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Orchard of Delights Nitzavim

of His ways and for the sake of Israel that is called the first of His better in the future. While our future is dependent on rectifying the
produce.” This interpretation fits nicely with the reading of the end past, God’s final judgment on Rosh Hashanah, which affects our
and the beginning of the Torah as one long sentence: “Before the future, is dependent on the sincerity and level of commitment we
eyes of all Israel [and for the sake of the Torah and Israel] in the manage to generate in the present. Further weaving together past,
beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” present, and future, the Jewish tradition teaches that although God,
being Omniscient, knows whether or not we will really change for the
According to the Midrash, when God created the world He
took counsel with the souls of the tzaddikim. Since the Midrash is better, He compassionately judges us according to our sincere desire
referring to an epoch before time and space, when God’s oneness was to change and not by what actually transpires in the future.
the only entity in existence, we must ask what precisely the Midrash The level of complete awareness reached on Rosh Hashanah is
means by “the souls of the righteous.” The mystical response to this alluded to in the phrase “all of you” in Nitzavim’s opening verse. The
question is that the souls in question were the future souls of Jewish simple peshat is that all of the people assembled to hear Moses speak.
tzaddikim; however, at this point, the souls were completely unified However, a Chassidic interpretation I heard from Rabbi Shlomo
within God’s very essence. Thus, God was, in some sense, conducting Carlebach was that the Torah is teaching us that when we stand
an internal dialogue. before God on Rosh Hashanah, it must be with “all of you,” with

This Midrash also sheds light on the reason for standing during the totality of our beings – as we recite in the Shema – “with all your
the Friday night Kiddush. Tradition dictates that we stand during heart, with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy
Kiddush to indicate that we are like witnesses attesting to God’s 6:5).
creation of the heavens and the earth. And, indeed, the Jewish people When we pause to think about it, how often do we dedicate our
are called upon to bear witness to God’s unity and His role as creator entire selves to anything? How often does our concentration begin
of the world to the entire population of the planet. (In the Shema, the to wane after we have been praying for just a few moments? How
cardinal statement of Jewish belief in the oneness of God, two letters often do we give others our full attention, our undivided care and
are written unusually large – the ayin in the word “Shema” and the concern? How often do we follow through on achieving our goals and
dalet in the word “echad.” Together, these two letters spell the word aspirations so that they are completely realized?
ed [witness].) However, how can the Jewish people be tasked with Ensuring that we stand before God with our entire beings, especially
this role if Jewish law firmly declares that a witness must have seen on Rosh Hashanah, when God is deciding our fate for the upcoming
the event he or she is testifying to! Therefore by standing during year is the call of the hour. If we are unable to muster that presence
Kiddush on Shabbat it is as if we are saying: “before the eyes of all of mind and heart, the shofar’s blast is designed to awaken us and
Israel in the beginning God created heaven and earth.” We may in “shock” us into relating to God from the depths of our innermost
fact stand and give testimony, for in some deep, almost unfathomable beings. The searing sound of the shofar has the ability to fuse all the
way our souls witnessed creation, for the people of Israel are part of disjointed parts of our personality, all the inner fragmentation, into
God’s very essence, the souls of the tzaddikim that God consulted. one unified plea.

Another connection between the Torah’s beginning and ending is In addition to the peshat and Chassidic interpretations of “all of
derived from Rashi’s revelation of what exactly Moses performed you” just mentioned, the Kabbalistic principle of inter-inclusion
“in the eyes of all Israel.” Quoting the Sifrei, Rashi very cryptically generates another profound meaning. Following the portion’s
comments that the verse is referring to the breaking of the two tablets introductory words, the Torah continues by enumerating ten groups
of the law, an act which God Himself not only agreed to but actually
of people who comprise “all of you”: “the heads of your tribes, your

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