Parashat Nitzavim

“Today, you stand here together in front of Hashem your G-d…to enter into Hashem’s Bris and oath that Hashem your G-d is cutting with you today.”

Devarim (29:9-11)

From these two pasukim, we see two facts. (1) There is a Bris being established in the opening scene of this week’s parasha – a twenty pasuk run-on sentence we will soon explore – and (2) it is a new Bris that is established on this very day, the day of Moshe’s death as Rashi notes, not the repetition of an old covenant. Why do we need this new Bris?

“In order to establish you today as a nation to [Hashem], and He will be to you a G-d…” (29:12)

Well, this doesn’t sound very different from the Bris we entered at Har Sinai. Didn’t that Bris also state “Anochi Hashem Elockechah, Lo YiHiyeh Lichah Elohim Acheirim?” Perhaps the upcoming pasukim will tell us how the two Brisos differ.

“And it’s not just you with whom I am cutting this Bris and oath, but with [both] those present standing here today, and those not, [the future generations].” (29:13-14)

But the Bris at Har Sinai surely wasn’t only for the congregation present at Moshe’s address; almost everyone at Har Sinai died in the Midbar, and a new generation had already assumed their parents’ roles as members of Jewish nation. How then does this Bris differ? Perhaps the elaborate purpose behind this new Bris will reveal a difference.

“Because you know from your time living in Mitzrayim and your time passing through the Goyim’s lands [about their idols,] and you have seen their idols… that are with them. Perhaps you will have a man or woman or family or tribe whose heart today will turn from Hashem our G-d to worship those other gods. He will hear the words of [the Klallos in last week’s parasha] and think in his heart, ‘I will be fine so long as I follow the sights of my heart…’ to add his accidental sins to those he does willfully.” (29:15-18)

In other words, Hashem fears that we will hear all the terrible Klallos listed that will befall us if we sin and thereby give up trying to follow the proper path. Our active choice of ignorance and abandonment will become a willful sin.

But how then does this Bris, more than any other Bris, rest with both the present generation and their children? The present generation witnessed the idols of Mitzrayim and the bordering nations, a reference to the Eigel HaZahav and Ba’al Peor acoording to the Ramban, but their children did not. Furthermore, Hashem gives us a very elaborate description of what might push one off the Derech. Is this a new fear? Surely there was a danger of Avoda Zara long before the witnessing of these Shikutzim and Gilulim. Which leads us back to our first question: the Bris of the Aseres HaDibros quite explicitly forbids Avoda Zara, so how does this Bris, with or without elaboration, differ? We’ll leave these questions on the side and forge ahead in our reading of these pasukim; the pasukim continue with the consequences of Avoda Zara.

“Hahsem will not forgive such a man; instead, His wrath will flare… and He will set aside all the bad for [this man] among the Shivtei Yisrael, like all the oaths written in this Torah Book.” (29:19-20)

We finally start to see a difference between this Bris and the one at Har Sinai; the one at Har Sinai was sealed with one set of oaths, namely the ViTochacha of Parashat BiChukosai, and this Bris is sealed with a list of curses twice as long. The incentive not to worship idols has thereby doubled. Of course, this would be a wonderful place to end G-d’s threat, but the pasukim continue.

“And the later generations – your children after you and the Goyim of a faraway land – will say, and they will see the [destruction]. Sulfur and salt, the earth is scorched and nothing can be planted and nothing can grow… And all the Goyim will say ‘What has Hashem done to this land? What could possibly anger Him so?’ And they will say ‘Since [the Bnei Yisrael] have abandoned their Bris with Hashem that He established with them upon their exit from Mitzrayim. They went and worshiped other gods and bowed to them… and Hashem got angry on the land[‘s inhabitants] to bring upon [them] the curses written in this book. And Hashem furiously removed them from their land and sent them to a foreign land, just like today.” (29:21-27)

Here we have a very detailed description of the Goyim’s thought process, how they will come to recognize that our sins result in our exile. The pasukim analyze how they analyze how we have been tormented by Hashem! If this isn’t bizarre enough, keep in mind that what we are really discussing is the reason behind why Hashem wants to make a new Bris. In other words, we are analyzing someone’s perception or reaction (‘what has G-d done?!’) to a potential consequence (destruction of land) of a theoretical sin (Avoda Zara) which has hopefully been averted by establishing this Bris! Couldn’t Moshe just teach them all the new Bris without this addendum?! The explanation is longer and more unclear that the covenant itself!

And we still haven’t really explained why any new covenant was really necessary. We can say that Hashem is changing the severity of Avoda Zara’s consequences, but I don’t believe that we can comfortably establish a difference between the sets of Klallos solely on the numbers of curses each Bris lists. If 49 Klallos was only enough warning for the forty years in the desert, and now 98 are required, wouldn’t we suspect desensitization to these consequences would spur the need for even more Klallos in only a few more years? Yet the Bris established in this week’s and last week’s parashiot still exists today, 3000 years later! There must be some greater, more significant, difference between the consequences described in our parashaiot and those previously threatened at the time of the earlier Brisos.

I believe this difference can be found most explicitly in the Bris’s aforementioned convoluted explanation; however, to see this difference, we must first be critical not only of the thematic material, but also of the word choice. We first list two sets of characters; both our children and the Goyim of a faraway land witness the destruction. What do these people do? The pasuk says ViAmar, and they will say, and this describes what our children and the Goyim do. But the pasuk says nothing of their dialogue! The pasuk simply continues that they will also see the destruction and overturning of the land. We don’t quote any Amirah until the next pasuk, which specifically quotes the Goyim. What happened to the Amirah of the Jewish descendants? It’s also strange that we find two pasukim (23 and 24), one after the other, where a single party states a question and then its answer.

Perhaps these two pasukim are really constructing a dialogue between the Goyim and the Jewish descendants. The Goyim first ask what has happened to the Jewish nation, and the Jewish descendants respond. This would explain where we see the Jewish descendants speak, it would explain the word ViAmar as a foreshadowing of the ensuing dialogue, and two ViAmiru’s would now be stated by different parties, one with a question and one with an answer.

Returning to the pasukim, we can now read the consequences of the Bnei Yisrael’s idol worship much differently. Their descendants will be confronted in galus and asked why they are treated so miserably. Why do their lands lay fallow and their houses in shambles. And they will recognize and recall the sins of their fathers, Al Asher Azivu Es Bris Hashem Elokei Avosam. Regardless of what Mitzvos or Aveiros these descendants themselves are or are not committing, the blame is squarely placed on their ancestors. And this should make us wonder whether the descendants are only punished as a result of their own misdeeds or whether they are inevitably cursed, even if they stop sinning.

“Pokeid Avon Avos Al Banim Al Shileishim ViAl Ribei’im LiSoni’ai”

LiSoni’ai, to those who hate Me, as [Onkelos] translated, to those descending generations that keep to the evil deeds of their fathers.

Rashi, Shemos (20:5)

“ViHayu Bicha LiOs U’LiMofeis U’BiZarachah Ad Olam, Tachas Asher Lo Avadta Es Hashem Elokechah BiSimchah U’BiTuv Leivav MeiRov Kol”

MeiRov Kol, out of abundance, while you still possessed all your good [as opposed to your or your children’s current status].

Rashi, Devarim (28:47)

Each of these pasukim describes the reason behind our punishments. The first pasuk relates to the original Bris at Har Sinai as recognizes Hashem’s right to punish later generations for their fathers’ sins. However, Rashi adds a huge qualifier; Hashem can only antagonize rotten descendants, people who hate Him like their fathers did. Therefore, we see every generation can avoid Onshim by returning to Hashem.

The second pasuk, however, relates to the newly established Bris and paints a much scarier picture. The pasuk explains that Hashem brings the Klallos upon us not because we don’t worship Him properly, but because we didn’t at one point in history. Even when the abundance is gone, even when the blessings that led to our rottenness are long gone, Hashem still exacts His revenge. Onshim are clearly of a different nature; they are no longer a consequence of our continued iniquity, but rather they can be stretched well past the time we stop sinning. This draws a staggering difference between the Bris at Har Sinai and the Bris in this week’s parasha!

While punishing sinners and leaving the innocent alone may have been deterrent enough during the travels in the Midbar, Hashem here tries a new tactic. Under the rules of the new Bris, one must recognize that his sins not only effect him, and not only effect the people and objects he sins against, but can even severely effect the innocent. Hashem threatens the sinner with the torment of his children; his descendants live in a foreign land and are oppressed as their fathers were, and not necessarily due to their own sins. Now we see exactly why it was so important for Moshe to specify that the Bris being made on that very day was sealed even with the future generations; any sin committed on that day would inevitably cause harm to even those of future generations!

And while one could possibly mistaken this Bris as an unfair gesture on G-d’s behalf, one could also view it as the most favorable gesture. Every time we sin, Hashem forces us to consider that we not only harm our own lives, but endanger countless innocent lives as well. The new Bris truly does become a most powerful, though extremely dangerous, deterrent for the 3000 years to follow, one that bodes a woe-filled future, but at least piques a newfound incentive to maintain our Kesher to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and a newfound perception of the far reaching effects of our Aveiros.

G’mar ViChasima Tova and a Chag Kasher ViSamei’ach!