Together we stand...

We've been doing some really good work as we prepare for a new year. As a Rabbi, I cannot overlook our weekly Torah portion, and this week's has some good food for thought.

Our Torah portion this week, Nitzavim, "You shall stand", presents a third affirmation of the covenantal relationship between Israel and the Holy.

Why a third time? After all, a covenant, unlike a contract, cannot be broken. Were the Hebrews that dense?

Just like in covenantal marriage relationships, over time, we need to readjust our expectations of one another. Who I am now is not who I was in 1993 when I first made a permanent, witnessed commitment to my wife (the anniversary is October 3rd). For certain, our relationship has deepened. Time and aging has also taken its toll, and shifted a few details here and there. Yet, the core of the covenant is permanent and eternal.

This is what we find in our Torah narratives about the three presentations of the covenant. Both parties are shifting, aging, learning how to better relate to one another, deepening their relationship as time goes on, checking to see if the expectations are realistic or need a bit of shifting given new circumstances of reality. (And yes, I do believe that the Holy also learns and grows in the relationship. This is process theology, and strongly evident throughout the Bible.)

To better understand, we look at the affirming of the covenant at Sinai and see what is different when we look at today's portion.

At Sinai, recorded in Parashat Mishpatim, we read that “All of you must bow down at a distance. Only Moses shall then approach G!d. The others may not come close, and the people may not go up with him” (Ex. 24:1–2). Clearly, Moses served as the intermediary. Moses was the center of the covenant, the speaker for the people to the Holy, and for the Holy to the people. The covenant was given from a mountain top, with Moses and G!d being at the top. It was a top-down enterprise.

I think this helps us to understand why the people so quickly devolved back to that which was familiar, melting their gold into an animal image, when Moses delayed far beyond his expected day to return. The people felt bereft and orphaned, because the covenant had been set up so that they related to Moses more than to G!d. They depended on Moses. When Moses went absent, they had no one to lead them. These were also people who, only months previously, had been slaves. They simply weren't yet ready to be fully responsible, free adults in an equal covenantal relationship.

Contrast that with this week's portion, Parashat Nitzavim. It opens with these words--“You are all standing before G!d, the heads of your tribes, your elders, and your bailiffs, with all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and your stranger who is in your camp, even the hewer of your wood, and the drawer of your water. This is so that you should enter into a covenant with G!d, into this oath, that G!d is making with you today.” (Deuteronomy 29:9–11)

Where did the intermediary go? There is none. Every single person was directly included in this third affirmation of the covenant, from the higher ups to those who chopped wood and carried water, including, for once, the women and children! Everyone STOOD together, on equal footing. Thee wasn't just equality; there was equity.

As well, this time the covenant was affirmed while everyone was gathered and standing on the plains of Moab. No mountain, no top-down. A simple, flat field.

Perhaps, over time, the Holy had learned that an intermediary was a bad idea. And the people had grown, too, learning that each of them were equally responsible for the covenant, not just Moses.

This time, in Nitzavim, the covenant stretches both horizontally and vertically. By that, I mean this:

Horizontally, everyone was equal and considered together and individually as parties to the covenant.

Vertically, the covenant spans backwards and forwards. It is simultaneously retroactive and proactive. “Not with you alone do I make this covenant…. But with those who stand here this day before the Holy… as well as with those who are not here with us this day” (Deut. 29:13–14).

This time, the covenant is clearly all inclusive, egalitarian, and eternal for all time.

In other words, Nitzavim, which means "You shall stand," tells us exactly where we stand, with whom we stand, and for how long we stand. It is horizontal and vertical.

For its time, it was and is truly remarkable. Even today, it is still more progressive than most of us can truly understand. This holy covenant is not static, but grows as the relationship grows over time.

Today we might ask ourselves, Where do I stand and with whom do I stand? There is no better time to reflect on this than in the remaining few days prior to beginning a new year.

(I am not going to suggest asking "how long have I been standing here?" because that evokes imagery akin to standing in a long, slow line at store!)

Shabbat shalom!