Nitzavim-נִצָּבִ֤ים/Vayeilech-וַיֵּ֖לֶךְ Deuteronomy 29:9-30:20 Making Torah Personal ~ #Mussar

(9) You stand this day, all of you, before your God יהוה —your tribal heads, your elders, and your officials, every householder in Israel,(10) your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to waterdrawer—

(11) to enter into the covenant of your God יהוה, which your God יהוה is concluding with you this day, with its sanctions;(12) in order to establish you this day as God’s people and in order to be your God, as promised you and as sworn to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.(13) I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone,(14) but both with those who are standing here with us this day before our God יהוה and with those who are not with us here this day.

This is as we have found written with regard to Moses, our teacher. When he administered an oath to the Jewish people in the plains of Moab so that they would accept the Torah upon themselves, he said to them: Know that it is not according to your understanding that I administer an oath to you, but according to the understanding of the Omnipresent and according to my understanding. As it is stated: “Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath” (Deuteronomy 29:13), which is homiletically interpreted to mean: Not only according to your intention. Talmud, Shevuot 39a:8

Having quoted a verse, the baraita tangentially interprets the subsequent verse. From the phrase: “But with he who stands here with us this day” (Deuteronomy 29:14), I have derived only that those who stood at Mount Sinai were included in this covenant. From where do I derive that the subsequent generations, and the converts who will convert in the future, were also included? The verse states: “And also with he who is not here with us this day” (Deuteronomy 29:14). Talmud, Shevuot, 39a:9

(18) On that day יהוה made a covenant with Abram: “To your offspring I assign this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates—

(15) Well you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we passed through the midst of various other nations;(16) and you have seen the detestable things and the fetishes of wood and stone, silver and gold, that they keep.(17) Perchance there is among you some man or woman, or some clan or tribe, whose heart is even now turning away from our God יהוה to go and worship the gods of those nations—perchance there is among you a stock sprouting poison weed and wormwood.(18) When hearing the words of these sanctions, they may imagine a special immunity, thinking, “I shall be safe, though I follow my own willful heart”—to the utter ruin of moist and dry alike.

(1) When all these things befall you—the blessing and the curse that I have set before you—and you take them to heart amidst the various nations to which your God יהוה has banished you,

(2) and you return to your God יהוה, and you and your children heed God’s command with allyour heart and soul, just as I enjoin upon you this day,

then your God יהוה will restore your fortunes and take you back in love. [God] will bring you together again from all the peoples where your God יהוה has scattered you. Even if your outcasts are at the ends of the world, from there your God יהוה will gather you, from there [God] will fetch you. And your God יהוה will bring you to the land that your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and [God] will make you more prosperous and more numerous than your ancestors. Then your God יהוה will open up your heart and the hearts of your offspring—to love your God יהוה with all your heart and soul, in order that you may live.

(7) Your God יהוה will inflict all those curses upon the enemies and foes who persecuted you.(8) You, however, will again heed יהוה and obey all the divine commandments that I enjoin upon you this day.(9) And your God יהוה will grant you abounding prosperity in all your undertakings, in your issue from the womb, the offspring of your cattle, and your produce from the soil. For יהוה will again delight in your well-being as in that of your ancestors,(10) since you will be heeding your God יהוה and keeping the divine commandments and laws that are recorded in this book of the Teaching—once you return to your God יהוה with all your heart and soul.

(11) Surely, this Instruction which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach.

(12) It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?”(13) Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?”(14) No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it.

(19) I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day: I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life—if you and your offspring would live—

The Gemara asks: And with regard to all of the other transgressions in the Torah, is punishment not exacted from the entire world? But isn’t it written: “And they shall stumble one upon another” (Leviticus 26:37)? This verse is homiletically interpreted to mean that they shall stumble spiritually, one due to the iniquity of another, which teaches that the entire Jewish people are considered guarantors for one another. Apparently, any transgression makes the entire world liable to be punished.

וכשלו איש באחיו, “they will stumble over one another, etc.” According to Sanhedrin 27 the Torah means that they will stumble each over the sins committed by the other, i.e. their reciprocal responsibility which they disregarded became their undoing. This is also what Moses had in mind in Deut. 29,9 when he described each Israelite as “standing upright” at that time, (i.e. not stumbling over his fellow’s sins)...An accessory after the fact, i.e. someone who does not admonish the sinner has made himself his partner....the sages in Shir Hashirim Rabbah 6,16 comment that the use of the word "nut” in אל גנת האגוז ירדתי, “I went down to the nut-grove” (Song of Songs 6,11), describes that just as it is impossible to pluck one walnut without making the whole tree shake, so it is impossible for an individual to commit a sin without ripples of what he did affecting the entire Jewish people.

It appears that what Moses wanted with this new covenant was to make the Israelites responsible for one another in their מצוה-performance. Each Jew has to see to it that his fellow Jew does not stumble and commit sins. The proof that this is what Moses had in mind here is to be found in verse 28 of our chapter where the Israelites are relieved of their responsibility when the nature of the sin committed is one that is secret. The Torah emphasises הנגלות, "publicly committed sins," must be dealt with by ourselves. It is clear that that verse speaks of the mutual responsibility of one Jew for the conduct of another. Naturally, the degree to which we have to carry out this responsibility varies with our position in the community.

(1)“When Moses had finished speakingthese things to all Israel.(2) He said to them: I am now one hundred and twenty years old, I can no longer “come and go.” Moreover, יהוה has said to me, “You shall not go across yonder Jordan.”(3) It is indeed your God יהוה who will cross over before you, and who will wipe out those nations from your path; and you shall dispossess them.—Joshua is the one who shall cross before you, as יהוה has spoken.—(4) יהוה will do to them as was done to Sihon and Og, kings of the Amorites, and to their countries, when [God] wiped them out.(5) יהוה will deliver them up to you, and you shall deal with them in full accordance with the Instruction that I have enjoined upon you.(6) Be strong and resolute, be not in fear or in dread of them; for it is indeed your God יהוה who marches with you: [God] will not fail you or forsake you.

בן מאה ועשרים שנה אנכי היום, Moses mentions his age to remind the people that there is no reason to be sad that someone of his age has to die. According to any life expectancy and law of nature, he was no longer fit to go on living by natural means.

AND HE SAID UNTO THEM: ‘I AM A HUNDRED AND TWENTY YEARS OLD THIS DAY.’ This was to comfort them concerning his condition [i.e., about his approaching death], as if to say, “I am old and you have no more benefit from me. Moreover, G-d has commanded me that I should not go over there. Do not dread and do not be fearful, for the Eternal will go over with you; He will not remove His Presence from you on my account [i.e., because of my absence], and Joshua, he shall go over before you in my place.” Now, although Moses our teacher retained his vigor and health, as Scripture testifies, his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated, he told them this [“I am old and you have no more benefit of me”] in order to comfort them [over the transfer of leadership to Joshua].
Now, Rashi wrote: “I can no longer go out and go in, because the Eternal hath said unto me: Thou shalt not go over this Jordan.” But it is not correct. And in the opinion of Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra the expression I can no longer go out and come in means to war, because his powers weakened in his old age. This too, is not correct. And our Rabbis have said: “This teaches us that the well-springs of wisdom were stopped for him.” This was a miraculous event in order that Moses should not be troubled [about the transfer of leadership to Joshua] and [G-d] bestowing honor upon Joshua in his [Moses’] presence.