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• 78 Friday, September 26, 1986 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

TORAH PORTION

All Jews Received
The Covenant At Sinai

RABBI IRWIN GRONER

Special to The Jewish News

p

rashat Nitzavim de-
scribes how Moses ad-
dressed the Hebrew
people before his death. It is
not sufficient that he deliver
his exhortation only to their
leaders or their officers. The
message must be shared with
the entire people: "You are
standing here this day, all of
you, before the Lord, your
God ..."
And what is the purpose of
bringing the entire people to-
gether? "It is that thou
shouldst enter into the cove-
nant with the Lord, thy God,
unto His oath, which the
Lord, thy God maketh with
thee this day." What great
chutzpah that this motley
group of erstwhile slaves
enter into a covenant with
the Almighty! This physically
bruised and emotionally scar-
red horde is to be designated
as am kadosh, a holy people.
The text declares: "It is not
with you alone that I make
this covenant and this oath;
because with him that
standeth here with us this
day before the Lord, our God,
and also with him that is not
here with us this day."
Who was not there? And
how could those not present
be included in this agree-
ment?
The word for covenant or
agreement is brit. It ex-
presses two elements: the
unique consciousness of the
presence of God in the lives
of the Hebrew people, and the
assumption of the fullness of
obligation that flows from
that recognition. A brit is a
mutual commitment between
Israel and God. The brit
makes Israel a priestly
people, a holy nation, for God
has called that people to His
service.
Who is this Jewish people
that ratified the covenant?
Without the verse quoted
above, he might say that
those who entered the cove-
nant were those present
when Moses called this sol-
emn assembly - six thousand
and more. But the Torah de-
clares that the covenant
bound those who were there
and those who were not
there.
All the generations that
were to come, all the unborn
souls of the centuries to fol-
low were parties to the cove-
nant. Our ancestors were
present and even though we
live 3,000 years later, we can
say that we were there also.
There is a direct line of com-
mitment that continues un-
broken from the promise of
our ancestors to us. We
march under the same orders;
we fall under the same obli-

Irwin Groner is rabbi at
Cong. Shaarey Zedek.

gations; we are linked by the
same promise; we are con-
nected by the same historical
event.
Thus, the covenant defines
our relationship to each
other. Once, so the story goes,
two Jews, strangers, met on a
train to Poland. One says to
the other: "I know you from
somehwere. Do you come
from Minsk?" "No." "Did you
ever do business in Lodz?"
"No." "Have you ever
traveled to Crakow?" "No."
"Well, we must have met
then at Mt. Sinai."
Consider this definition of
a Jew: "A person who never
meets a fellow Jew for the

Shabbat
Nitzavim-Vayelech:
Deuteronomy
29:9-31:30
Isaiah 61:10-63:9

first time." We were together
somewhere, once, or our an-
cestors were.
Now this notion may seem
to be an extravagance of im-
agery, an exercise in rhetoric.
But in a profound sense, it is
true. Our ideals and values
were determined by the
Torah tradition that arose
out of that covenant.
We are original partners of
that tradition. It is not that
we are inheritors, we were
there too; which means we
are founders. It is not that we
are mere recipients, we are
also fellow creators. This
sense of being part of the
very beginning is both the
wonder and miracle of Jewish
existence.
Jews are more than an
ethnic group, sharing certain
common tastes in food or
humor, or certain kinds of
language or folk expression.
Jews are linked together by
more than a variety of com-
mon enemies. Jewish history
is more a curious survival of
an ancient culture. Jewish
law is more than folkways. If
we take the biblical view
seriously, then Jewish law
and life are the response of
the Jewish people to the de-
mands of God whom it seeks
to serve by both its com-
munal and individual exist-
ence.

Woman Shot

Jerusalem (JTA) --- A 37-
year-old woman was shot to
death last week near the
Tomb of the Patriarchs in
Hebron after she tried to
slash the throat of an Israel
Defense Force soldier who
was on guard duty at the
site. The soldier was rushed
to the Hadassah Medical
Center in Jerusalem where
his cop.dition is satisfactory.
Israeli authorities placed the
town under curfew.

