Dvarim

Parashat Ha’azinu comes out a couple of days before Sukkot, and it is instructive to look for themes that are common to the two.

The holiest day, Yom Kippur, and its preceding day contain apparently polar opposite elements – the firm requirement to fast on Yom Kippur and the requirement to eat on Erev Yom Kippur. When one eats then, it is equivalent to one who fasted both days. What is the nature of this dichotomy?

What do you say to your successor? What advice do you give him or her? Vayelech is the place to look for the answer, because it is here that Moses finally handed the reins over to Joshua.

Our teacher Moshe is described in the Parsha as being near the end of his life in this world. Yet, the Torah also describes that he was able to climb mountains, and gather the Jewish people at his feet.

This last Sedra of the year, Nitzavim, seems perfect as a precursor to Rosh Hashana. The sedra reiterates the bond & covenant we have with the Eternal.

Only now, reaching Nitzavim, can we begin to get a sense of the vast, world-changing project at the heart of the Divine-human encounter that took place in the lifetime of Moses and the birth of Jews/ Israel as a nation.

The world was created twice – one that was preceded by a state of pre-creation, and another time after the world was already created. The first creation happened in the first month and the second one was in the seventh month.

Covenants, in the Jewish sense of the word, are not altered by changing times and differing circumstances. A covenant has the ring of eternity, not only in time but also in content.

The great questions - “Who are we?” “Why are we here?” “What is our task?” – are best answered by telling a story. A large part of what Moses is doing in the book of Devarim is retelling that story to the next generation.

Every Jewish holiday has a representative color. Each Yom Tov also connects to one of the senses. What sense connects to Rosh Hashana?