September 1, 2010 - Parashat Nitzavim-VaYelekh
Nitzavim-VaYelekh, our double portion for this week, includes the 7th Haftarah in a series of Haftarot of Comfort and Consolation, read on the 7 Shabbatot following Tisha B’Av. It is read on the Shabbat just preceding Rosh Hashanah as we are entering the period of intense personal introspection and accounting that is the essence of the Days of Awe.
The Haftarah comes from the Book of Isaiah, and is generally assumed to have been written by a prophet who lived in exile in Babylonia after the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE. As with many of the prophetic writings, he writes about national issues, specifically God’s redemption of the Israelites and their promised triumphant return to Zion after generations of exile.
The prophet is comforting the exiles with the assurance that God has forgiven their sins (presented in earlier writings) and that they will be returning to Zion, to Jerusalem. The journey of the Israelites has been long – from Egypt, to the wilderness, to Canaan, then to exile in Babylonia. The people of Israel are ready to go home.
The Haftarah and Torah portion are connected because of the calendar and there is one prominent and central common theme: the return, renewal, and redemption of the Jewish people as a nation and as individuals, and both speak in robust and potent language about God’s love.
The Torah portion for Nitzavim is found in Deuteronomy and is the 4th parashah from the end of the Torah. Moses is beginning his final appeal and farewell to the Israelites before he dies. Within the oration Moses presents a powerful and enduring foundation for Israel’s religion in the Torah that will be valid for all generations. The reading begins with Moses calling upon “all of you, before the Lord your God- your tribal heads, your elders and your officials, all the men of Israel, your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to water-drawer to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God which the Lord your God is concluding with you this day that he may establish you this day as his people and be your God” (29:9). Read more »