Nitsavim (Deuteronomy 29:9-30:20) and Haftarah (Isaiah 61:10-63:9): The JPS B'nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary

by Jeffrey K. Salkin

Overview

The JPS B'nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary shows teens in their own language how Torah addresses the issues in their world. The conversational tone is inviting and dignified, concise and substantial, direct and informative. Each pamphlet includes a general introduction, two model divrei Torah on the weekly Torah portion, and one model davar Torah on the weekly Haftarah portion. Jewish learning--for young people and adults--will never be the same.



The complete set of weekly portions is available in Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin's book The JPS B'nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary (JPS, 2017).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780827614611
Publisher:	The Jewish Publication Society
Publication date:	12/01/2018
Series:	JPS Study Bible
Pages:	24
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin serves as the senior rabbi of Temple Solel in Hollywood, Florida. He is the author of Putting God on the Guest List: How to Reclaim the Spiritual Meaning of Your Child’s Bar or Bat Mitzvah, winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award for the best religion book published in the United States, and The Gods Are Broken: The Hidden Legacy of Abraham (JPS, 2013).
 

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

The Torah

Nitsavim: Deuteronomy 29:9–30:20

Time is running out for Moses. This Torah portion, which is often combined with the next parashah, Va-yelekh, contains the crucial speech that Moses delivers on the very last day of his life, and he is feeling a sense of urgency. As the Israelites stand on the steppes of Moab, preparing to enter the Land of Israel, Moses reminds them that it is not only they who are standing there, entering into the covenant, but also all future Jews.

Moses reserves a special contempt for those who would turn away from God and the covenant. But Moses also reminds them that those who turn away can always turn back. Unwilling to allow his final words to be filled with anger, Moses encourages the Israelites and helps them understand that the covenant is not too difficult to follow, and that the Torah presents them with choices — life or death, blessing or curse. When all is said and done, the Israelites must "choose life."

Summary

• Moses tells the Israelites that they all stand before God, and that they stand before God equally, without regard to age, gender, and the kind of work that they do. God makes the covenant not only with them, but also with those "who are not with us here this day." (29:9–13)

• Moses warns against those who continue to worship idols. He condemns the way that those idol worshipers think about what they are doing — thinking only about themselves and not about the rest of the community. It is that kind of selfish thinking that deserves terrible punishments. (29:15–27)

• As bad as things might get with the Jewish people — no matter how much they sin and are punished with exile — Moses reassures them that, ultimately, God will take them back in love, and bring them back to the Land of Israel. (30:1–10)

• Moses reminds the people that teshuvah is not only necessary, it is possible. The Torah is not too hard for people to do. Nevertheless, they still have a choice: between life and death, and blessing and curse. All God can do is ask them to make the right choice. (30:11–20)

The Big Ideas

• Judaism is never only about "now." It is also about the future. This is perhaps one of Deuteronomy's greatest messages: a focus on the education of children, and the sense that the Jewish people must endure into the future. We might even say that Deuteronomy introduces the idea of a Jewish future. Moreover, the covenant with God is meant to be inclusive — men, women, children, menial laborers, even non-Jews who live in the midst of the Jewish community.

• The individual Jew can never think only about himself or herself. True, Moses condemns those who still worship the idols of the surrounding nations. That is bad enough, but what really gets Moses angry is those who think that they will get away with idol worship and that they can do whatever they want. In this way, Moses is being more than a little prophetic. To this day, there are Jews who only think about themselves and not about the implications of their actions for the Jewish people or on the Jewish future. They are following their "own willful heart." Moses warns that this attitude, if it continues, will ultimately destroy the Jewish people, and that God ultimately knows what goes on in the privacy of people's lives.

• Without teshuvah, Judaism and the Jewish people could not exist. Of all the Jewish ideas that originated in Deuteronomy — the love of God, education of subsequent generations, the ability to make moral and spiritual choices, the emphasis on social justice — perhaps the most important one is teshuvah. It is often translated as "repentance," but it really means "return." In this particular case in the Torah portion, it means that if the Jews repent they will be able to return from exile to the Land of Israel. In fact, the verb shuv, "to return," appears more often in this Torah portion than in the entire Torah. It is hardly a coincidence that this portion is always the one that is read in the synagogue right before the beginning of the Days of Awe. Teshuvah, the main theme of the High Holy Days, is written all over it.

• Judaism is doable. Judaism is not a secret teaching that only a comparatively few people can figure out. Neither is it overburdened with difficult ritual practices that just the extremely dedicated can perform. It is for all Jews. But God cannot force us to perform the mitzvot. Neither can God force us to do teshuvah and return to the right way of living. Those are choices that only we can make.

Divrei Torah

You Can Do It!

"I can't do it. ... It's too hard!" How many times have you said that, either to yourself or to others? Perhaps it was a new move or skill in a sport. Perhaps a challenging piece of music. Maybe it was having to move to a new home with your family, or starting at a new camp. Maybe it was learning Hebrew. Whatever it is, we all come up against things that seem to be really hard for us to do.

What about Judaism?

There is a hint of that in this Torah portion, too. Moses tells the People of Israel: "Surely, this Instruction which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach" (30:11).

Which mitzvah (commandment) is Moses talking about? If you look at what the passage is talking about immediately before Moses delivers these words of encouragement, you might think that the subject is teshuvah, "repentance" or "return."

Moses is saying that the mitzvah of repentance is not too hard for someone to do. And this might well be a surprise to us, because if you've ever been in a position of having to say that you are sorry to someone, or (even harder) having to dig down deep inside yourself and say, "I could be better," or, if you've ever had to reconsider an idea that you first thought was great or had to deal with regrets about something, you know how hard it can be.

But perhaps the mitzvah that the verse is referring to is not the mitzvah of teshuvah at all. Perhaps the mitzvah is all the mitzvot — all of Judaism itself.

If this is so, then the verse is teaching us that it's not impossible to understand Judaism and follow its laws and teachings, or to practice Judaism. You don't have to go into the heavens to retrieve Judaism's real meaning. A midrash puts it this way: "Moses told the Israelites that he was not going to bring them another Torah from heaven. Nothing of it has remained in heaven." It is all there, right in front of you. It is real. It is doable.

Jewish observance poses challenges. It's not easy to observe Shabbat in any real and meaningful way; it requires doing certain things (like rituals) and not doing certain things. The same thing is true of kashrut. It can be a challenge to figure out what and how to eat, and that can make going to restaurants difficult; but as generations of Jews will tell you, it is doable. Fasting on Yom Kippur: hard, but doable. Learning Hebrew: sometimes hard, but quite often doable (some people just can't learn a foreign language, no matter how hard they try). And no matter how hard the mitzvot are, throughout history Jews have often sacrificed their lives in order to do them.

Says Bible scholar Avivah Zornberg: "God is like a very patient piano teacher who is constantly introducing us to new ways of playing the sacred music. God doesn't give us any pieces that are too hard for our playing level."

The commandments. Hard? Yes. Too hard? No. Their worth? Priceless!

Do It Today!

Don't you find it irritating when people keep using the same words, over and over again? Some people just have their favorite words or clichés, and, frankly, they can get a little annoying.

That is how Moses was with the word ha-yom, "today" or "this day." Moses uses it five times in 29:9–17, and then, again, another seven times in 30:1–19. "You stand this day" (29:9); and then again in 29:12: "to the end that He may establish you this day as His people": and then again in 30:2: "just as I enjoin upon you this day." And then, again in 30:11: "Surely, this Instruction which I enjoin upon you this day." You get the idea.

Why this constant repetition of "today?" In the words of the great medieval commentator Rashi: "This teaches that Moses, on the day of his death, gathered them together before God to bring them into the covenant." Moses is delivering this speech on the final day of his life. "Today," "this day," has very special meaning for him. If Moses did not get this sacred work done hayom, today, it would not get done.

But, maybe Moses was not simply referring to "today" or "this day" as the particular day when he spoke. Perhaps Moses meant that whenever we read these words we should think of those words being delivered "today" — on the very day that we read them. After all, Moses made the covenant "not with you alone, but both with those who are standing here with us this day ... and with those who are not here with us this day" (29:13). That's all of us.

Imagine, then, a Jewish science fiction movie in which all time is collapsed. Past, present, and future no longer exist. The late comedian George Carlin once said: "Time is just God's way of making sure that everything doesn't happen all at once." In fact, this is how Jewish ritual works. Every time we read the Torah, it is as if we ourselves are standing on Mount Sinai, or in Moab, becoming part of the covenant. Every time we sit at the Passover seder, it is as if we ourselves are getting out of Egypt. (Some Jews even act out the Exodus at the seder itself — getting up from the table and going outside the house.) At a Jewish wedding, the couple "becomes" Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden — the first couple in history.

In the words of the contemporary scholar Everett Fox: "'Today' in this Torah portion challenges all hearers of the text to make the moment their own. The book of Deuteronomy, the great example of the Teaching made new, thus begins the Jewish process, as old as the Bible itself, of rehearing and rethinking the tradition."

One last thing about "today." As you get older, you will probably figure this out. Laziness is an unattractive quality. So is procrastination — putting things off. Especially when it comes to observing the commandments and doing good deeds, making amends, honoring your parents, reaching out to friends, paying attention to your grandparents — don't put it off. Do it today!

Connections

• What can you do to contribute to the Jewish future?

• Do you believe that Jewish education is important? How can you demonstrate your commitment to Jewish learning?

• In what ways have you shown your commitment to the larger Jewish community?

• Have you ever done teshuvah (repented, asked for forgiveness) for something that you've done? What was that experience like? How did it feel?

• Are there things that you once thought were difficult that have actually proven to be either easy or, at least, doable?

• What are some things that you keep putting off? How can you break yourself of that habit?

CHAPTER 2

The Haftarah

Nitsavim: Isaiah 61:10–63:9

This haftarah has a double name because it's read along with two parshiyot, Nitsavim and Va-yelekh.

Seven weeks ago, it was Tisha b'Av. The Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. The horror was beyond imagining. (Read the book of Lamentations for the eyewitness accounts; it is not pretty.)

For seven weeks, Jews have been reading haftarot that ask the following questions: Can God bring us home from Babylon? Will God bring us home from Babylon? And the answer is: Yes. Yes, it is time to come home. And this is no mere "coming home." It's like a wedding in which God is the bridegroom and Israel is the bride. "Like a bridegroom adorned with a turban, like a bride bedecked with her finery" (61:10).

More than that: sometimes, when people get married, the bride will take a new name — usually, her husband's last name. (This happens less often these days, but it's still common.) When the Jewish people "marry" God, it's not as if God has a last name for them to take (!). But they do change their names — "Nevermore shall you be called 'Forsaken,' nor shall your land be called 'Desolate'; but you shall be called 'I delight in her,' and your land 'Espoused'" (62:4).

In the Bible, when someone's name is changed — for example, Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, Jacob to Israel — it means a total change of status. And that is what has happened to the Jewish people. Changing their name, even poetically and temporarily, means that they have changed their status from a demoralized people to a victorious people. Or, think of it this way: there is an old Jewish custom to change the name of someone who is seriously ill, imagining that this will confuse the Angel of Death. The Jewish people have been seriously "ill," suffering from inner despair. So, change their name — let them live again!

When It Comes to Israel, Don't Be Silent

If you were going to look for the verse from the haftarah that has had the most enduring influence, it would be this one: "For the sake of Zion I will not be silent; for the sake of Jerusalem I will not be still, till her victory emerge resplendent and her triumph like a flaming torch" (62:1).

The great Bible commentator Rashi, who lived in the Middle Ages, didn't forget what that verse means. In fact, he had a new understanding of it, because he lived in the days of the Crusades, when armies went to war in Jerusalem: "I shall act, and I shall not be silent about what was done to Jerusalem, and I will not be at peace until her victory emerges."

But, nowadays, what does it mean not to be silent regarding Zion? It means recognizing that Israel is the ancestral home of the Jewish people, and it is part of every Jew's religious identity. It means recognizing that Israel is a refuge from antisemitism, and that it is a place where Jews can go to escape persecution and be safe. Finally, it means recognizing that Israel is an example to the rest of the world for how to engage in tikkun olam, repairing the world.

What can you do to support Israel, and to speak up with your own deeds? You can visit Israel; make friends with Israelis and stay in touch with them; improve your knowledge of Hebrew; follow what's happening in the Israeli political arena; buy Israeli products whenever possible, especially food products; write letters to the newspaper supporting and defending Israel; give tzedakah to organizations that support Israel; read Israeli newspapers and magazines online; read books about Israel; listen to Israeli rock music; watch Israeli films; follow Israeli sports; learn to cook Israeli or Middle Eastern dishes.

And why should Jews not be silent about Israel? Think about how the Jews in Babylon felt. They had been dreaming about returning to the Land of Israel; now it is becoming a reality. So, too, with modern Jews, who especially after the Holocaust could celebrate a return to the Jewish homeland.

As the late Esther Jungreis writes about her childhood in a Nazi concentration camp: "The nights in Bergen Belsen were very long. I would close my eyes and try to escape by recalling stories from the Bible, stories of our sages, and stories of Jerusalem. We would yet come to Jerusalem, where the sun always shone, where no one ever went hungry, where, my mother assured me, candy bars actually grew on trees, and birds sang the psalms of King David. Never had a nation returned to its land after two thousand years, and we saw it with our very eyes. The ancient prophecy was fulfilled."

How can one be silent or apathetic about the miracle by the Mediterranean that is Israel?

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "The JPS B'nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary Nitsavim (Deuteronomy 29:9–30:20) Haftarah (Isaiah 61:10–63:9)"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin.
Excerpted by permission of UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA PRESS.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

General Introduction
Nitsavim: Torah Commentary
Nitsavim: Haftarah Commentary

Editorial Reviews

“This is a fantastic resource . . . clear, coherent, and easy to understand. It encourages readers to grapple with real issues in the Bible that are relevant to them. It will be incredibly valuable not only to teens preparing to become bar/bat mitzvah but also to adults in navigating, challenging, and connecting to the biblical text.”—Rabbi Danielle G. Eskow, co-founder of onlinejewishlearning.com

Rabbi Danielle G. Eskow

“Rabbi Jeff Salkin has enabled b’nai mitzvah to learn and teach Torah with a commentary that is wise, helpful, and brilliantly clear.”—Rabbi David Wolpe, senior rabbi at Sinai Temple, Los Angeles, and author of David: The Divided Heart

Rabbi David Wolpe

“This is fantastic! It’s a game-changer for b’nai mitzvah, their parents, and their teachers. Salkin’s fresh insights remind us how transformative this experience can be.”—Rabbi Aaron Miller, Washington Hebrew Congregation

Rabbi Aaron Miller