September 27th: Nitzavim
THIS WEEK IN THE TORAH
Rabbi David E. Ostrich
Sometimes, in our Torah study, we look at the big picture—the meta-narrative of God’s work in the world, and other times we focus on a single word, wondering what bit of wisdom it can reveal. For example, when we study the Shema and Ve’ahavta from Deuteronomy 6, we can meditate on the expansiveness of the mitzvah to love God “with all your, with all your soul, and with all your might.” What kinds of attitudes and behaviors does loving the Divine with everything we have involve? O, we can focus on specific things—things as specific as posture. When the Torah says to recite Shema “when you lie down and when you rise up,” does this mean we should literally lie down and rise up—or is the Torah talking about the times of the day we are to remember that God is One? The ancient Sages had quite a lively discussion on this one. Bet Shammai (the House of Shammai) held that the Torah should be taken literally: the Shema is to be recited lying down at night and standing up in the morning. Bet Hillel (the House of Hillel) took the phrase as a reference to the time of day the Shema should be recited: at the time when one goes to sleep and at the time one wakes up. The debate went on for quite a while—until, in a sort of climax, a follower of Shammai, Rabbi Tarphon, came to the Sages with a troubling report. He had been on a caravan and, when it was time to recite the Shema, got off and lay down. The caravan continued on its way, leaving him alone, and he was attacked by robbers. When he reported this to the Sages, they said that it served him right for following Bet Shammai’s needless literalism. (Babylonian Talmud Berachot 11a)
Nonetheless, the position in which we say our prayers can be a matter of strong opinion. Traditionally, Jews have stood up for Bar’chu but sat down for Shema. The reasoning is based on the Ve’ahavta’s words: “You shall speak of them when you sit in your house.” Reform Judaism, however, focused on the importance of the Shema. Since it is so important—the “watchword of our faith,” Reform decided that the Shema should be recited standing up.
The Amidah—the long prayer that takes the place of the ancient sacrifices—is another story. Though its official name is Tefillah/The Prayer, Tradition taught that people should stand up for it to show its importance—leading to its nickname, the Amidah / Standing Prayer. However, around 100-125 years ago, when Reform Judaism started standing for The Shema, it also started sitting for the “Amidah.” This practice was part of Classical Reform, a once popular modernizing approach that has been fading into a renewed traditionalism since the mid-20th Century. The 1975 prayer book, Gates of Prayer, sort of changed course, having the worshippers rise for the Amidah/Tefillah, but keeping the standing Shema.
That same new prayer book introduced another posture-oriented controversy. Whereas the “old” Union Prayer Book (1940) had worshippers rise for Bar’chu, sit for the next two prayers, and then re-rise for Shema, Gates of Prayer had people remain standing from Bar’chu through Shema. When complaints of exhaustion arose, the explanation was practical. For people with bad knees, all that standing and sitting is difficult. Better to rise and stay standing for a few minutes.
In any event, these kinds of questions come to the fore in this week’s very dramatic portion Nitzavim:
“You are all standing here this day before the Lord your God—your tribal heads, your elders and your officials, all the men of Israel, your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to water drawer—to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is concluding with you this day, with its sanctions; to the end that God may establish you this day as the Lord’s people and be your God, as was promised to you and as was sworn to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” (Deuteronomy 29.9-12)
We could focus on the standing part—and there are traditions about standing for the reading of the Ten Commandments since our ancestors stood as they entered God’s covenant, but we could also focus on the breadth of participation. Everyone was included—from big shots to servants to women and children. And there is more. In verses 13-14, the passage has a potentially mysterious comment about other attendees:
“I make this covenant…not with you alone, but both with those who are standing here with us this day before the Lord our God and with those who are not with us here this day.”
In the original context, this probably refers to those who could not make it out to Mount Sinai from camp. With 600,000 people, someone was bound to be ill or infirm or on guard or taking care of someone else. God’s point seems to be that everyone is included—even people who were back at camp. However, the Rabbis of the Midrash saw two deeper possibilities.
They began by speculating that those “who are not here today” could be the future generations of Israel—all the Jews destined to be born. Every Jew of every generation was there at Mount Sinai, affirming the covenant and entering into it. We were all there at Sinai and all included in God’s Covenant.
The second Midrashic deepening involves our Gerim/Converts. If the assembly at Sinai included all Jews from all times, then those who would eventually convert to Judaism would also have “been there.” Such a notion is inspiring, and it also clears up a Halachic question. While Gerut/ Conversion is clearly part of the Tradition—with allusions to it in the Bible and prescriptions in the Mishnah and Talmud, there is an opinion which states that Judaism/Jewishness is a quality of the soul. Either one has a Jewish soul, or one does not. One might think that conversion is thus impossible—that one cannot change a non-Jewish soul to a Jewish soul. However, this Midrash resolves the question. If all Jewish souls of all time were there at Mount Sinai, and if this assembly included the future Gerim/Converts, then any person who converts to Judaism must have already had a Jewish soul. Born into a non-Jewish family, the Jewish soul slowly begins to realize that it belongs in Judaism and eventually works its way to the Jewish people and the Jewish religion. Our Gerim were Jewish all along; they just had to go on a spiritual journey to rejoin our covenantal community.
A final thought. The word nitzavim/standing could refer to the people’s postures that day, but it could also be a prompt about Jewish assertiveness. Being a Jew is certainly a blessing, but living as a Jew and bringing Jewish values into the world require that we stand up and participate in the covenant ourselves. Whether born into Jewish families or born into non-Jewish families, all Jews need to choose to be Jewish—to stand up and be genuine participants in God’s continuing and holy project.