The Covenant of the Plains of Moav
STUDENT SUMMARIES OF SICHOT OF THE ROSHEI YESHIVA
PARASHAT NITZAVIM-VAYELEKH
SICHA OF HARAV
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In memory of our beloved father and grandfather
Mr. Berel Weiner (Dov Ber ben Aharon z"l).
May the learning of these shiurim provide an aliya for his neshama.
Steven Weiner, Lisa Wise, Michael & Joshua
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The Covenant of the Plains of Moav
Adapted by Immanuel Meier
Translated by
The Purpose of the Covenant
"You are standing this day, all of you, before the Lord your God your leaders,
[heads of] your tribes, your elders, and your officers, [with] all the men of
Israel; your young, your wives, and the stranger who is in the midst of your
camp, from the hewer of your wood to the drawer of your water that you might
enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, and into His oath, which the Lord
your God forges with you this day." (Devarim 29:9-11)
In our parasha we read about a covenant forged between God and the nation
of
The all-inclusive
nature of this covenant expresses itself not only in the presence of the entire
people, but also in its inclusion of future generations that are not physically
present at this ceremony: "And those who are not here with us this day" (ibid.
14). This future generation is mentioned in the content of the covenant, too:
"And that later generation the children who will rise up after you will
say
" (ibid. 21).
Rashi, commenting on verse 12, explains the reason for the covenant that is
forged at this point, on the plains of Moav:
"A midrash aggada teaches: Why is the parasha 'You
are standing this day
' (the beginning of parashat Nitzavim) juxtaposed
to the curses (at the end of parashat Ki Tavo)? Because [the nation of]
Israel had just heard a hundred curses less two, and these were in addition to
the 49 [curses] in Sefer Vayikra. They were shaken [literally, "their
faces turned green"] and they said, 'Who can live with this?!' [So] Moshe began
to calm them: 'You are standing here this day
' You have angered God on many
occasions, but He has not annihilated you, and behold, you continue to exist
before Him."
Rashi describes a feeling of despair a reasonable response on the part of Bnei
Yisrael following the unit of the blessings and the curses and describes the
covenant of parashat Nitzavim as addressing this feeling and offering
encouragement. However, a review of the first part of this covenant does not
convey hope; rather, it threatens even more terrible punishment.
Ramban (v.9) offers a different reason for the covenant:
"Perhaps [God] forged another covenant with them in the same manner as the first
one which He forged with them at Mount Sinai, where a burnt offering was
sacrificed for them, with half of the blood taken for sprinkling upon the altar
and the other half sprinkled upon the nation, but there was no need to make
mention of this."
Ramban suggests that this covenant is an additional one, identical in content to
the covenant at Sinai. If so, we must ask, what is the purpose of this covenant?
Was the covenant at Sinai not sufficient?
In order to answer this question, we must take another look at the context of
the covenant. In contrast to the covenant of Sinai, which was given to Am
Yisrael in the wilderness, this covenant is forged on the plains of Moav,
immediately prior to their entry into the land.
The covenant of Sinai was suited to the generation of the wilderness. This was a
generation that ate manna every day; a generation that experienced miracles on a
regular basis; a generation whose camp did not exceed an area of twelve square
'mil,' with the Mishkan at its center; a generation led by Moshe
Rabbeinu.
This covenant of the plains of Moav is given to the generation that is about to
enter the land. This generations daily life will not be a series of revealed
miracles; the nation will be spread throughout Eretz Yisrael and will eat not
manna but the produce of the land. While their own food, too, will have certain
special aspects of holiness, this will not be openly manifest, as it was in the
case of the manna. This is a generation led by Yehoshua, not Moshe. This change,
this generation gap, requires a renewed covenant.
Another question arises: why is it that on this auspicious public occasion,
Moshe sees fit to speak of such terrible punishment as the overturning of Sedom
and Amora? Here we might suggest an analogy to a spectator at a court trial
between two business partners. He asks them: Why did you not sign a contract
setting forth guidelines and procedures to be followed in the event of
disagreement? The two parties would answer him: When we started our partnership,
we didn't believe we would ever argue, so we saw no reason to draw up a
contract.
The function of a contract, of a covenant, is precisely to serve in situations
such as this. It regulates what happens if one of the parties fails to fulfill
his part of the agreement, setting forth the recourse in other words, what the
other partner will do in order to enforce the terms of the agreement. This is
the purpose of the covenant of parashat Nitzavim, with the harsh
punishments that it details.
The Curses and Repentance
Following the detailed description of the Divine punishment, the Torah describes
a process of teshuva repentance and return:
"And it shall be, when all these things befall you the
blessing and the curse, which I have set before you then you will recall to
your heart among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you
" (Devarim
30:1)
The description of the
motivation behind this move to repentance includes two elements: the blessing
and the curse. The reader might well ask, why would it be specifically the curse
that would cause a sinner to "recall to his heart"?
A loving father
punishes his son when he misbehaves. In so doing, the father expresses his
concern and sensitivity towards his son's actions. A father who does not respond
to his child's misbehavior expresses apathy and distance. From this perspective,
the curse is preferable to Divine silence and apathy, and it leads one to
repentance.
Indeed, the possibility
of God abandoning Am Yisrael appears later on, in parashat Vayelekh:
"Then My anger will burn against them on that day, and I will forsake them, and
I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and
troubles will befall them, and they will say on that day, Is it not because our
God is not in our midst that all of these evils have befallen us?" (Devarim
31:17)
This verse is not describing a punishment that God brings upon
The situation of 'standing' before God arouses associations of the month of
Elul. We are now almost at the end of the month, and as always we find ourselves
inadequately prepared. We must do all that we can in order to improve the
quality of our prayers at this time, and make an effort to truly be standing
before God.
(This sicha was delivered on Shabbat parashat Nitzavim-Vayelekh 5771 [2011].)