Nitzavim
Devarim 29:9-30:20
Closeness to God through Listening Deeply
Jenny R. Labendz, 5762
This devar Torah is dedicated to the memory of my teacher, Rabbi S. Hirsch Jacobson, z"l, whose 5th yahrzeit is this Monday, 25 Elul. His Torah and love of yiddishkeit continually inspire me.
We are situated right now essentially at the end of the body of Moshe's speech to B'nei Yisrael, shortly before he will die and leave us to enter the land. The parashah is chock full of Moshe's encouragements and attempts at convincing the people to stick with the Torah and to follow the commandments. Let's look at the first ten verses of Devarim chapter 30.
| (1) Then, when all these things come upon you-the blessing and the curse that I have set before you, and you take them to heart amidst all the nations into which Hashem your God has driven you, (2) You shall return to Hashem your God, and you shall listen to His voice according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all of your heart and with all of your soul. (3) Then Hashem your God will return you from captivity and will be compassionate to you and will return and gather you from all the nations among whom Hashem your God has scattered you. (4) If your outcasts are at the outermost point of heaven, from there Hashem your God will gather you and from there He will fetch you. (5) Hashem your God will bring you to the land that your ancestors possessed and will bequeath it [to you], and He will do good for you and will multiply you more than your ancestors. (6) Hashem your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love Hashem your God with all your heart and with all your soul so that you will live. (7) Hashem your God will put all of these curses upon your enemies and those that hate you who have pursued you. (8) And you will return, and listen to the voice of Hashem and do all of the commandments that I command you today. (9) And Hashem your God will make you have plenty in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your land for good, for Hashem will return to rejoice in you as He rejoiced in your ancestors. (10) If you listen to the voice of Hashem your God to keep His commandments and His laws that is written in this book of the Torah, for you will return to Hashem your God with all your heart and with all your soul. | (א) וְהָיָה כִי יָבֹאוּ עָלֶיךָ כָּל הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה הַבְּרָכָה וְהַקְּלָלָה אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לְפָנֶיךָ וַהֲשֵׁבֹתָ אֶל לְבָבֶךָ בְּכָל הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר הִדִּיחֲךָ יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ שָׁמָּה: (ב) וְשַׁבְתָּ עַד יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ וְשָׁמַעְתָּ בְקֹלוֹ כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם אַתָּה וּבָנֶיךָ בְּכָל לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָל נַפְשֶׁךָ: (ג) וְשָׁב יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֶת שְׁבוּתְךָ וְרִחֲמֶךָ וְשָׁב וְקִבֶּצְךָ מִכָּל הָעַמִּים אֲשֶׁר הֱפִיצְךָ יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ שָׁמָּה: (ד) אִם יִהְיֶה נִדַּחֲךָ בִּקְצֵה הַשָּׁמָיִם מִשָּׁם יְקַבֶּצְךָ יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ וּמִשָּׁם יִקָּחֶךָ: (ה) וֶהֱבִיאֲךָ יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר יָרְשׁוּ אֲבֹתֶיךָ וִירִשְׁתָּהּ וְהֵיטִבְךָ וְהִרְבְּךָ מֵאֲבֹתֶיךָ: (ו) וּמָל יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֶת לְבָבְךָ וְאֶת לְבַב זַרְעֶךָ לְאַהֲבָה אֶת יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּכָל לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָל נַפְשְׁךָ לְמַעַן חַיֶּיךָ: (ז) וְנָתַן יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֵת כָּל הָאָלוֹת הָאֵלֶּה עַל אֹיְבֶיךָ וְעַל שֹׂנְאֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר רְדָפוּךָ: (ח) וְאַתָּה תָשׁוּב וְשָׁמַעְתָּ בְּקוֹל יְהֹוָה וְעָשִׂיתָ אֶת כָּל מִצְוֹתָיו אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם: (ט) וְהוֹתִירְךָ יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּכֹל מַעֲשֵׂה יָדֶךָ בִּפְרִי בִטְנְךָ וּבִפְרִי בְהֶמְתְּךָ וּבִפְרִי אַדְמָתְךָ לְטֹבָה כִּי יָשׁוּב יְהֹוָה לָשׂוּשׂ עָלֶיךָ לְטוֹב כַּאֲשֶׁר שָׂשׂ עַל אֲבֹתֶיךָ: (י) כִּי תִשְׁמַע בְּקוֹל יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לִשְׁמֹר מִצְוֹתָיו וְחֻקֹּתָיו הַכְּתוּבָה בְּסֵפֶר הַתּוֹרָה הַזֶּה כִּי תָשׁוּב אֶל יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּכָל לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָל נַפְשֶׁךָ: |
Go back over that and count:
(a) How many things are we told to do? How many verbs are in the second person?
(b) How many things does Moshe say God will do for us? How many future tense verbs refer to God's promised actions for us if we do those things we're supposed to do?
Don't keep reading until you've got some numbers.
There are basically two things we are told to do, three times each: "לָשוּב" and "לִשְׁמֹעַ" - "to return" and "to listen". "לָשוּב" - "to return" - is familiar to us, because that is the source of the word "תְּשׁוּבָה" - "repentance". This being the month of Elul, as we approach Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, repentance should be on all of our minds right now. "לִשְׁמֹעַ" literally means "to listen", but generally, when the Torah uses that that root it means "to obey". So we have to repent and we have to obey. What will be the result of that? Six of the nine verses above tell us a slew of wonderful things that God will do for us if we do those two things. In short, redemption hinges on our repentance and obedience.
But are they really two separate things? Doesn't repenting mean, at least on one level, returning to the path of doing (i.e., obeying) mitzvot? And isn't repentance included in that which God has commanded us? It seems that repentance and obedience really go hand in hand, and we should think of them as one thing.
Perhaps. But repentance, returning, stands out among the other mitzvot here, and with the High Holidays approaching I want to take a minute to think about why. Ba'al haTurim comments on verse ten that teshuvah, repentance, is considered as weighty as all of the other mitzvot combined. ("שקולה היא התשובה כנגד כל. המצות כולן") Teshuvah is, in a sense, the goal of all of the other mitzvot. Repentance doesn't simply mean returning to the path of mitzvot. That would mean that the other mitzvot are the goal, and teshuvah is the means to get there. Teshuvah means changing who we are and becoming close to Hashem, whatever that means for us as individuals, and the mitzvot are the means to achieving that end.
So how does the performance of the other mitzvot lead us to teshuvah? I said above that generally the word "לִשְׁמֹעַ" in the Bible means to obey, rather than to listen, and that this word refers to the performance of the mitzvot. But the Torah commentary HaKetav Ve-haKabballah encourages us to think more deeply about that word. We are told not just to "listen" (obey?), but to listen to God's voice (look closely at verses 2, 8, and 10). It does have something to do with listening in a literal way, and that's what the word "voice" is trying to drive home. There is a deep connection between listening and obedience, and not only in that listening is necessary for us to find out what we're supposed to obey. That's step one. But in a deeper way, HaKetav Ve-haKabballah explains that when we learn to listen in the physical sense, with our ears, and we act on that listening and internalize it (the performance of mitzvot), we are honing the skills we need for hearing and perceiving the figurative voices, the spiritual sounds that come from Hashem and that fill the world with holiness and beauty. Teshuvah is returning to closeness with God, and that means, in part, being able to hear God in the world. In order to do that we have to be able to hear ourselves and each other, and we need some very good listening skills. God offers us the mitzvot as gifts so that we can come close to God - so that we can use the mitzvot to train ourselves to become human beings capable of doing teshuvah, achieving closeness to Hashem.