Every year the Shabbat before Rosh HaShanah we read the Torah portion of Netzavim, which begins with the verse: “And you are standing today all of you before God…” (Deuteronomy 29:9). There are many reasons this portion is always read before Rosh HaShanah.
The previous portion of Ki Tavo contained the “blessing and the curse,” where the consequences of following, or not following, the Torah are clearly spelled out. There are ninety-eight “curses” in all. After hearing these dire predictions if the Jewish people do not listen to God, they complained to Moses as to how they would ever make it as a people. Therefore, this portion begins by stating that even if all the curses would be fulfilled (God forbid) the Jewish people would still be standing before God, for He will never abrogate the covenant He has made with the Jewish people. The ongoing covenant is stated in the continuation of the above verse: “…to cause you to pass into the covenant of God, your God, and His promise that God, your God, seals with you today, in order to establish with you today as a people to Him and that He be a God to you.
The “today” mentioned in the above verses alludes to three concepts of today. The first tradition is that this portion was spoken by Moses on the very day of his death when he gathered all the people to transmit his last teachings.
Another tradition is that the day we all stand before God, which is alluded to in this verse, is none other than Rosh HaShanah, when all the world passes before God in judgment. Therefore, we always read this portion before Rosh HaShanah to help prepare us mentally and psychologically to stand in earnest before our Maker.
A third interpretation of the meaning of “today” is that it actually refers to every day. This idea can be seen in relation to another seminal event – the giving of the Torah on Sinai. When we came to the desert of Sinai the Torah states: “…on this day they came to the desert of Sinai (Exodus: 19:1) Rashi comments that it would have been more appropriate grammatically to have said “on that day.” The fact that it says “on this day” teaches us that the words of Torah should be experienced anew as if given today. In other words, we should not relate to the giving of the Torah as a one time event in the past, rather as an event that is ongoing and revealed every single day.
We are similarly taught that the future can be revealed in the present as well. The verse in Psalms: “today, if you listen to His voice” is interpreted in the Talmud to refer to the coming of the Messiah, which could manifest today if only “you listen to His voice.”
Three times a day we pray the Amida, the main prayer in Judaism. The word Amida actually means “standing.” Although we all stand before God on Rosh Hashanah, we actually actualize this daily, albeit in a less intense manner. Despite the fact that we bow during the recitation of the Amida seven times, the emphasis is on standing before God. Only on two days a year do we actually prostate ourselves in prayer – on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. Yet, it is still in the context of standing before God. God made us in His image, and the combination of bowing and standing before God in prayer represents man learning to humbly reveal his true Divine potential in the context of his or her standing before God..
On Rosh HaShanah when we stand before God it as if all time manifests itself simultaneously. As we stand in the present, “today,” we ask for forgiveness and compassion for our past deeds and shortcomings, and commit ourselves to be better in the future. While our future is dependent on rectifying the past, the judgment on Rosh HaShanah for the future is likewise dependent on the sincerity and level of commitment we actualize in the present. We are taught that although God knows the future, and how in many cases we will not realize our highest ideals, He judges us nonetheless on our sincere desire to change and not strictly on what the end result will actually be.
The level of total awareness and intensity of intent on Rosh HaShanah is alluded to in the “all of you” of the above verse. The simple meaning is that all of the people were called together to hear the words of Moses. A Chassidic interpretation I heard from Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach was that the Torah is teaching us that when we stand before God on Rosh HaShanah, it must be with “all of you,” with the totality of our being, “with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might.”
When we really think about it how many times do we put our whole being into anything? How many times does our concentration wane in prayer after just a few moments? How often do we give others our full attention, our full caring and concern? How often do we follow through on our goals and aspirations till fully realized?
Standing before God with our whole being, especially on Rosh Hashanah, when our fate for the coming year is being decided is the call of the hour. If we are not able to muster up that presence of mind and heart, the sound of the shofar comes to awaken us and “shock” us into the need to relate to God from the depths of our inner most being.
The sound of the shofar searing through us has the ability to fuse all the disjointed parts of our personality, all the brokenness inside, into one unified plea. May we be able to stand as individuals and as a people before God everyday, and at the very least during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Days of Awe.
