Parashat Nitzavim - Fifth Aliyah
Read the biblical text and try to understand it on your own, before reading the commentary.
When the return begins to bear fruit
The aliyah continues the process of return from the previous aliyah. After the gathering of Israel and the return to the land, the Torah describes a change with regard to the enemies and the haters who pursued Israel as well. The curses that were part of the crisis pass over to those who harmed them, while Israel come back to listen to the voice of God and to do his commandments.
From here a renewed abundance is described in every area of life: in the work of the hands, in the fruit of the womb, in the fruit of the cattle and in the fruit of the ground. The blessing is not described only as survival or recovery, but as a return to a state of good and joy, similar to the good that was given to the fathers.
At the close of the aliyah the Torah comes back once more to the basic point: the abundance is bound to listening to the voice of God, to keeping his commandments and statutes written in the book of the Torah, and above all to returning to him with all the heart and with all the soul. In this way it is emphasized that the outer change grows out of a deep inner change.
Insights from the aliyah
Return changes the direction of the story
In the previous aliyah the return began, and here its fruits are already visible. What had been a process of loss turns into a process of building, of listening and of blessing.
Coming back to the place is not enough, one has to come back to the way
The return to the land is not the end of the process. The Torah connects it immediately to listening to the voice of God and to doing the commandments. At the level of the idea, a change of place without a change of way is not a complete repair.
The abundance reaches every area of life
The work of the hands, the family, the animals and the ground appear together. The blessing is not limited to one domain, but spreads over life as a single whole.
There is a difference between rescue and good
The Torah is not satisfied with Israel no longer suffering. It describes a state of increase, success and rejoicing. At the level of the idea, complete repair is not only getting out of the crisis but building a good life anew.
The enemy stops defining the story
At the beginning of the aliyah the haters and the pursuers are mentioned, but the center of gravity moves at once to Israel themselves: to listening, to doing and to blessing. This teaches that repair does not stay stuck in the question of who harmed us, but moves to the question of how we rebuild ourselves.
The blessing is bound to the heart
The aliyah ends with a return to God with all the heart and with all the soul. That is, the commandments are not only an outward act, but are meant to grow out of an inner and renewed bond.
The return is not to the past but to a repaired bond
There is here a return to the good that the fathers had, but it is not only a restoration of what once was. The people pass through crisis, exile and return, and out of all of that a renewed and deeper bond is built.
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