Torah Posting: נצבים
Okay, it’s grand finale time now. If these people don’t understand what God, via Mosheh, is asking them to do yet, they’re never going to, which is to say, they’re doomed. Mosheh needs to get the gravity of this across to them in every way possible.
He puts it to them as a moment of communal entrance into the covenant of God, again, as though there haven’t already been such watershed moments. But clearly they are now at an ultimate covenantal moment after which the curtain goes up, they enter the land, and then… they’re on. Mitzvah time.
Mosheh makes clear, as has been implied before, that this covenant is not just with the living people standing before him but with all of the children of Yisra’el, living, dead, not yet born, for all time. In that mode, he is able to speak to the experience of this people as a whole, as an inherited and transmitted ancestral living memory.
Naturally, the first stroll he wants to take them on through that memory is their memory of the horrors of foreign idolatry. He lists the materials those nations’ gods were made of, giving them a tactile feel.
Then Mosheh muses as to whether even right now among them some of the people’s hearts are turning to worship these material things. He talks about “poison weed and wormwood” in their hearts. He goes into the psychology of one tempted by idolatry in detail, describing the thought process of a spiritual seeker who believes they are special and gifted and will be safe from the dangers of straying from the path. He assures such a person that God will obliterate them. Even if a whole tribe goes bad, it will be obliterated. And the later generations will ask, “What horrible thing did the people who once lived here do to deserve this?” And those who survive to see it will tell their children what happened.
This chapter concludes with a verse that has cantillation marks that are unique in the Torah, meaning the tradition is to sing this verse in a unique and dramatic way when reading it aloud in synagogue. It’s reasonable to assume this means it imparts one of the most important lessons in the Torah. What it says is this:
הַנִּ֨סְתָּרֹ֔ת לַיהֹוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵ֑ינוּ וְהַנִּגְלֹ֞ת לָ֤ׄנׄוּׄ וּׄלְׄבָׄנֵ֙ׄיׄנׄוּ֙ׄ עַׄד־עוֹלָ֔ם לַעֲשׂ֕וֹת אֶת־כׇּל־דִּבְרֵ֖י הַתּוֹרָ֥ה הַזֹּֽאת׃
“Concealed acts concern our God יהוה; but with overt acts, it is for us and our children ever to apply all the provisions of this Teaching.”
In other words, we are responsible for demonstrating, enforcing, and transmitting the laws of behaviors others can see, but don’t think you’ll get away with those secret inner transgressions. God will handle those personally.
Mosheh promises, though, that once the karma of whatever choices the people make is worked out, returning to God is possible, and God will restore the people, even if they are outcasts at the end of the world. That is, God and Mosheh expect these things to wax and wane with the generations. That will be part of the playing out of the truth of this Teaching.
One of the most theologically important teachings in the entire Torah is given here. I’ll quote it in full:
כִּ֚י הַמִּצְוָ֣ה הַזֹּ֔את אֲשֶׁ֛ר אָנֹכִ֥י מְצַוְּךָ֖ הַיּ֑וֹם לֹא־נִפְלֵ֥את הִוא֙ מִמְּךָ֔ וְלֹ֥א רְחֹקָ֖ה הִֽוא׃
לֹ֥א בַשָּׁמַ֖יִם הִ֑וא לֵאמֹ֗ר מִ֣י יַעֲלֶה־לָּ֤נוּ הַשָּׁמַ֙יְמָה֙ וְיִקָּחֶ֣הָ לָּ֔נוּ וְיַשְׁמִעֵ֥נוּ אֹתָ֖הּ וְנַעֲשֶֽׂנָּה׃
וְלֹא־מֵעֵ֥בֶר לַיָּ֖ם הִ֑וא לֵאמֹ֗ר מִ֣י יַעֲבׇר־לָ֜נוּ אֶל־עֵ֤בֶר הַיָּם֙ וְיִקָּחֶ֣הָ לָּ֔נוּ וְיַשְׁמִעֵ֥נוּ אֹתָ֖הּ וְנַעֲשֶֽׂנָּה׃
כִּֽי־קָר֥וֹב אֵלֶ֛יךָ הַדָּבָ֖ר מְאֹ֑ד בְּפִ֥יךָ וּבִֽלְבָבְךָ֖ לַעֲשֹׂתֽוֹ׃
“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, that we may observe it?’
No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it.”
You know I love this, especially the assertion that this wild collection of laws should be easy to understand. It’s almost like the power of positive thinking, or even better, like a Buddhist emptiness instruction. Just let it be simple. Don’t work so hard to understand it. It’s not some lofty abstraction or hidden mystery or unattainable ideal. It’s right there. It’s part of who these people are.
Then Mosheh gets a little weepy. He sums it all up as loving God and walking in God’s ways, and he puts it before them as a choice. Live right, or perish. It’s up to them. But he implores them to choose life.
🫀
