A Word of Torah

Invited by our neighbors for the second meal (lunch) of the Shabbat, I said the following:

This week's Torah Reading Portion of the Week (Parasha) was a double, Nitzavim-Vayeilech, Deuteronomy 29:9-31:30. My first task is to say a short vort that will connect the two and then, to delve into a textual observation I have perceived stemming from the connection.

Nitzavim (from the root יצב) means 'standing', usually in a formal situation rather than the usual verb that is used (עמד). And it appears in the next Parasha, verse 31:14, translated as "and you shall present yourselves". So, we have an overlap.

But each portion presents an immediate question. Nitzavim starts off "you are standing this day...". "This day"? Which day? Any day? Perhaps, the Shabbat. The day of rest is a special day of sanctity, of family cohesiveness, of rest. This is the day best outiftted for a covenant.

Avraham of Slonim (Avraham Weinberg of Slonim, 1804-11 Cheshvan 1883), makes the observation (Beit Avraham, p. 179, column A) that the Hebrew word for the plural (אתם) can be reassembled as אמת, which means youtruth. And I would say that if we Jews are all together, if we are standing as one, as one for a specific purpose - then we represent truth.

Vayeilech also starts off with a mystery: "And Moshe went...". To where did he go? To what place? Menachem Mendel of Rimanov, (1745-1815), in his Ilana D'Chayai (p. 185), notes that Moshe was going from one spiritual level to a higher one.

So, at this point, I suggest we return to the wrap-up element.

At the verse 31:14, we have a grammatical problem. The Hebrew reads:

וילך משה ויהושע ויתיצבו באהל מועד

"And Moses and Joshua went, and they presented themselves at the Tent of the Meeting".

But the verb "went" is in singular form whereas the verb "present" is in the plural. A truer translation should be:

"And Moses went, and Joshua, and they presented themselves at the Tent of the Meeting".

The lesson of singular, singular and plural?

Moses went and achieved a higher degree of knowledge, of sanctity, of spirituality. And Joshua went along with him and the result was that the both of them arrived at a moment when they both could present themselves before God at the location where His Presence is.

May we merit to know to where we should be going and that our journey there should be as pure as possible for a very good purpose. And in going there we should be all together, as a people even if our need is private.

And that ascent and togetherness was required so that Joshua should be the replacement, the new leader.

By the time I finished transcribing this, we received the news that our neighbor, Penina Siton, has succumbed to the cancer that was discovered two years ago. The Siton family suffered the loss of their eldest son, Avraham Chaim, who was killed by Arab terrorists, on May 28, 2002 at his high school at Itamar when a gunman infiltrated the community and fired on him and his schoolmates while they were playing basketball, killing three and wounding two others.

May these words of Torah be for her memory and merit.