes as an individual and our hopes as a people.

But we have work to do to make that happen. It doesn’t just happen because we hope it will. Jewish tradition we are taught that our prayers are to inspire us to action. We have to get our own houses in order and fix the relationships that keep us trapped and weighed down. Rosh Hashanah and the teshuvah, the turning that we are to do, can be an opportunity for each one of us to turn over a new leaf and to do things differently so that you can deepen the meaning and deepen the connections with family, friends, and community. But it doesn’t happen with out your own individual effort. Each of us has to talk and explore and show up. We can’t just do it by proxy or email. If we hunker down in front of the television or computer screen we aren’t really making the deep personal connections that can transform our being and our souls. Connections, real connections happen in the presence of others when we are open to those connections.

It is a change of attitude and a change of heart. It is a change in direction—instead of turning away—closed off. It is a turning to and embracing of –it is risk taking to be in relationship with others and with God.

So as the New Year soon comes upon us-I wish you a week of turning. May the New Year bring hope and love, sweetness and the ability to turn towards one another and the Holy Divine One.

Posted by Jimmy at September 22, 2008 05:18 PM