Overview
of the Weekly Reading
To be read on Shabbat Nitzavim, 28 Elul
5771/Sept. 15, 2012
Torah: Deut. 29:9-30:20
Haftorah: Isaiah 61 (7th of the Seven Haftorahs
of Consolation)
Pirkei Avot: Chapter
6
Nitzavim
is the 8th Reading out of 11 in Deuteronomy and it contains
2575 letters, in 657 words, in 40 verses
Nitzavim
(Deuteronomy 29:9-30:20) opens with G-d making a covenant with
the Jews, establishing them as His nation. He tells them that
if they stray from the Torah, evil will befall them, but that
when they return they will be rewarded with blessings, and will
be returned to their land. G-d sets before them the choice between
good and evil, but warns them to stay away from evil.
 An
essay from
Rabbi Shaul Yosef Leiter, director of Ascent (L:5172/nitzavim)
(for a free weekly email subscription, click
here)
The Shlah comments on Tractate Taanit that words are meant
to buoy our spirits. Evil precedes but is a sign of the coming
good. We see in everyday life that the shell covers the fruit;
night precedes day. It is from within darkness that light emerges.
If the Almighty had not created this "shell" concealing
the good within, our entire reality would have been different.
Every thing good would have been tinged with bad. Every fruit
would have been a mixture of sweetness and waste, wine mixed with
sediment. Ultimately, the Holy One Blessed Be He wished us to
have the wine that is "guarded" - free of the sediment
that caused the first sin (according to the opinion that the first
fruit that Adam ate was the juice of a squeezed grape). That archetypal
event changed the world, causing everything to become clouded
and dark.
This darkness is the foundation for the great light that will
follow. This is the secret of the Hebrew word for "And He
separated" (Gen. 1:4), hinting to how G-d extracted the pure
light from within the darkness. Consequently, this is the formula
of our reality that we are able and must constantly extract good
from within the negative. Secondly, we see that our continued
exile, the trials we have been forced to face throughout the generations
in fact cleanse us, saving us from much more difficult punishments.
Difficulties push us to return to proper Jewish living because
we are forced to examine our own lives.
The Shlah continues that this is the reason that the first verse
of our Torah portion, "You are standing", follows the
curses at the end of last week's Torah portion, and ultimately
concludes later with "And this is the blessing" (Deut.
33:1). The curses are really blessings, and albeit from a very
deep level of concealment, actually for our good. In fact, as
we wrote above, they are the source for personal change. Just
as when we realize that our own negative deeds are our destruction,
and we use this revelation as a springboard to turn to positive
deeds, the negatives actually save us and become positive.
Rebbe Michel of Zlotshuv gives more words of encouragement. On
a verse later in our Torah reading, it says, "…And you
choose life in order that you and your children will live."
What is going on here? This is Judaism…we fulfill its commandments
to receive a prize? Absolutely not, we do the commandments for
G-d's sake, not for any benefit! Rebbe Michil explains that when
we do a mitzvah in the best way, for the sake of G-d because
He commanded us, selflessly, with love, awe, and true intention,
then we give that action a spiritual power, a life force that
moves to higher and higher levels. Becoming something akin to
a shining light, it spreads its effluence of blessings, mercy
and life to all beings in the world. This is the inner meaning
of the verse that we are commanded to choose life. This is the
Jewish message the week before Rosh Hashanah: we should redouble
our efforts to do good. Do not let the darkness hold us back.
When the Jewish people do the commandments in the best way, we
bring a flow of blessings to the world and all its inhabitants.
Let us all pray for the arrival of Mashiach.
May you and all your loved ones be inscribed for a Sweet, Good,
Healthy and Happy New Year!
Shabbat Shalom, Shaul
Please also read my weekly Shabbat Law, below.
(for a free weekly email subscription, click
here)
For last year's essay by Rabbi Leiter on this week's
Reading, see the archive.
FROM
THE CHASSIDIC REBBES
"…To add the drunkenness to the thirsty."
[29:17]
Allegorically, the human-animal soul is referred to as "drunk."
It indeed longs for pleasure, but the pleasure it longs for
is purely physical. Inasmuch as this form of pleasure is readily
available to it, it can easily quench its thirst. In contrast,
the G-dly soul thirsts for G-dliness. This thirst can never
be quenched as long as the G-dly soul is clothed in the physical
body and faced with the concealment of this world. Only in the
messianic future, when G-dliness will be openly revealed, will
the Divine soul be "drunk" with Divinity.
[Lubavitcher Rebbe Chumash]
For more than a decade of "From the Chasidic Rebbes"
on this Weekly Reading, see our archives
MOSHIACH
THIS WEEK
"It will be when all these things have happened... you
will return to G-d... and G-d will return your captivity and
will gather you from among all the nations where He dispersed
you." (Deut. 30:3)
All of the Prophets prescribed teshuva (repentance,
return), and the Jewish people will be redeemed only through
teshuva. The Torah has given assurance that Israel will
do teshuva - at the end of its exile-and will be redeemed
immediately, as it says: "It will be when all these things
have happened... you will return to G-d... and G-d will return
your captivity and will gather you from among all the nations
where He dispersed you."
[L'Chaim 988]
For nearly a decade of "Moshiach This Week "
on this Weekly Reading, see our archives
From
the Kabbalah Commentaries on the Chumash ("5
Books of Moses")
13th
century - "RambaN"
- Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman
14th
century - "Bachya"
- Rabbi Bachya ben Asher
16th
century - "Alsheich"
- Rabbi Moshe Alshech of Tsfat
18th
century - "Ohr
HaChayim" - Rabbi Chaim Ben Attar
a sample for this week:
Ramban
"And The Eternal Your G-d will circumcise you
heart." [30:6]
It is this which the Rabbis have said, If someone comes
to purify himself, they assist him"(from on High).
The verse assures you that you will return to Him with
all your heart and He will help you.
This following subject is very apparent from Scripture:
Since the time of Creation, man has had the power to do
as he pleased, to be righteous or wicked. This grant of
free will applies likewise to the entire Torah-period,
so that people can gain merit upon choosing the good and
punishment for preferring evil. But in the days of the
Mashiach, the choice of genuine good will be natural;
the heart will not desire the improper and one will have
no craving whatever for it. This is the" circumcision"
mentioned here, for lust and desire are the" foreskin"
of the heart, and circumcision of the heart means that
it will not covet or desire evil. Man will return at that
time to what he was before the sin of Adam, when by his
nature he did what should properly be done, and there
were no conflicting desires in his will, as I have explained
in parshat Bereishit.
To continue reading click here.
(Adapted
from Torat Moshe - the 16th commentary of Rabbi Moshe
Alshech, the "Preacher of Zefat" on the Torah,
as translated and condensed in the English version of
Eliyahu Munk)
For the rest of "The Masters of Kabbala and
Chumash" on this Weekly
Reading; and on all the other
Readings. |
A
MYSTICAL CHASSIDIC DISCOURSE
from
the Chabad Master series,
produced by Rabbi Yosef Marcus for
www.ascentofsafed.com
and www.kabbalaonline.org
For a free
email subscription to the Chabad Master series, click
here.
FROM
THE SAGES OF KABBALAH ON KabbalaOnline.org
Specifically,
for an overview of the recommended articles in the columns:
Holy Zohar, Holy Ari, Mystic Classics, Chasidic Masters, Contemporary
Kabbalists, and more,
click to Nitzavim
one sample:
Mystical Classics
 The
Holy Heart of Times to Come
From Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman's commentary on the Torah
"And the Eternal, your G-d, will circumcise your heart."
Since the time of Creation, man has had the power to do as he
pleased, to be righteous or wicked, so that he can gain merit
upon choosing the good and punishment for preferring evil. But
in the days of the Mashiach, the choice of genuine good will be
natural; the heart will not desire the improper and one will have
no craving whatsoever for it.
To continue, click
here.
For a free email subscription to our weekly anthology,
click
here.
For another taste of recommended Kabbalah articles on a variety
of subjects,
click to the
our
weekly Kabbalah magazine
Here is a
smaple from this week's:
 KOL
Magazine, Vol. 8, No.51
Special pre-ROSH HASHANAH issue
This week's lead article emphasizes the importance of Jewish unity
going into Rosh Hashanah, and the interesting Kabbalistic analysis
of Facebook in the next article can be seen as a reinforcement
of this point.
Last Saturday night Askenazic Jews started the distinctive pre-Rosh
Hashanah Selichot prayers -- see closing article (Sephardim have
been reciting them for three weeks already.)
Sample article:
 Kabbalah
and Facebook - Part 2 — Shrinking the Universe
By Yonatan Gordon
Facebook announced that there are now just 4.74 degrees of separation
among their 721,000,000 active users.
[To continue, click here]
|
