אַתֶּם נִצָּבִים הַיּוֹם כֻּלְּכֶם לִפְנֵי ה' אֱ-לֹקֵיכֶם רָאשֵׁיכֶם שִׁבְטֵיכֶם זִקְנֵיכֶם וְשֹׁטְרֵיכֶם כֹּל אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל. טַפְּכֶם נְשֵׁיכֶם וְגֵרְךָ אֲשֶׁר בְּקֶרֶב מַחֲנֶיךָ מֵחֹטֵב עֵצֶיךָ עַד שֹׁאֵב מֵימֶיךָ. (דברים כט, ט-י)
Parshat Nitzavim is always the parsha preceding Rosh HaShana. Sometimes it is a single parsha and sometimes a double parsha together with Vayeilech. The Zohar HaKadosh (חלק ג, רלא א) says that when it says וַיְהִי הַיּוֹם in the psukkim, it is referring to Rosh HaShana. Other Mefarshim (e.g. פענח רזא) take this one step further saying that even the word הַיּוֹם on its own (without וַיְהִי), is referring to Rosh HaShana.
In this week's shiur (which is a little longer than normal, as it includes Shabbat and Rosh HaShana), we will primarily be discussing Rosh HaShana and specifically, one important aspect that is hinted to in the parsha, which gives us a greater understanding of the essence of this special chag.
However, before we dive in, a few questions that arise from some of the psukkim. The first passuk in the parsha says that everyone is standing before HKB"H and then brings a list - the leaders, the heads of the tribes, the elders, the policemen, all males in Am Yisrael. The infants, the women, the converts, from the tree choppers to the water drawers.
It is understandable that after the first passuk, referring specifically to adult males, the next passuk comes to add children, women and converts. What is not clear though is why the last two categories are needed – tree choppers and water drawers.
If we take the passuk literally, i.e. Am Yisrael standing before HKB"H and Moshe just prior to Moshe's death, the tree choppers and water drawers were another population group that didn't fit the other categories in the list.
These were Canaanites who deceitfully converted when Moshe was still alive (like the Givonim in the time of Yehoshua) and Moshe gave them the jobs of tree choppers and drawers of water. They were not like the true converts mentioned earlier in the list, and were not included in Am Yisrael.
If, however, we understand the passuk to mean that everyone is standing before HKB"H on Rosh HaShana, then what significance is there specifically to tree choppers and water drawers relating to Rosh HaShana? All the other groups listed are understandable, but why did the Torah davka spotlight the tree choppers and water drawers and not, say, the stone masons and the shoemakers?
If you notice, there is also a difference between the first group of people in the list and the last two. In the first part of the list, it says "this one, that one, this one and that one, etc., … until it gets to the last two - where it says "from this one to that one", מֵחֹטֵב עֵצֶיךָ עַד שֹׁאֵב מֵימֶיךָ.
When someone specifies a "from ... to" range, it usually indicates two opposing extremes – from this end to that end. What is the "vast" difference between a tree chopper and a water drawer? If the passuk wanted to paint a "spectrum of extremes", something on the extreme low end and something on the extreme high end, why did it not use the example of a tree chopper and a navi, for example?
Now to the next question. In the following chapter, HKB"H presents Am Yisrael with the concept of free choice רְאֵה נָתַתִּי לְפָנֶיךָ הַיּוֹם אֶת הַחַיִּים וְאֶת הַטּוֹב וְאֶת הַמָּוֶת וְאֶת הָרָע (שם, ל, טו), you can choose life/good or you can choose death/bad. If Am Yisrael choose the good, HKB"H promises to bless us in our ancestral land. If Am Yisrael choose the bad, we will be wiped out and will not live long in the Promised Land.
Four psukkim later the passuk says הַעִידֹתִי בָכֶם הַיּוֹם אֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת הָאָרֶץ הַחַיִּים וְהַמָּוֶת נָתַתִּי לְפָנֶיךָ הַבְּרָכָה וְהַקְּלָלָה וּבָחַרְתָּ בַּחַיִּים לְמַעַן תִּחְיֶה אַתָּה וְזַרְעֶךָ (שם, ל, יט). HKB"H calls upon the Heaven and earth to bear witness to this promise (regarding the good/bad choice). Rashi (ibid.) quoting the Sifri (דברים לב, א) is more specific, not just the Heaven and earth but specifically the sun and the earth.
אָמַר לָהֶם הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְיִשְׂרָאֵל - הִסְתַּכְּלוּ בַּשָּׁמַיִם שֶׁבָּרָאתִי לְשַׁמֵּשׁ אֶתְכֶם, שֶׁמָּא שִׁנּוּ אֶת מִדָּתָם? שֶׁמָּא לֹא עָלָה גַּלְגַּל חַמָּה מִן הַמִּזְרָח וְהֵאִיר לְכָל הָעוֹלָם?... הִסְתַּכְּלוּ בָּאָרֶץ שֶׁבָּרָאתִי לְשַׁמֵּשׁ אֶתְכֶם, שֶׁמָּא שִׁנְּתָה מִדָּתָהּ? שֶׁמָּא זְרַעְתֶּם אוֹתָהּ וְלֹא צִמְּחָה, אוֹ שֶׁמָּא זְרַעְתֶּם חִטִּים וְהֶעֶלְתָה שְׂעוֹרִים?
HKB"H says to Am Yisrael "Look at the sun. Since the Creation has the sun not risen every day in the east and set in the west? Look at the earth. Have you ever planted wheat seeds and the ground gave forth barley instead?"
Discounting the few, isolated incidents where the sun stood still in the sky, (in the time of Moshe Rabbeinu, Yehoshua and Nakdimon ben Gurion - Gemara Avodah Zara 25a) – these were extraordinary miracles. The Sifri is not referring to these, but to the norm, the laws of nature. The Sifri goes on to say, "The sun and earth obey HKB"H's bidding, the laws of nature, despite the fact that they receive no reward for it if they do, nor punishment if they do not. However, you, Am Yisrael who do receive reward/punishment … how much more so!"
The question is why HKB"H specifically chose the sun and the earth as His witnesses and not say the seas, the rivers, the mountains, the valleys, etc.? Out of all the "witnesses" HKB"H created in the six days of Creation, He specifically chose the sun and the earth?
After that round of questions, we can now begin the shiur.
On the third day of Creation, HKB"H created plants – trees, grasses, etc. However, they didn't emerge until the sixth day, after Adam was created. Rashi (בראשית ב, ה) says that the plants sprouted roots below ground on the third day, but did not emerge above ground until Adam HaRishon was created on the sixth day. Adam HaRishon then davened to HKB"H for rain and then the passuk says וְאֵד יַעֲלֶה מִן הָאָרֶץ וְהִשְׁקָה אֶת כָּל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה (בראשית ב, ו).
The mechanism of our world is a combination of nature and man, a partnership. Nature was created for man, but in order for nature to function, man must pray to HKB"H. This is what it means in the passuk ... וַיַּנִּחֵהוּ בְגַן עֵדֶן לְעָבְדָהּ וגו' (בראשית ב, טו). The avodah in question is tefilla.
In Gan Eden, Adam never had to sow seeds, prune trees, spray against bugs, harvest, etc. All he had to do was pray to HKB"H to take care of all these "agricultural" concerns and Adam simply walked under the trees with his basket and gathered the fruits as they fell (Ktubot 111b).
This is the way Eretz Yisrael is designed. Am Yisrael pray to HKB"H and observe the Torah … and HKB"H provides the rain and blesses the earth. Other countries who have no need for rain, like Egypt and the Nile, may seem "on the surface" to be blessed countries, but they are exactly the opposite!
HKB"H provides them with "automatic" natural bounty, because He wants to have nothing to do with them. On the other hand, HKB"H wants the closest connection possible with Am Yisrael, to see us as often as possible (in shul) davening to Him, so he makes our sustenance dependent on constant prayer.
According to the Malbim (בראשית א, כח), a human being is a "zoo". The reason that Adam HaRishon was created at the end, on the sixth day - after all the other animals - is because humans comprise all the characteristics of all the animals. This is what it means in the Mishna of R' Yehuda ben Teima (Avot 5, 20) הֱוֵי עַז כַּנָּמֵר וְקַל כַּנֶּשֶׁר וְרָץ כַּצְּבִי וְגִבּוֹר כָּאֲרִי. How is it possible for a human to be brave like a lion? Because part of our makeup contains the characteristics of a lion, a tiger, an eagle, a deer (a hippo, a gnat, a camel etc. etc.).
Humans are the kings of all living creatures because they comprise the sum-total capabilities of all living creatures, plus something extra that no other living creature has – a neshama. When the passuk says נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם (בראשית א, כו), who did HKB"H consult with? One opinion says – with the rest of the animals! Let us (all together) make Adam, each animal contributing their unique characteristics.
The Radak (quoting the Midrash, Breishit Raba 8) takes a similar, but slightly different approach. When the passuk says נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם it is not only referring to the living creatures, but to the entire Creation. In other words, Adam HaRishon is made up of everything created in the five days preceding him – light and dark, the sky, earth, water, the plants, the planets, the other living creatures.
I am sure you have heard the saying that we are all made of "star dust" - this is the shita of the Radak! Not only star dust, but also moon dust, ozone, chlorophyll, lightning, thunder, wind, angel, elephant, river, sea, mango, etc. According to the Radak, man is not just a "zoo", he is an entire cosmos!
When HKB"H says to Am Yisrael – "You are all standing before me today, on Rosh HaShana!" what He means is that today we are standing before Him, like Adam HaRishon did, on the first Rosh HaShana in history – the sixth day of Creation, הַיּוֹם הֲרַת עוֹלָם. (Gemara, Rosh HaShana 11a, according to R' Eliezer).
"All of you … including the tree choppers and the water drawers!" What do tree choppers and water drawers have to do with Rosh HaShana (more than shoemakers or stone masons, etc.?)
To understand this, we need to explore a מַהֲלָךְ from sefer Meir Panim (Part II, Chap 15).
On the third day, HKB"H created trees. Which trees? Logic would suggest … all kinds of trees - fruit trees, deciduous trees, conifers, evergreens, etc. According to Meir Panim, HKB"H only planned to create one tree – the עֵץ הַחַיִּים. This was a special tree, where the fruit and the branches were equivalent, one integral unit. It can be compared to a flame.
When someone transfers the flame from one candle to another, the light of the first candle is not diminished in any way. This is the עֵץ הַחַיִּים, when you eat the fruit from this tree, or even the wood of this tree, the tree is not diminished in any way. This tree is the Torah, which is compared to water. Just as when you transfer a flame from one candle to another, the original flame is not diminished, so too – when you draw water (Torah) from the effervescent עֵץ הַחַיִּים, the Torah is not diminished in any way.
However, the Midrash (ילקוט שמעוני, בראשית א, ח) tells us that the earth sinned, it made its own calculations. "If man only eats the fruit from the tree, the tree will remain intact. However, if the fruit and wood of the tree taste exactly the same - they are equivalent – then man will not only eat the fruit, they will eat the tree as well and there will be no tree left!"
Sounds logical, right? However, this was the limited logic of the earth, not the infinite logic of HKB"H who planned to create the עֵץ הַחַיִּים which is undiminishable and self-regenerating.
As a result of this interference by the earth, the first tree that manifested itself, was not the tree that HKB"H planned, it was not one integral unit but multiple different units, different fruits on the same tree (five types of grain), which also tasted different to the wood of the tree itself. This tree was the עֵץ הַדַּעַת, the product of the first sin (defiance of HKB"H's command) in Creation.
Imagine if an inventor designs an invention and sends it off to the factory to manufacture. It is delivered soon after, however, the product does not match the original specifications! Instead of having one wheel on the axle, it has five! What does the inventor do? He scraps it and tells the factory to start all over again.
That is almost what HKB"H did, but not exactly! He told the earth to start all over again, with the originally planned tree, the עֵץ הַחַיִּים. However, unlike our human inventor, HKB"H did not toss the faulty product in the garbage!
He left it in Gan Eden, right alongside the originally planned tree, as it says in the passuk וְעֵץ הַחַיִּים בְּתוֹךְ הַגָּן וְעֵץ הַדַּעַת טוֹב וָרָע (בראשית ב, ט). Why did HKB"H leave the "faulty" tree in Gan Eden? Why not just erase it? Because that is not the way HKB"H works אִם אֶחְפֹּץ בְּמוֹת הָרָשָׁע כִּי אִם בְּשׁוּב רָשָׁע מִדַּרְכּוֹ וְחָיָה (יחזקאל לג, יא).
One of the principles that preceded Creation itself was teshuva. HKB"H wanted to give the "faulty tree", the עֵץ הַדַּעַת, an opportunity to do tikkun, to do teshuva. How can there be a tikkun for this tree? The tree cannot do tikkun on its own, it requires humans to do tikkun together with it. The world is a partnership between man and nature, as we said above.
On the sixth day HKB"H created Adam. HKB"H says to Adam "Look, here are two trees. I am placing you in Gan Eden לְעָבְדָהּ וּלְשָׁמְרָהּ, to do Avodah with the עֵץ הַחַיִּים, to draw the water of the Torah from the עֵץ הַחַיִּים.
In addition, I want you to guard, לְשָׁמְרָהּ, to stay away from the other tree, the עֵץ הַדַּעַת until I tell you. With your help and through tefilla, you are going to do tikkun for this "faulty tree", but in order to do so, you need to wait until Shabbat (Ari z"l), to draw from the blessing of Shabbat – which is the source of the tikkun”.
The fiasco with Adam on the sixth day could have been prevented if he had simply waited for Shabbat. On Rosh HaShana we do tikkun for these mistakes. For example, Adam fell asleep on erev Shabbat and while he was asleep, the נָחָשׁ duped Chava.
If Adam would have slept on Shabbat instead of erev Shabbat, this would have a been a bracha (שֵׁנָה בְּשַׁבָּת תַּעֲנוּג). For this reason, it is a minhag to refrain from sleeping during the day on Rosh HaShana (שולחן ערוך או"ח, סימן תקפג, סעיף ב - רמ"א).
Similarly, since Adam missed out on the brachot of Shabbat, we have the minhag to have a Seder on Rosh HaShana (שם, סעיף א-ב), in the evening(s) (depending on your minhag), to supplement all the missing brachot. We eat תַּפּוּחַ בִּדְבַשׁ and we also dip the challah in honey – so that it should be a sweet year.
Why davka תַּפּוּחַ בִּדְבַשׁ and not, say, banana in maple syrup? It is tikkun for the risen chametz bread, לֶחֶם תַּפוּחַ, that Chava made from the fruit of the עֵץ הַדַּעַת, which she ate and then also fed to Adam. Why honey? Because the gematria of דְבַשׁ is אִשָּׁה (now you know why you call your wife "honey"). Everything we do on Rosh HaShana is – tikkun!
HKB"H says to Adam "I want you to name all the creatures". Adam gave each creature a name – lion, tiger, snail, etc. - not simply a name, but a name that embodies the essence of that creature (the angels could not duplicate that skill). HKB"H asks man "What should I call you?" to which he replies "Adam, I am to be called Adam, אָדָם. Why? Because I am created from the אֲדָמָה!" To create man, HKB"H gathered dust from all corners of the earth.
If, according to the Radak (above), humans comprise the entire Creation, then Adam, created on the sixth day from the earth, comprises all the characteristics of the earth – including the first sin of the earth, the עֵץ הַדַּעַת. It is a latent part of his fabric, his makeup, destined to be either dormant or activated.
HKB"H tells Adam רְאֵה נָתַתִּי לְפָנֶיךָ הַיּוֹם אֶת הַחַיִּים וְאֶת הַטּוֹב וְאֶת הַמָּוֶת וְאֶת הָרָע. It is all within you, the good and the bad. I want you to choose the חַיִּים, I want you to be a drawer of water (Torah) from the עֵץ הַחַיִּים. Indeed, immediately after he was created, Adam started out as a "drawer of water", he davened to HKB"H for rain. This rain caused the trees to grow, as we said above.
However, Rachmana litzlan, a short time later Adam also sinned, the yetzer hara succeeded in tapping into that latent part of his makeup and bringing it to the fore. Originally, the עֵץ הַדַּעַת was a tree towering up to the sky, but Adam's sin diminished it, "chopped it down" as it were, and turned it into a lowly grass.
Instead of remaining a "drawer of water" as HKB"H intended him to be, the highest level on the spectrum, Adam became a "chopper of trees", the lowest end on the spectrum. When did this take place? On the first Rosh HaShana in history!
Later in parshat Nitzavim, HKB"H says הַעִידֹתִי בָכֶם הַיּוֹם אֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת הָאָרֶץ, and according to the Sifri, it is referring to the sun and the earth. Why davka those two creations, and not, say, the mountains and the seas?
Before Adam was created on the sixth day, there were already two sins in Creation. One we have already discussed above – the earth, on the third day. On the next day, the fourth day, we have the second sin. HKB"H creates the sun and the moon equal in brilliance.
Like the earth before it, the moon does its own limited calculations "It is not fitting for HKB"H to have two luminaries in the sky that are equivalent. Just like HKB"H is One, so too should there be only one brilliant luminary in the Heavens." Just like the earth before it – the moon questions HKB"H's logic.
As a result, the moon was diminished. You now have a similar situation in the sky as you have in - Gan Eden, one perfect tree, one tree requiring tikkun, similarly in the sky, you have one brilliant luminary (sun) and another requiring tikkun (moon). Chazal say that the fourth day was the origin of machloket in the world.
The question you may be asking is "Why blame the sun? It was not the sun who complained, it was the moon". This is true, however, even though the sun was not the instigator of machloket, once there is machloket, it taints everyone involved – even the sun.
The sun also shares a measure of culpability for the sin of the moon. Why did the sun not reprimand the moon that davka two equally bright luminaries in the sky are testament to the One-ness of HKB"H? By remaining the only, single, brilliant luminary in the sky, the sun continually detracts somewhat from the One-ness of HKB"H!
As a result of this, in subsequent generations, we see that the sun indeed became a prime focus for avodah zara in the world, while the moon davka became the symbol of Am Yisrael's yearly cycle - the partnership between man and nature, to effect tikkun.
On Rosh HaShana HKB"H is saying to us "Let the sun bear witness, let the earth bear witness (the two original sinners in Creation, before man)".
We mistakenly think that HKB"H created a perfect world and then along comes man and messes it up, however the opposite is true. The purpose of creating man is to do tikkun olam, to repair all the faults in the non-perfect world. If the world was left to its own devices, in the absence of man, it would become a chaotic jungle, as David HaMelech says בִּפְרֹחַ רְשָׁעִים כְּמוֹ עֵשֶׂב (תהילים צב, ח).
HKB"H continues "You are all standing before me, Adam HaRishon, who encompasses all – he has within him the potential to be (on the good extreme) - a 'drawer of water' from the עֵץ הַחַיִּים, or, Rachmana litzlan (on the bad extreme) - a 'chopper of trees' with the עֵץ הַדַּעַת". Man has the potential to do tikkun olam, or to contribute to the chaos in the world - depending on which choice he makes.
Adam was the first water drawer and tree chopper in history, but soon after him came the next – Noach.
Noach was born with all the potential to be a drawer of water, נֹחַ אִישׁ צַדִּיק תָּמִים הָיָה בְּדֹרֹתָיו (בראשית ו, ט). If Noach would have been a "drawer of water" and prayed for his generation, they would have been saved from the Flood. Instead, Noach was a רָעֲיָא שָׁטְיָא, he was only concerned for himself. He became a tree chopper, chopping cedar wood to build an ark.
The next water drawer and tree chopper was Avraham. Avraham dug wells so that people could draw water, Torah from the עֵץ הַחַיִּים. Avraham was also a tree chopper, chopping wood for the Akeida. Unlike Noach and Adam, Avraham was the "real deal", his purpose of drawing water and chopping trees was only for tikkun olam. Avraham was what HKB"H originally intended Adam to be.
On Rosh HaShana HKB"H says to us "Look what I did with the עֵץ הַדַּעַת, look what I did with the moon! I did not erase them. I gave them the chance to do tikkun through you – Am Yisrael!" אִם אֶחְפֹּץ בְּמוֹת הָרָשָׁע כִּי אִם בְּשׁוּב רָשָׁע מִדַּרְכּוֹ וְחָיָה.
Each and every one of us has the entire cosmos within us, the latent capability for good or bad. Sometimes we tap into the good, and Rachmana litzlan, sometimes into the bad. However, HKB"H doesn't toss us into the garbage when we come out faulty, He "leaves us in Gan Eden" so that we can do tikkun! To do tikkun, not only for ourselves, but for all the sub-parts of ourselves - for the entire cosmos!
We mistakenly think that when we do teshuva before/on Rosh HaShana, that it is limited to ourselves or our family. Each of us doing teshuva is part of the global tikkun olam required to bring the Geulah. By neglecting to do teshuva, we are harming not only ourselves, but the entire universe! Do not mistakenly think that your contribution is insignificant, the entire balance of history depends on you!
This Rosh HaShana we are all going to daven for HKB"H to send the Mashiach to redeem us, and if He doesn't? We will patiently wait until He decides to? We lack understanding of what the Mashiach is.
The Mashiach is not an individual, the Mashiach is an organism, an integral unit of many parts. Unless the entire organism is complete, Mashiach will not arrive. The proof of this is when Am Yisrael sinned with the egel.
Which figure better conjures up the image of Mashiach than Moshe Rabbeinu? At Har Sinai, Am Yisrael were like one organism, כְּאִישׁ אֶחָד בְּלֵב אֶחָד, and the Geulah commenced! אֲנִי אָמַרְתִּי אֱלֹהִים אַתֶּם וּבְנֵי עֶלְיוֹן כֻּלְּכֶם (תהילים פב, ז).
When Am Yisrael sinned with the egel, HKB"H said to Moshe "Let me wipe them out and I will reseed Am Yisrael from you!" Moshe replied "I cannot be a Mashiach on my own. I, the individual redeemer, am useless without the entire organism. What good will it do to wipe out the organism and leave the redeemer? Who will there be left to redeem?"
The Geulah can only arrive, the Mashiach can only arrive when the organism is an integral unit – ALL parts of the organism. You are the Mashiach! When you do teshuva, and you … and you … and me – all together, we are all reconstituting the organism that is the Mashiach, we are all contributing our own small fragment in tikkun olam.
We are all "fragments" of Adam HaRishon, millions of splinters and shards that were scattered throughout the world and the generations, when Adam sinned, each requiring their own small, unique tikkun – which together, make up the total tikkun olam.
This is the feeling with which we must enter Rosh HaShana. The yetzer hara wants us to think we are insignificant. It is his trick to prevent the Geulah, to divert us from our purpose. If we all simply do our own private tikkun and strive to better ourselves, the entire organism will be incrementally closer to completion. We are never too old and it is never too late to do tikkun.
הַעִידֹתִי בָכֶם הַיּוֹם אֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת הָאָרֶץ הַחַיִּים וְהַמָּוֶת נָתַתִּי לְפָנֶיךָ הַבְּרָכָה וְהַקְּלָלָה וּבָחַרְתָּ בַּחַיִּים.
This is the essence of Rosh HaShana, the opportunity to save not only ourselves, but the entire Creation … by choosing life.
I would like to take this opportunity to express שֶׁבַח וְהוֹדָיָה to HKB"H for enabling us in this last year, to share together countless pearls of the Torah, in the framework of our weekly shiurim. It takes incredible mesirut nefesh to read eight-page shiurim every week, especially in this generation of short attention spans. Yasher koach to you all. May HKB"H give us the strength to continue this in the upcoming year iy"H.
I would also like to take the opportunity to ask סְלִיחָה וּמְחִילָה if I inadvertently offended or harmed anyone with any of my words in the shiurim during the year.
Finally, I would like to wish us all a bracha of שָׁנָה טוֹבָה, כְּתִיבָה וַחֲתִימָה טוֹבָה לְאַלְתָּר לְחַיִּים טוֹבִים וּלְשָׁלוֹם, may it be a year of Torah, mitzvot, health, wealth, nachat, smachot, a year of everyone achieving their own personal tikkun olam and the year iy"H which we will merit the Geulah, בבי"א.
Shabbat Shalom and Shana Tova
Eliezer Meir Saidel
Machon Lechem Hapanim
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