By Ari Howorth

Nitzavim details a long Moses speech to the Israelites describing the covenant between God and said Israelites. Moses has everyone gathered and states that what he is explaining is applicable to not only those present, but to all of the jewish people now, and to come. He talks about how there are pretty intense punishments for not respecting the covenant ("The Lord will not be willing to forgive him; rather, then, the Lord's fury and His zeal will fume against that man, and the entire curse written in this book will rest upon him, and the Lord will obliterate his name from beneath the heavens."). He then explains how the Torah was designed to be able to be practiced and how ultimately, it is up to each individual person to decide what level of involvement they would like Judaism to take in their life.

It is interesting to me that there seems to be a stark contrast between the nature of this covenant, and the nature of the word of the Torah. G-d explains that adhering to the Torah is a choice ("I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. You shall choose life, so that you and your offspring will live"), yet states that this covenant will be inherited by the future generations of the Jewish people. While obviously these future generations can refute the covenant, it is notable that there is an assumed agreement of the Jewish people with the covenant being made, but this assumption is not held about the Torah, as it is appropriate for one to think about and grapple with it before engaging in a life of Judaism.

This choice is one of the four big ideas that comes from this Parasha. These are: The Unity of the Jewish People (as seen by the proclamation that this covenant applies to all Jews to come), the future redemption of Israel (complemented by the threat of what happens if Israel abandons G-d's law), the practicality of the Torah (by design), and the freedom of choice.

The idea of the practicality of the Torah got me thinking about our movement, specifically at our Machanot. When G-d describes the Torah, it is clear that living to the word of the Torah is a daunting task for most. While the intention behind the Torah is easy to adhere to, it is the various practices in which it commands that often get forgotten or ignored. At our Machanot (or at least at Gilboa), we are always trying to think up hip new structural changes to make a day easier for all parties involved. It is a no brainer that we agree with the intention or mission statement of this place, but when it comes to enacting this intention within Machaneh, it takes careful thought and deliberation to organize. In both situations, there is a commitment to a dream, and thus the creation of structures that help us to enact it. It isn't easy, and in both, new structures are always being created and old ones improved upon. In Judaism/HDNA, various structures tend to look very different, but each Jew/machaneh finds their own set of structures that allows them to adhere to the vision (designed to be attainable) in the way that appeals to them.

The notion of Freedom of Choice also got me a thinking. John Steinbeck, as shown in East of Eden, believes that the word תמשל-Timshel from the book of Genesis is the most important word in the Bible. This word means "Thou Mayest" (which Stienbeck explains also implies "thou mayest not") and explains that freedom of choice is from the very beginning what makes us human and gives us hope for redemption as individuals. This freedom is only fleshed out in Nitzavim as the choice to live a Jewish life.

But do we always have Freedom of Choice? It seems so simple and so black and white, but the ability to actively commit to a Jewish life, or perhaps to a movement

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