Nitzvaim-Vayelech (Deuteronomy 29:9-31:30) New Challenges With New Realities!
This Shabbat we meet a double portion, Nitzavim-Vayelech! These portions are filled with great texts, famous verses and challenging personal transitions. In looking at these texts I could not help but think of these transitions and how they speak to so many of us. Perhaps the most meaningful situation is Moses’s acceptance that he can no longer handle the challenges of leadership, that he accepts that Joshua will take his place and the ambivalence (and I really do think it is ambivalence) of his acceptance of his death, which is couched in terms of his not being allowed to set foot into Canaan.
This reminded me of that challenge that so many of us face in accepting new realities as we get older. Our bodies are changing, echoing 31:2, many of us come to accept that we can no longer be as active as we once were, at least physically. That in itself is a message for while we may not be as physically active, Judaism also teaches that our curiosity for learning and ideas is always there, even it is tempered by other limitations.
How do we accept the new realities of our own aging? Do we surrender to these new realities and retreat from the world? Or do we accept these new realities as part of our life’s journey and evolve into ways of still embracing and celebrating the life we have? I think this tension is lurking in these portions and may be a worthy source of conversation, especially at this season of the year when we are urged to confront our own life and what we wish for our future.
One of the key themes of our first portion is that of choice. This is, as we have discussed, a major motif within the moral and ethical texts of our tradition. The texts and liturgy that we will encounter in these next weeks will be a constant reminder that how we meet life rests with the choices we make. What we chose does reflect who we are, and one of the questions that will be raised is how honest we are in recognizing and accepting and owning those choices. How we chose to either surrender to new realities or accept them and move on to life will encompass much of our lives as we get and grow older. May we grow from strength to strength.
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Richard F Address
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