Nitzavim
How do we take a stand in this very moment?
Reflection by Ariel Hendelman, the Or HaLev Team:
"The title of this week’s parshah is Nitzavim – meaning to take a stand or establish. The parshah is a continuation of Moshe’s final teaching to our ancestors in the last of the five books, Devarim. It includes these oft-quoted lines:
כִּי הַמִּצְוָה הַזֹּאת אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם לֹא נִפְלֵאת הִוא מִמְּךָ וְלֹא רְחֹקָה הִוא. לֹא בַשָּׁמַיִם הִוא לֵאמֹר מִי יַעֲלֶה לָּנוּ הַשָּׁמַיְמָה וְיִקָּחֶהָ לָּנוּ וְיַשְׁמִעֵנוּ אֹתָהּ וְנַעֲשֶׂנָּה. וְלֹא מֵעֵבֶר לַיָּם הִוא לֵאמֹר מִי יַעֲבָר לָנוּ אֶל עֵבֶר הַיָּם וְיִקָּחֶהָ לָּנוּ וְיַשְׁמִעֵנוּ אֹתָהּ וְנַעֲשֶׂנָּה. כִּי קָרוֹב אֵלֶיךָ הַדָּבָר מְאֹד בְּפִיךָ וּבִלְבָבְךָ לַעֲשֹׂתוֹ
`Surely, this Instruction which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach.
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? 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? No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it. ` (Deuteronomy 30:11)
The name of the parshah and this central teaching seem almost at odds with each other - what does it mean to both take a stand and realize that Torah is not far removed in some distant time and place, but rather playing out in this very moment within our hearts?
In a kind of wordplay, we can see how a dedicated sitting practice requires us to take a stand. It is quite countercultural to, against all odds, carve time out every day to just be still and silent. Of course, our inner worlds are often anything but silent – thoughts continue to pass across the screen of the mind, worries continue to emerge, problems to solve. But our sitting practice takes a stand and declares – for this period of time, I have nothing to fix or change or figure out. The stand we take is one of presence and deep surrender to the Great Mystery that is ever unfolding.
We might find that taking that stand through meditation enables us to find the Torah buried deep within our hearts – to see the stories and teachings of Torah not as something immutable and separate from us, but as alive as the breath and as life-sustaining too. When we can breathe with Torah, allowing it to be new, relevant and revolutionary every moment, then it is as close as the Infinite One Itself. Then it guides us through every season of our lives."