The Torah portion of Nitzavim is always read on the Shabbos before Rosh HaShanah.
[1] The reason for this is that every Shabbos is related to and encompasses the days of the coming week. Thus the phrase "You stand 'today...' " is read on the Shabbos before Rosh HaShanah, since "today" refers to Rosh HaShanah - "the day of great judgment."
When that day arrives, it is necessary that "You all stand together 'today' before the L-rd your G-d." All Jews are to come together, from the "heads of your tribes" to "your wood choppers and water drawers."
Rashi notes that "wood choppers" refers to Canaanites who converted to Judaism, and were not altogether forthcoming about their reason for doing so. Nevertheless, they too stand before G-d with all other Jews, so that "all stand together."
This degree of unity is much stronger than that of individuals who merely tolerate one another, notwithstanding the fact that one is a leader and the other a simple individual. Rather, the implication is that each benefits from and complements the other, just as the human body is composed of various organs, each possessing a unique function and complementing the others so that each one is truly incomplete without the others.
In order to achieve this kind of unity on Rosh HaShanah, the portion of Nitzavim with its emphasis on Jewish unity is read on the Shabbos preceding the holiday, for reading about this unity in the Torah empowers the Jewish people to make it a reality.
After stating "You all stand together today... and water drawer," the opening verse of Nitzavim concludes: "to make you pass through a coven with the L-rd your G-d." In other words, the unity of the Jewish people serves as a precursor to the covenant that G-d makes with them on Rosh HaShanah.
We observe that when dear friends wish their friendship to endure even under adverse circumstances, they will - while their feelings are still strong - make a covenant and affirm that whatever the future holds, their love for each other will not cease.
The strength of a covenant is such that although the circumstances that brought two people to like each other has undergone a radical change, the covenant they made will cause the friendship to endure.
For a covenant is an agreement that defies logic; intellect is set aside and an agreement is made to forge a relationship that is so powerful that no force in the world will be able to even lessen the love felt by one friend for the other.
The same holds true regarding the love between G-d and the Jewish people: During Rosh HaShanah, this love is at its peak, for it follows the spiritual service of the Jewish people during the month of Elul - a degree of service that erases all the sins that could possibly hinder this love. During Rosh HaShanah, then, Jews forge so strong a bond with G-d - utterly transcending logic - that no power in world can sunder the relationship.
In order to arouse within G-d the desire to unite with the Jewish people in so powerful a manner, it is necessary for us to demonstrate a willingness to give of ourselves in a manner that transcends logic. This is accomplished when all Jews unite so thoroughly that they become "truly as one."
Achieving such a feeling for one's fellow indeed goes beyond the boundaries of logic, for logically, one person is a "leader" while the other is a "wood chopper and water drawer." When a Jew shows this degree of love towards his fellow, then G-d in turn demonstrates His infinite love for the Jews on Rosh HaShanah, and blesses them during the coming year with all manner of good.
Based on Likkutei Sichos, Vol. II, pp. 398-400
Notes:
- (Back to text) See Likkutei Torah, Devarim, p. 44a.
The Targum
[1] renders the phrase in the portion of Nitzavim "G-d will circumcise your heart,"
[2] to mean "the foolishness of your heart."
The Targum does so to forestall the following question: "Circumcision" applies only to the removal of the coarseness and foolishness that covers the heart, not to the heart itself.[3]
Rashi, however, whose custom is to explain all difficulties in a verse's simple context, does not comment on these words at all. Evidently, according to him the verse is self-explanatory.
How are we to understand this verse according to Rashi?
Earlier on,[4] the verse states: "There shall come a time when you will experience... and you will return to G-d your L-rd... with all your heart and soul." The verse then goes on to say: "G-d will circumcise your heart." It follows, then, that the verse here cannot possibly be referring to the foolishness of the heart, for it is alluding to a time when the Jews have returned to G-d "with all their hearts and souls."
We must conclude that the phrase "G-d will circumcise your heart" refers not to the removal of the barrier of foolishness, but to the attainment of an even higher level - "that you will love G-d your L-rd, with all your heart and soul."
Or to put it slightly differently: The verse first states that the Jewish people will repent and obey G-d "with all their hearts and souls" - a level that can be attained even when they serve G-d only out of fear and awe.[5] Then verse then goes on to state that the Jews will "love G-d with all their hearts and souls."[6]
We must, however, understand the connection between "circumcision" - an act of removal - and the attainment of love for G-d.
An additional question: "G-d will circumcise your heart" refers to an action brought about by the A-mighty, while love of G-d is a commandment incumbent upon every Jew - "You shall love G-d, your L-rd, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might."[7]
The answer to these questions will become clear upon closer examination of the above-mentioned verses. "There shall come a time when you will experience... and you will return to G-d your L-rd... with all your heart and soul," continues the earlier theme about the state of exile that results from the Jewish people's "forsaking [of] G-d's covenant."[8]
The Torah also explains how this sad state of affairs can come about: "You know full well that we lived in Egypt... you saw their abominations... there may be among you... [those] whose heart strays."[9]
It is thus understandable that when the Torah says "G-d will circumcise your heart" it is referring to the removal of the cause of spiritual descent - the removal of the possibility of observing their abominations, which in turn leads to a straying of the heart.
For there are two general reasons why a Jew's heart might stray from G-d:
- a fault in the heart itself - a coarse or foolish heart;
- a fault outside the heart - "the eye sees and the heart desires."[10] In the latter situation, even if the heart itself would not normally indulge in sin, that which the eye sees gives birth to a desire within the heart.
The verse is here referring not to a case where the heart itself is "coarse" or "foolish," but to this latter situation, where "observing their abominations" might lead to the heart's straying.
The reason why the term "circumcise" is used now becomes clear: It is necessary to "circumcise" and cut off the connection between that which is observed and the heart, so that the heart will not desire that which the eye sees.
It is also understood why this requires an act of G-d - "G-d will circumcise." Man can only remove the folly and coarseness of his heart; the connection between the eye's seeing and the heart's desiring is something intrinsic to man's nature. Only G-d can negate this.[11]
Based on Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XXIX, pp. 167-170
Notes:
- (Back to text) Targum Onkelos; similarly in Targum Yonasan.
- (Back to text) Devarim 30:6.
- (Back to text) See Devarim 3:6, "G-d will remove the foreskin of your heart."
- (Back to text) Ibid., 30:1ff.
- (Back to text) See Tzror HaMor on this verse.
- (Back to text) See Klei Yakor on this verse.
- (Back to text) Devarim 6:5.
- (Back to text) Ibid., 29:24.
- (Back to text) Ibid., 29:15-17.
- (Back to text) Rashi, Bamidbar 15:39.
- (Back to text) See Rashi, Bereishis 17a.
Savo