Parsha Talk Netzavim 5782 2022 – With Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky.
Parashat Nitzavim [Deut. 29:9-30:20] is the last parashah of 5782, and the third from the end of the weekly readings [V-zot Ha-b’rakhah (Deut. 33:1-34:12), the last parashah, is read on the morning of Simchat Torah (this year, Tuesday, October 18, 2022)]. Nitzavim begins with the declaration that “You stand this day, all of you, before the Lord your God . . . to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is concluding with you this day. . . “ (29:9-11 [NJPS]). The Torah goes on to elaborate, “I make this covenant . . . not with you alone, but both with those who are standing here with us this day before the Lord our God and with those who are not with us here this day (29:13-14). This led us to a discussion of which looms larger in our imagination, the Revelation at Sinai or the Coveant Renewal in the plains of Moab. We managed to mention, and discuss, the last verse of the parashah as well, which also serves as a coda to this section of Deuteronomy. Professor Jeffrey Tigay labels the remaining 4 chapters [Va-yelekh, Ha’azinu, and Ve-zot Ha-b’rakhah] as an Epilogue, describing Moses’ Last Days. With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom and Shanah Tovah!