This One Wild, Precious Day (Nitzavim)
The word that rings out from the opening of Parashat Nitzavim is Hayom – today. It’s the word Moshe repeats five times in the opening six verses, the word we will soon sing during Rosh HaShannah services: “Hayom Harat Olam – Today the world is born.” “Hayom Te’amtzeinu – Today, give us courage.”
“Atem nitzavim hayom kulchem lifnei Adonai Eloheichem… – You stand today, all of you, before God. Tribal heads and officials, children and elders, the stranger, the woodchopper, the water drawer. (Deut. 29:9-10)”
Everyone is summoned. No one is left out. Everyone is bound by covenant today.
Every Rosh Hashanah is complicated. We arrive carrying so much – the heartbreaks and triumphs of a whole year lived. But isn’t that always the case? When has a new year ever begun without the weight of the world on our shoulders?
And still, Torah insists: Hayom. Don’t only look back, and don’t only dream forward. Pay attention to today.
Moshe knew he only had hayom – just that day – to speak his truth. That urgency pulses through his words on the last days of his life. And in that urgency, he gifts us the reminder that every day, not just once a year, is Hayom, today.
What’s remarkable is how Moshe frames the covenant:
“I make this covenant not with you alone who stand here today, but also with those who are not here with us today. (29:13-14)”
That’s us. We are drawn into the circle, standing present, because covenant is always renewed in the present tense. And it’s not just about us. It’s about those we love who are missing, those we grieve, those we carry in memory, those we long to see return. They are also part of this Hayom.
In that sense, Hayom is both anchor and horizon. It binds us to the living and to the memory of those not physically here. It asks us: What will you do with today?
We will sing Hayom during the Days of Awe:
“Hayom te’amtzeinu, hayom tevarcheinu, hayom tedarsheinu. Today give us courage. Today bless us. Today remind us to be our full size in the world.”
It’s not naïve to ask for these things. It’s bold. It’s covenantal. It’s what Moshe asked for us then, and what we must ask for one another now. Every Hayom matters. Every breath, every moment, every chance to choose blessing over curse, life over despair. That’s what it means to be truly alive: to stand firm, nitzavim, in the fullness of today.
So as we approach the gates of the new year, let us claim the gift of Hayom.
Not tomorrow. Not yesterday. Today.
Today we pray for courage.
Today we demand blessing.
Today we stand tall, in covenant, together.
May we be granted another Hayom – what a gift to receive.
And let us do something holy with this one wild, precious day.
Hayom.
