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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/59102/full/59102/dont-just-stand-there-waiting-for-instructions-put-out-your-hand/ <br /><br /> <b>Don’t just stand there waiting for instructions — put out your hand</b> <br /> Thursday, September 2, 2010 | by rabbi larry raphael <br /><br /><p>Nitzavim-Vayelech</p> <p>Deuteronomy 29:9–31:30</p> <p>Isaiah 61:10–63:9</p> <p><br /><img alt="rabbi larry raphael" class="left" height="200" src="http://www.jweekly.com/images/uploads/column_pics/torah/rabbi larry raphael.jpg" title="rabbi larry raphael" width="126" />Each one of us is standing there (that’s what “nitzavim” literally means) — at the foot of the mountain, at Sinai, waiting impatiently, getting a bit bored, yearning for revelation. We have no idea of how long the journey will take or what’s in store for us, or even where we are going. All that we know is that we have left the narrow places in Egypt behind us and that we have been given the promise of freedom. This is the second time we have heard the story of our ancestors, first in Exodus and now, once again, in Deuteronomy, as a reminder before we cross the Jordan into the land of promise.</p> <p>Nitzavim seems to be the theme statement for this portion, something we might expect to be carried throughout the Torah, or at least through the end of the portion. In case we need some extra help, we are given a list of who the “we” is standing there: leaders, tribes, elders and officers, infants, spouses (it is true the text actually says “wives”), and “those who live among you” — including the one who cuts wood and the one who draws water.</p> <p>Then we are also reminded that there are others included in the brit, in the covenant: those who are born and those yet to be born. The Torah in its wisdom provides enough room to accommodate all who would drink from its well, all who would care to live in a community infused by the Divine wisdom that is revealed at Sinai.</p> <p>“Those who live among you.” Who are these people? Are they merely itinerant laborers who joined the Israelite camp to service them? Are they the mass multitude that some believe joined the Exodus from Egypt? (Perhaps they too had been enslaved and took advantage of the “midnight move” to leave slavery behind.) Or perhaps they were men and women from other peoples whom the Israelites married and brought into their camp?</p> <p>My colleague and friend Rabbi Kerry Olitzky (director of the Jewish Outreach Institute) has taught that regardless of their source of origin, the Torah makes one thing quite clear: We have the opportunity to share the experience of Torah with whomever wants to camp among us.</p> <p>In this Torah portion, Moses continues his speeches to the Israelites just before they enter the land of Israel. He tells them God is making a covenant with them and, through them, with all future generations, fulfilling the promise made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (to which we now add Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah). The covenant will last, he warns, only if they do not worship other gods.</p> <p>Moses also announces that he is 120 years old and no longer able to lead the people. He assures them they will be successful in settling the land of Israel and calls upon Joshua to succeed him as leader, promising that God “will not fail you or forsake you.”</p> <p>I think of my teachers when I read this portion each year. In studying for the rabbinate I often was charged with a specific responsibility. It was common to be told that I could only stand tall (as is implied in nitzavim) if I worked at making up for what the Holocaust and other tragedies did to the Jewish people.</p> <p>It is my task not just to teach and actively work to save Judaism, but to increase its numbers. To welcome in as many people as possible into the community, regardless of the path that they took to get there. It is a challenge for each one of us to greet those who are searching Judaism and encourage them to consider the opportunity to join. And off we go to building community, even in the wilderness.</p> <p>In the Torah, Joshua led the people forward. He was only one person; it was he and Caleb alone who saw the unlimited potential in the land and in the people — while others recoiled from the strangers they saw as giants, fearful of the unknown.</p> <p>We now have the opportunity to carry Joshua’s task forward, from the land, to the people. We may do it collectively, but we accomplish it one person — each a leader — at a time, for we were there, and heard the call.</p> <p><strong><br />Rabbi Larry Raphael</strong> is the senior rabbi of Congregation Sherith Israel in San Francisco.</p>

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