Nitzavim Vayelech 5771

Rabbi Joshua Kullock
Comunidad Hebrea de Guadalajara, México

Rosh Hashanah is just around the corner, and each one of us must be immersed in the process of spiritual and emotional preparation to receive the next year.  In these last days of the year, I think it is appropriate to share with you some thoughts regarding this important time in our calendar.  But first, I would like to share with you an old joke about the Days of Awe:
 

“Two women have fought and decide to make peace for the New Year.  So, one woman says to the other: ‘I wish you all the things you wish me for the New Year.’  To which the second woman replies:  ‘Well, you’re starting to fight already!’”

As we know, in the days before Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, it is especially important to approach people and ask forgiveness for whatever we have done to hurt them.  However, I fear authentic apologies are rare in our personal relationships.
 

It is simply too difficult for us to acknowledge we have done something wrong.  And often, this same impossibility pushes us away from our loved ones.  That which starts as a small argument or misunderstanding, can turn into an insurmountable breach that grows deeper with time.
 

That is why the tradition of Israel teaches us that not working towards the building of bridges, to reconnect with others over the abyss, constitutes a serious failing.  That is why Teshuvah, among our people, not only means to repent but also to raise the strength and courage to be able to turn back, to return and erase separations and distances.
 

In the parashiot we read this week, Moses continues with his last speech, where the concept of distance, or the lack thereof, appears with total clarity.  In this case, the context is our relationship with Torah.  And thus it is written:
 

“For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say: 'Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?' Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say: 'Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?' But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.”  (Deut. 30:11-14)
 

In the same manner that we often let breaches and abysses form between us and our loved ones, it also occurs in our relation with Torah that sometimes we establish far and distant relations, claiming all kinds of reasons that just serve to set up more barriers and dividers.  And that is why the Torah tells us:  It is not in heaven, nor beyond the sea, but at the reach of our mouths and our hearts.
 

In this sense, the Chassidic Rabbi Menachem Mendl of Kotzk said that God places His words in our hearts, leaving to us the responsibility to open them, so that they can enter our souls along with the divine presence.
 

The same happens with forgiveness and apologies:  when we open our hearts, we start to find the ways to ask forgiveness and accept the apologies of our fellow men and women.  If the heart remains closed, Teshuvah becomes impossible.
 

That is why I’d like to emphasize the idea of responsibility.  Each one of us is responsible for the actual settling of breaches.  We cannot wait for others to take the initiative, because what we expect to receive in the world, we must offer first.  We cannot have what we do not want to give.
 

“I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed…”  (Deut. 30:19)
 

Judaism enables us to be responsible, for our decision-making is up to us.  The work of our hands will be a blessing or a curse, depending on what we choose to do.  The life or allowed death of the relationships we have established with our friends and family lays in our intentions to water the soil, hoping for the fruit to grow.
 

Just a few days from a new Rosh Hashanah, may God grant us the power to internalize the divine counsel of continuously choosing life and blessing, opening our hearts with sincerity, choosing to live full lives by establishing new and renewed relationships with those who are far away, with those who are close, and with the tradition of Israel itself.
 

Shabbat Shalom uMeborah!