Standing Together: A Reflection on Parashat Nitzavim
Rabbi Menachem Creditor & Rabba Daphne Lazar Price
The Torah names not just leaders but also children, women, and even the stranger, from “woodchopper to water drawer. (v.10)” It could have said simply “everyone,” but by enumerating groups, the text ensures that no one can be overlooked. Children may not fully understand but will carry memory. Women, often excluded from ancient (and, all too often, modern) political structures, are named as part of God’s covenant. Even strangers are included - not Israelites, yet embraced by the Torah’s care. The Torah’s language of “all of you” followed by each group challenges us to be vigilant about who is included - and who might feel excluded - when we say “everyone.” Naming in this way is an act of dignity and inclusivity.
Moshe is speaking urgently in these verses, as he knows his time is short. He warns of a spiritual danger, imagining that once we “arrive” in the Promised Land, we might think ourselves safe from the harshness of the world, immune to the consequences of actions, finished in our moral development. “I shall be safe, though I follow my own willful heart, (v. 18)” says the verse. This is a false security.
Our own lives echo this danger. Moments of progress can lead to self-satisfaction, as if justice or equality is accomplished once and for all. Yet Torah reminds us that covenant is ongoing. We are never done. We cannot say “we’ve arrived” while inequality persists, or while suffering remains in our midst, or when Jewish safety is threatened, as it so frequently is these days.
In recent years, many of us have felt knocked down, struggling to find footing in a broken and frightening world. War, displacement, hatred, loss, and uncertainty weigh heavily. We feel the urgency to “get it right,” to act faithfully even when the world feels unstable. And yet, voices of resilience remind us that there can still be a good ending, even if we cannot yet see it. Jewish wisdom teaches, “It is not upon you to finish the work, but neither are you free to desist from it. (Pirkei Avot 2:16)” Every act matters, even when we cannot control the outcome.
We may never feel that we have truly “arrived.” Even on our best days, there is more work to do, more perspectives to hear, more compassion to extend. That awareness, rather than diminishing us, calls us to humility, perseverance, and hope.
A puzzling verse in Nitzavim offers a way to bring these thoughts together:
“The hidden things belong to God, but the revealed things are for us and our children forever, to do all the words of this Torah. (Deut. 29:28)” Some versions even mark words with dots, suggesting uncertainty about what belongs to us at all.
Perhaps the message is this: we will never know everything. Control is not ours. What is ours is responsibility - to act with integrity, to live Torah in real time, even in confusion. As the ancient sage Hillel taught a student who doubted his shifting lessons (and likely his own feeling of uncertainty), “You trusted me yesterday, trust me today. (Shabbat 31a, paraphrased)” Faith does not erase uncertainty but empowers us to act despite it.
As we prepare to close one year and enter another, we hold two truths: we are ready for this year’s pain and heaviness to end, and yet, we must not rush through time. This year has included great meaning and joy too. These final days of the year are also part of the gift of life, to be savored before the new year begins.
Standing together - all of us - we are called into covenant again, hayom, today. We may not know what tomorrow brings, but we know this: our task is to show up, to stand present, and to do the work of Torah with whatever strength and wisdom we are blessed to share.
How blessed we are to stand together.
