Nitzavim: Preparing for Rosh HaShanah - Where Are You?

Parashat Nitzavim

Not in Heaven

Where are you — Ayekah? It’s the question HaShem asked of Adam, and it is the question Nitzavim puts to us as we anticipate Rosh HaShanah and anticipate a “sweet new year.” Where are you? The question calls me into honest self-reflection. Rabbi traced how we stand together as a whole people yet remain individually accountable, and how teshuvah means an actual change of direction, not just remorse, following the pattern of exile and return that runs through the parasha.

The Israelites stand on the banks of the Jordan, waiting to cross into the Promised Land. They stand collectively, but answer to God, individually. I alone answer to God once an injustice or private struggle is revealed. I am called to repent. To turn. Repentance is about more than remorse. Quoting Rabbi Dr. Stuart Dauermann, "“Repentance is not primarily about forgiveness. It is about amendment of life, about a change of direction, about how we are living and what we are living for.”

All I have to do is take the step—and HaShem answers with compassion and gathering. HaShem is near. The word is near, “in your mouth and in your heart.” Centuries later, the Apostle Paul, Shaul, quoted this same scripture in Romans 10. Return involves concrete steps. Recognize the truth. Own what I have done. Abandon a sinful deed. Repairing what I have broken. Change direction.

Teshuvah isn't easy just because it's near; it still means naming the truth and that’s not always easy, but we read in Romans 10, “For if you confess with your mouth that Yeshua is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

The resurrection of our Messianic King is the sign that redemption has broken into history—and that death will not have the final word. “The Torah is not in Heaven—it has been entrusted to human beings on earth. And all authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to our Messiah, who sends us to live faithfully within this world.”