Nitzavim

What do you stand for?

Adapted from Rabbi Cookie Lea Olshein

Parshat Nitzavim begins with the words atem nitzavim hayom kulchem - you are all standing today. The context reminds us that we all stand together to receive the Torah.

The Hebrew word used here for "standing" is nitzavim. The more common biblical word for standing is omdim. If we examine the contexts in which the two words appear, omdim usually denotes passively waiting, and nitzavim indicates action and purpose. For example, Ya'akov sees God nitzav, standing over him about to deliver a message; Miriam vayityatzev, stations herself in the reeds near her baby brother Moshe to watch over him.

Implicitly, then, Parshat Nitzavim reminds us that we do not passively receive Torah. Instead, to participate in Torah is to stand for something. Parshat Nitzavim challenges us: What do you stand for? For what will you take a stand?

At this moment, we are standing at the threshold of a new year. You could say that, like the Israelites in Parshat Nitzavim, we stand at the edge of a Promised Land with tremendous possibilities…if only we do our part to make it so. Beyond the healing of our personal relationships, let us begin this new year by picking an issue, and "taking a stand," nitzavim-style.

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