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This week’s Torah portion, Parashat Nitzavim, is so powerful it is read both on this Shabbat and on Yom Kippur. The scene is dramatic. Moses standing atop Mount Nebo giving his final sermon to the Israelites before they enter the Promised Land without him. He re-affirms the covenant God made with our patriarchs and matriarchs and says “I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone, but both with those who are standing here with us this day before the Eternal our God and with those who are not with us here this day.” It is a sermon speaking directly to all of us here and now. Moses calls to us through thousands of years of generations to be reminded of one thing: that before us always lies a choice between good and evil, blessing and curse. We always have the power to make a choice, even when we don’t think we have one.

The parasha begins, “Atem Nitzavim hayom, You (plural) stand here today…” I am imagining in just a couple of weeks all of us standing in our sanctuary being addressed by Moses, a call that echoes from our past and transcends time and space. I am imagining all of us reflecting on our choices and feeling comforted by the fact that even if we made bad ones that we are indeed standing at the threshold of another chance. The final shofar blast of Yom Kippur is a blast of hope that officially wipes our slates clean and delivers us into the New Year.

This Saturday night we will begin with another shofar blast by observing Selichot, the official opening of our Holy Days and will enter the liminal space of the Days of Awe. During this time, all of us are called to be in touch with our humanity, and by engaging in the act of contrition acknowledge that we are both broken and beautiful. All of us. In this space of vulnerability, we are actually at our most powerful-bound together by covenant and commandment, standing together with our deepest hopes and dreams for the future.

I look forward to journeying with you.

Shabbat Shalom,
Beth