Nitzavim/Vayelech- One Raindrop Raises the Sea

“Atem nitzavim hayom kulchem lifnei Hashem Ehloheichem: rosheichem, shivteichem, zikneichem, v’shotreichem, kol ish Yisrael; tapchem, n’sheichem, v’geircha asher b’kerev machanecha- meihoteiv eitzecha ad shoeiv meimecha.”

“You are standing this day, all of you before Hashem, your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, every member of Israel; your little ones, your wives, and the stranger that is in the midst of the camp- from the hewer of your wood to the drawer of your water.”

This is how parashat Nitzavim begins, with a message for every Israelite, from the highest head to the lowest servant, from the youngest to the eldest.  Each one of us stands before God.  We stand as individuals, kol ish, and as part of a greater whole, Yisrael.  Together we accepted the covenant, and together we stand poised on the edge of our land to affirm it.  There is no one to say “I didn’t choose to live this way,” no one to say “God wasn’t talking to me.”  It’s an interesting point of view that Judaism takes.  Whether confession or teshuvah, joyous occasions or sad, we do things beyond a vacuum. 

My children love a series of books, later a miniseries, called Dinotopia.  A favourite saying there is “one raindrop raises the sea.”  As the Israelites stand on the edge of the land, as we stand on the edge of a new year with promise for both peace and war, we never know when that raindrop will return or for whom.  It may not be the trained leader or officer, but the child or the servant that makes the difference in another person’s life or the life of the Israelites as a people.  Moshe was a shepherd following a sheep when Hashem spoke to him.  Joshua and Calev were just two regular people when then spoke up against the rest of the spies emerging as leaders, and now, in parashat Vayelech, Moshe shares that Joshua will be the leading Israel into the land.

All of this, Moshe declares, shall be read publicly when the Israelites gather.  It is to be spoken as shirat hazot, this song.  We will sing it to our people that it will be in our ears and in our mouths, and we will remember, “one raindrop raises the sea.” 

Rav Sean, the family, and I wish you a Shabbat shalom v’shana tova u’metuka.