Nitzavim
Deuteronomy 30:11-14
As often occurs in the Torah, Nitzavim offers not only laws by which we are to model our lives, but insights into the nature of the Torah, that is, the spirit of the law that Jesus so often spoke about. As we near the end of Moses’s great oration, just as Israel was at the precipice of crossing over into the Holy Land, Israel’s great teacher and shepherd throughout those wondering years of the Exodus offers another insight into the spirit of the Torah. In 30:11-4, Moses says,
For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
It is tempting to search the Torah for divine mysteries, hoping that through our efforts we will be able to unlock some of the mysteries of heaven. Though the Torah does hold profound truths, Moses reminds us that the Torah was not given to reveal the secrets of the divine realm, but was given to us, on earth, for our living. To understand the Torah was within everyone’s grasp, one did not have to reach into the heavenly realm or traverse seas, nor was the Torah intended to be the preserve of some mysterious priestly class who through some strange process of divination had privileged access to the meaning and purpose of the Torah.
This was in contrast to many myths of the day. In Mesopotamian legend, Gilgamesh sought eternal life by searching for Utnapishtim across the great sea, but his journey was fruitless and he was left to contemplate the inevitability of death. Life though for the Israelite was to be found in the law God had given, and it did not require a grand journey but was to be found in one’s mouth and one’s heart, in its beautiful simplicity and accessibility.
The Talmud states that because the Torah was not intended to reveal the secrets of heaven nor was it hidden away across some vast ocean, God had granted mankind the authority to interpret the law. As we approach Rosh Hashanah it is something worth remembering. While known as a New Year, Rosh Hashanah is also a festival of creation. Moses speech is not an exhortation to simply follow laws given from on-high, but a rallying cry for God’s people to participate in the joyous, though at times difficult, work of creating a dwelling place for the divine on this earth. To perhaps put it best, as one great Torah teacher was fond of saying, the Torah was all about a piece of land, a home and a family.
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