Nitzavim

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nitzavim, Nitsavim, Nitzabim, Netzavim, or Nesabim (ניצבים — Hebrew for “ones standing,” the second word, and the first distinctive word, in the parshah) is the 51st weekly Torah portion (parshah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the eighth in the book of Deuteronomy. It constitutes Deuteronomy 29:9–30:20. Jews in the Diaspora generally read it in September or early October. Parshah Nitzavim always falls on the Sabbath immediately before Rosh Hashanah.

The lunisolar Hebrew calendar contains up to 54 weeks, the exact number varying between leap years and regular years. In years with 54 weeks (for example, 2008, 2012, and 2015), parshah Nitzavim is read separately. In years with fewer than 54 weeks (for example, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2014), parshah Nitzavim is combined with the next parshah, Vayelech, to help achieve the number of weekly readings needed.

“For this commandment . . . is not in heaven, that you should say: ‘Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us . . . ?’” (Deut. 30:11–12.)

1 Summary
2 In classical rabbinic interpretation
- 2.1 Deuteronomy chapter 29
- 2.2 Deuteronomy chapter 30
3 Commandments
4 Haftarah
5 Further reading
6 External links
- 6.1 Texts
- 6.2 Commentaries

[edit] Summary

[edit] The covenant

Moses told the Israelites that all the people stood that day before God to enter into the covenant whereby God might establish Israel as God’s people and be their God, as God promised them and as God swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Deut. 29:9–12.) Moses made the covenant both with those who were standing there that day and with those who were not there that day. (Deut. 29:13–14.) Moses reminded the Israelites that they had dwelt in the land of Egypt and had passed through various other nations and had seen the detestable idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold that those other nations kept. (Deut. 29:15–16.) Moses speculated that perchance there were among the Israelites some whose hearts were even then turning away from God to go worship the gods of those nations, who might think themselves immune, thinking that they would be safe though they followed their own willful hearts to the ruin of all. (Deut. 29:17–18.) But God would never forgive them; rather God’s anger would rage against them until every curse recorded in the Torah would come down upon them and God had blotted out their names from under heaven. (Deut. 29:19–20.) And later generations and other nations would ask why God had done that to those people, and they would be told that it was because they forsook the covenant that God made with them and turned to the service of other gods. (Deut. 29:21–25.) So God grew incensed at that land and brought upon it all the curses recorded in the Torah, uprooted them from their soil in anger, and cast them into another land, as would still be the case. (Deut. 29:26–27.) Concealed acts concerned God; but with overt acts, it was for the Israelites ever to apply all the provisions of the Torah. (Deut. 29:28.)

[edit] Repentance

After all these curses had befallen them, if they took them to heart in their exile, and they returned to God, and they heeded God’s commandments with all their hearts and souls, then God would restore their fortunes, take them back in love, and bring them together again from the ends of the world to the land that their fathers possessed, and God would make them more prosperous and numerous than their fathers. (Deut. 30:1–5.) Then God would open their hearts to love God with all their hearts and souls, in order that they might live. (Deut. 30:6.) God would then inflict all those curses on the enemies who persecuted the Israelites, and would bless the Israelites with abounding prosperity, fertility, and productivity. (Deut. 30:7–9.) For God would again delight in their wellbeing, as God had in that of their fathers, since they would be heeding God and keeping the commandments once they had returned to God with all their hearts and souls. (Deut. 30:9–10.)

“For this commandment . . . is not . . . beyond the sea, that you should say: ‘Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it to us . . . ?’” (Deut. 30:11–13.)

[edit] The law’s accessibility

Moses said that surely, this Instruction which he enjoined upon them was not too baffling, beyond reach, in the heavens, or beyond the sea; rather it was very close to them, in their mouths and hearts. (Deut. 30:11–14.) Moses said that he set before them the choice between life and prosperity on the one hand and death and adversity on the other. (Deut. 30:15.) Moses commanded them to love God, to walk in God’s ways, and to keep God’s commandments, that they might thrive and increase, and that God might bless them in the land. (Deut. 30:16.) But if their hearts turned away and they gave no heed, and were lured into the worship of other gods, Moses warned that they would certainly perish and not long endure in the land. (Deut. 30:17–18.) Moses called heaven and earth to witness that he had put before the Israelites life and death, blessing and curse. (Deut. 30:19.) He exhorted them to choose life by loving God, heeding the commandments, and holding fast to God, so that they might have life and long endure on the land that God swore to their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Deut. 30:19–20.)

[edit] In classical rabbinic interpretation

[edit] Deuteronomy chapter 29

In response to a question from Rav Aha son of Rava, Rav Ashi taught that although later converts to Judaism may not have been literally present at Mount Sinai, Deuteronomy 29:13–14 indicated that their angellic advocates were present when it said: “Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath, but with him that stands here with us this day before the Lord our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day.” (Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 146a.)

Rabbi Akiba interpreted the words “and [He] cast them into another land, as it is this day” in Deuteronomy 29:27 to teach that the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel were destined not to return. But Rabbi Eliezer interpreted the allusion to day in Deuteronomy 29:27 differently, teaching that just as the day darkens and then becomes light again, so even though it went dark for the Ten Tribes, it will become light for them again. (Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:3; Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 110b.)

Two Tannaim disputed why dots appear in the Masoretic Text over the words “to us and to our children forever” in Deuteronomy 29:28. Rabbi Judah said that dots appear to teach that God did not punish the Israelite community as a whole for transgressions committed in secret until the Israelites had crossed the Jordan River. Rabbi Nehemiah questioned, however, whether God ever punished the Israelite community for transgressions committed in secret, noting that Deuteronomy 29:28 said, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God . . . forever.” Rabbi Nehemiah taught that God did not punish the Israelite community for secret transgressions at any time, and God did not punish the Israelite community as a whole for open transgressions until they had crossed the Jordan. (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 43b.)

[edit] Deuteronomy chapter 30

Rabbi Simon ben Yohai deduced from the words “the Lord your God will return [with] your captivity” in Deuteronomy 30:3 that the Shechinah went with the Israelites to every place to which they were exiled, and will be with them when they are redeemed in the future. By way of explanation, the Baraita noted that Deuteronomy 30:3 did not say “and [God] shall bring back” but “and [God] shall return,” teaching that God will return with the Israelites from their places of exile. Rabbi Simon concluded that Deuteronomy 30:3 thus showed how beloved the Children of Israel are in God’s sight. (Babylonian Talmud Megillah 29a.)

[edit] Commandments

According to Maimonides and Sefer ha-Chinuch, there are no commandments in the parshah. (Maimonides. Mishneh Torah. Cairo, Egypt, 1170–1180. Reprinted in Maimonides. The Commandments: Sefer Ha-Mitzvoth of Maimonides. Translated by Charles B. Chavel. London: Soncino Press, 1967. ISBN 0-900689-71-4. Sefer HaHinnuch: The Book of [Mitzvah] Education. Translated by Charles Wengrov, 5:430–33. Jerusalem: Feldheim Pub., 1988. ISBN 0-87306-497-6.)

Isaiah

[edit] Haftarah

The haftarah for the parshah is Isaiah 61:10–63:9. The haftarah is the seventh and concluding installment in the cycle of seven haftarot of consolation after Tisha B'Av, leading up to Rosh Hashanah.

[edit] Further reading

The parshah has parallels or is discussed in these sources:

[edit] Classical rabbinic

Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:3. Land of Israel, circa 200 C.E. Reprinted in, e.g., The Mishnah: A New Translation. Translated by Jacob Neusner, 605. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-300-05022-4.
Sifre to Deuteronomy 304:1–305:3. Land of Israel, circa 250–350 C.E. Reprinted in, e.g., Sifre to Deuteronomy: An Analytical Translation. Translated by Jacob Neusner, 2:289–294. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1987. ISBN 1-55540-145-7.
Jerusalem Talmud: Peah 5b; Sheviit 42b. Land of Israel, circa 400 C.E. Reprinted in, e.g., Talmud Yerushalmi. Edited by Chaim Malinowitz, Yisroel Simcha Schorr, and Mordechai Marcus, vols. 3, 6b. Brooklyn: Mesorah Pubs., 2006.

Talmud

Babylonian Talmud: Berakhot 55a, 61b; Shabbat 13a, 146a; Eruvin 54a, 55a; Pesachim 49b; Yoma 54a; Sukkah 46b; Megillah 29a; Yevamot 82b; Ketubot 111b; Nedarim 25a, 62a; Gittin 23b; Kiddushin 40a; Bava Metzia 59b; Sanhedrin 43b, 76b, 99b, 110b; Makkot 22b; Shevuot 29a, 39a; Avodah Zarah 51b; Arakhin 32b; Temurah 16a; Niddah 46b. Babylonia, 6th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., Talmud Bavli. Edited by Yisroel Simcha Schorr, Chaim Malinowitz, and Mordechai Marcus, 72 vols. Brooklyn: Mesorah Pubs., 2006.

[edit] Early nonrabbinic

Qur'an 54:17. Arabia, 7th Century.

[edit] Medieval

Deuteronomy Rabbah 8:1–7. Land of Israel, 9th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., Midrash Rabbah: Leviticus. Translated by H. Freedman and Maurice Simon. London: Soncino Press, 1939. ISBN 0-900689-38-2.
Rashi. Commentary. Deuteronomy 29–30. Troyes, France, late 11th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., Rashi. The Torah: With Rashi’s Commentary Translated, Annotated, and Elucidated. Translated and annotated by Yisrael Isser Zvi Herczeg, 5:303–18. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1997. ISBN 0-89906-030-7.
Judah Halevi. Kuzari. 2:34. Toledo, Spain, 1130–1140. Reprinted in, e.g., Jehuda Halevi. Kuzari: An Argument for the Faith of Israel. Intro. by Henry Slonimsky, 108. New York: Schocken, 1964. ISBN 0-8052-0075-4.

Hobbes

[edit] Modern

Thomas Hobbes. Leviathan, 3:36. England, 1651. Reprint edited by C. B. Macpherson, 456. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Classics, 1982. ISBN 0140431950.
Martin Buber. On the Bible: Eighteen studies, 80–92. New York: Schocken Books, 1968.