BS”D Netzavim (Standing strong) and Vayalech (and he Moses went out to everyone) TOGETHER!!!
–A Connection to Rosh Hashana
HEARD FROM RAV AURBACH & TABACK THE POWER OF THE
COLLECTIVE
For this commandment that I command you today, it is
not hidden from you... it is not in Heaven... nor is it over the sea... for it
is very near to you, in your mouth and your heart to do it." (30:11-14)
The command referred to, speaks about being in the mouth
and heart – the desire is in the heart -it is the one of desiring to return to
G-d Almighty this is why we read this passuk on the Shabbos before Rosh Hashana
the Day of Judgement, where we acknowledge the King of Kings!!!
The covenant includes not only those who were present, but even
those generations, yet unborn, all of those in society from a water drawer to the
top ministers…
We see from here that everyone was together and is thus accountable for each other, at least for the sins that are revelaled to us. We all
stand and stood together at this third covenant with G-d Almighty. The greatest amongst us are like nothing,
when we realise how small even the greatest of our kind is when we stand before
G-d Almighty, on Rosh Ha Shana we do not pray personal prayers, we pray as a
collective, pledging loyalty to our King. We come together on Rosh Hashanah and
negate ourselves completely and rely on our combined prayers coming together undivided
as a single whole, a single nation.
Rabbi Taback mentioned as long as the wicked is with the righteous he
has a chance, but even the righteous when his prayers are his alone, what
chance we all have much sin, an individual at risk before the all-knowing judge?
It is in the power of the collective
that the power of Rosh Hashana and repentance is manifold - we together can change the world if and when we
come together as a group and say we want to change this lowly physical place for the better, we bring favour and compassion from above as we make the point we are willing to change for the King, we can and will make a
difference TOGETHER as loyal servants to the King of Kings!!!
Overview courtesy of Ohr Somayach
http://ohr.edu/4879
Netzavim
On the
last day of his life, Moshe gathers together all the people, both young and
old, lowly and exalted, men and women in a final initiation. The covenant
includes not only those who are present, but even those generations yet unborn.
Moshe admonishes the people again to be extremely vigilant against idol
worship, because in spite of having witnessed the abominations of Egypt, there
will always be the temptation to experiment with foreign philosophies as a
pretext for immorality. Moshe describes the desolation of the Land of Israel
which will be a result of the failure to heed G-d's mitzvos. Both their
descendants and foreigners alike will remark on the singular desolation of the
Land and its apparent inability to be sown or to produce crops. The conclusion
will be apparent to all - the Jewish People have forsaken the One who protects
them, in favor of idols which can do nothing. Moshe promises, however, that the
people will eventually repent after both the blessings and the curses have been
fulfilled. However assimilated they will have become among the nations,
eventually G-d will bring them back to Eretz Yisrael. Moshe tells the people to
remember that the Torah is not a remote impossibility; rather its fulfillment
is within the grasp of every Jew. The Parsha concludes with a dramatic choice
between life and death. Moshe exhorts the people to choose life.
Vayelech
On this,
the last day of his life, Moshe goes from tent to tent throughout the camp,
bidding farewell to his beloved people, encouraging them to keep the faith.
Moshe tells them that whether he is among them or not, G-d is with them, and
will vanquish their enemies. Then he summons Yehoshua, and in front of all the
people, exhorts him to be strong and courageous as the leader of the Jewish
People. In this manner, he strengthens Yehoshua's status as the new leader.
Moshe teaches them the mitzvah of Hakhel: That every seven years
on the first day of the intermediate days of Succos, the entire nation,
including small children, is to gather together at the Temple to hear the King
read from the Book of Devarim. The sections that he reads deal with
faithfulness to G-d, the covenant, and reward and punishment. G-d tells Moshe
that his end is near, and he should therefore summon Yehoshua to stand with him
in the Mishkan, where G-d will teach Yehoshua. G-d then tells Moshe and
Yehoshua that after entering the Land, the people will be unfaithful to Him,
and begin to worship other gods. G-d will then completely hide his face, so
that it will seem that the Jewish People are at the mercy of fate, and that
they will be hunted by all. G-d instructs Moshe and Yehoshua to write down a
song - Ha'azinu - which will serve as a witness against the Jewish
People when they sin. Moshe records the song in writing and teaches it to Bnei
Yisrael. Moshe completes his transcription of the Torah, and instructs the Levi'im
to place it to the side of the Aron (Holy Ark), so that no one will ever
write a new Torah scroll that is different from the original - for there will
always be a reference copy.
“You are
standing today, all of you, before G-d…” (29:9)
Parking a
car in downtown Jerusalem has become something a nightmare. There was one
fellow who had his own ingenious solution. After driving round the block a
couple of times, he would pull up to a curb with red stripes. Getting out of
the car, he would reach for his trusty can of black spray-paint, and proceed to
spray out the red stripes the entire length of his car.
How much
of the time do we do just that in our relationship with G-d?
How much
of the time do we try and alter the rules to suit ourselves and our own ideas
of right and wrong?
Rosh
Hashana is a time to come clean, to clean off the spray paint from the
sidewalks of our lives.
Before we
get more than a ticket.
Fearing
G-d is out of fashion right now. It’s acceptable to be in awe of His Majesty,
to sit on the top of a mountain and commune with Beyond. But fearing? Come on,
G-d’s a nice G-d. He won’t really punish me for speaking lashon
hara or for adjusting my income tax a little. All that punishment
stuff is really for kids anyway. Why do I need something so crass as fear when
I have awe?!
There can
be no true awe without real fear.
The
essence of fearing G-d is to accustom ourselves to be aware that He is watching
us all the time; that He knows what we are thinking; that He sees every move we
make – every move that we don’t make but would like to.
If there
is a time in the day when we visualize standing in front of the Creator more
than any other, it is during the Amida prayer that we say three times
daily. (Amida, quite literally means, “standing.”) If there is a day in
the year when we try to visualize standing in front of the Creator more than
any other, it is Rosh Hashana.
Rosh
Hashana, a day that should strike fear into our hearts, “…who will live, and
who will die …who by water, and who by fire.” Who in a bus, and who in a
restaurant…
Rosh
Hashana is a time to come clean, to clean off the spray paint from the
sidewalks of our lives.
Before we
get more than a ticket.
- Source: Story heard from
Rabbi Dov Brezak
Insights
http://ohr.edu/4026
Not Another Love Story
“...for He is your life and the length of your days…” (30:20)
I'll never forget the first time I fell in love.
I gazed across the kindergarten tables (all of 14 inches high) as my beloved entered the room. The world stopped. Everything seemed to go into slow motion as she floated through the classroom to her seat. And later that day, life seemed to have come to an end when her mother called up to say that she couldn't come over for tea.
When you're really in love, it's as though all you are living for is that person. Nothing else exists. Everything else in the world – eating, drinking, breathing — are no more that boring distractions. If one's love was not in the world nothing would matter one bit.
It's interesting, but that's just how the Rambam describes the way we should feel about G-d. (Laws of Kriat Shema 1:1)
The Rambam says we should be lovesick for G-d, and that all of Shir Hashirim (The Song of Songs) is a metaphor for that love.
The Rambam explains that we say the first paragraph of the Shema before the other two paragraphs because it contains the yichud of G-d — His Unity — our love of G-d and His Torah. This, says the Rambam, is the fundamental principle on which everything else stands. What's interesting is that the Mishna on which the Rambam presumably based this Halacha just says that we say the first paragraph of the Shema before the others because it contains the acceptance of the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven. That's all.
In other words, the Rambam is teaching us that the yichud of G-d, and our love of Him and our acceptance of His Torah are more than just mitzvot. They are the acceptance of an inescapable reality, outside of which there is nothing.
If we live just to fulfill mitzvot, that's not being in love. Real love is the feeling that our entire existence depends on G-d, and that without Him there is no existence. Nothing.
There is no other love story in the world.
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