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This week's Torah portion is Nitzavim and, like the rest of the book of Deuteronomy consists of a long drawn out goodbye from Moses to the people of Israel before they enter the promised land. Moses goes into detail about the covenant between the Israelites and God and the punishments that will befall the Jewish people if the covenant is forgotten, and the good things that will happen if we hold up our end of the covenant. Basically Jews break the covenant = Galut (Exile) for us and devastation for the land.
This Parsha as well brings up four major tenets of the Jewish Faith: The unity of the people of Israel, the practicality of Torah, future redemption in the land of Israel, and freedom of choice. To go more in depth on any of these tenants and how they relate to the parsha please consult Chabad.org.
The idea of the practicality of Torah, that Jewish law is not merely for mental masturbation but for practically guiding one's own life, stems from the following passage, which we are about to go more in depth into!
13Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us and fetch it for us, to tell [it] to us, so that we can fulfill it?"
14Rather,[this] thing is very close to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can fulfill it.
יגוְלֹא מֵעֵבֶר לַיָּם הִוא לֵאמֹר מִי יַעֲבָר לָנוּ אֶל עֵבֶר הַיָּם וְיִקָּחֶהָ לָּנוּ וְיַשְׁמִעֵנוּ אֹתָהּ וְנַעֲשֶׂנָּה:
ידכִּי קָרוֹב אֵלֶיךָ הַדָּבָר מְאֹד בְּפִיךָ וּבִלְבָבְךָ לַעֲשׂתוֹ:
The idea that commandments (Mitzvot) are not far away (in heaven, the sea etc.) or for others to dictate to or do for us (who will go and fetch it for us?) leaves us as Jews with a unique responsibility to enact our values and Judaism personally and in our everyday life ([this] thing is very close to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart).
Not only is this attitude an important part of Judaism it is an important part of our movement. Our movement has daunting values that can seem distant from our year round life. Many chaverim after leaving machane and starting new pursuits go through some sort of shock, and have trouble infusing our day to day with the values that we believe in. The passage above showcases that if Moses and G-d were chaverim they would want us to infuse our ideals in our lifes personally, whether through the ken or other year round movement structures.
As we near Rosh Hashana, and a new year let us all as movement members reflect on the ways we can personally access the values of our movement through our actions, and bring our values into our lives.
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