What They Said!
From the very beginning מבְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית we are taught and experience the power of words.
וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִ֣י א֑וֹר וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר׃
God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
בָּרוּךְ שֶׁאָמַר וְהָיָה הָעוֹלָם
Blessed is He Who spoke, and the world came into being.
Our foundational texts and our liturgy reflecting these core ideas abound with speech and narration. Our best and tragically frequent worst moments occur through words.
There are two “sayings” that are particularly conspicuous in the portion of Nitzavim. They occur one after the other, giving them all the more perhaps doubling their significance. The context in a sense introduces the irony if not the angst. We last week read the ominous and harrowing curses that Moses detailed. Entering the portion of Nitzavim we are certainly ready for comfort, some good news, we are after all gathered together, all of us. Yet once again, the words are words of dire warnings and detailed descriptions of what will (inevitably) occur when we persist in our wrongdoing. Future generations will see the destruction, 29;22…soil devastated by sulfur and salt, beyond sowing and producing, no grass growing in it, just like the upheaval of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which God overthrew in fierce anger…
There follows two astonishing utterances, 29:23;
וְאָֽמְרוּ֙ כָּל־הַגּוֹיִ֔ם עַל־מֶ֨ה עָשָׂ֧ה יְהוָ֛ה כָּ֖כָה לָאָ֣רֶץ הַזֹּ֑את מֶ֥ה חֳרִ֛י הָאַ֥ף הַגָּד֖וֹל הַזֶּֽה׃
all nations will say “Why did God do this to this land? Wherefore that awful wrath?”
וְאָ֣מְר֔וּ עַ֚ל אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָֽזְב֔וּ אֶת־בְּרִ֥ית יְהוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵ֣י אֲבֹתָ֑ם אֲשֶׁר֙ כָּרַ֣ת עִמָּ֔ם בְּהוֹצִיא֥וֹ אֹתָ֖ם מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃
They will say “Because they forsook the covenant that the Lord the God of their ancestors, made with them upon freeing them from the land of Egypt.”
The arduous explanation continues. We are being enlightened by the nations of the world. With the propensity and assurances of us seeking forgiveness, surely it should be us stating these learnings, not them! It is as if sulfur and salt are being added to the wounds as well as the soil…The nations of the world have this insight, whereas we do not?
It would appear that this is part of the punishment. The uncomfortable truth coming from outside of the community, rather than from within. Some may see this in a more positive light albeit in tragic circumstances, but a fulfillment and manifestation of
…יַכִּֽירוּ וְיֵדְ֒עוּ כָּל יוֹשְׁ֒בֵי תֵבֵל כִּי לְךָ תִכְרַע כָּל בֶּֽרֶךְ תִּשָּׁבַע כָּל לָשׁוֹן…
They will realize and know, all the inhabitants of the world, that to You, every knee must bend, every tongue must swear (allegiance to You).
What they say is often understandably met with suspicion, held with disdain; they have an agenda, what do they know? Nitzavim, gathered together, ironically and perhaps in a counterintuitive manner breaks the romance, the idea of it’s just us! When our actions and their consequences are explained by others it is humiliating but also humbling. This foreboding is not that others will judge us, it is that they will have to tell us who we are because we have stopped telling ourselves. Tragically if we do not hold ourselves accountable others will.
