Parshat HaShavua

Living a life in accord with the Torah’s teachings is a daunting proposition.  Six hundred thirteen is a big number.  Even the top ten commandments can be challenging; try going a week without coveting something.

For many Jews taking the steps toward a more observant life, steps like keeping kosher or even skipping a secular workday for a Jewish holiday*, can seem so challenging that one wonders whether these laws are really meant for us.  Can human beings really follow all these rules?  Even with the encouragement of tremendous blessings and fearsome curses, perhaps the prescriptions and prohibitions of the Torah are more of an ideal, a path to sainthood, but not for everyday people.

Nitzavim reminds us that we all have the ability to hold up our end of the covenant.  We have the strength, the intelligence, the will, and most importantly, the proximity:

Surely, this Instruction which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach.  It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us?”  Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?”  No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it. (Deuteronomy 30:11-14, Etz Hayim Humash)

The Torah is not for angels; it is for us diverse and flawed humans.  It is not inaccessibly distant; it is in our mouths and in our hearts.  Some mitzvot are readily easy.  Others take study and practice.  Many require a Temple and perhaps a messiah.  But there is nothing in our part of the covenant that we are permanently incapable of handling.

When you consider the overwhelming task of being one of God’s people, don’t look to heaven and despair.  Don’t consider the vast distance of foreign shores or the distance in time from Sinai our modern age and give up.  Look into your heart, and get started.

* I’m talking to you, mid-week Sukkot.