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72 Detroit Jewish News
Torah Portion
The Covenant With God:
Heritage And Legacy
there and those who were not there.
All the generations that were to
come, all the unborn souls of the
centuries to follow, were parties to
the Covenant.
Our ancestors were present and
even though we live 3,000 years
later, we can say that we were there
he sedra describes how
also. There is a direct line of com-
Moses addressed the
mitment that continues unbroken
Hebrew people before his
from the promise of our ancestors to
death. It was not suffi-
us. We march under the same
cient that he deliver this exhortation
orders; we fall under the same oblig-
only to their leaders or their officers.
ations; we are linked by the same
The message must be shared with
promise; we are connected
the entire people.
by the same historical
And what is the purpose
event.
of bringing the entire peo-
Thus, the Covenant
ple together? "It is that
defines our relationship to
thou shouldst enter into the
each other. In an earlier
Covenant with the Lord,
period, the story goes that
thy God, unto His oath,
two Jews, strangers, met on
which the Lord, thy God
a train in Poland. One says
maketh with thee this day."
to the other, "I know you
What great chutzpa that
from somewhere. Do you
this motley group of erst-
come from Minsk?" "No."
RABBI I RWI N
while slaves enter into a
"Did you ever do business
GRO NER
Covenant with the
in Lodz?" "No." Have you
Sp ecia 1 to the
Almighty. This physically
ever traveled to Krakow?"
bruised and emotionally
Jewish News
"No." "Well, we must have
scarred horde is to be desig-
met then at Mt. Sinai."
nated as Am Kodosh, a holy
Consider this definition
people. The chutzpa is even greater.
of a Jew: "A person who never meets
The text declares, "It is not with you
a fellow Jew for the first time." We
alone that I make this Covenant and
were together somewhere, once, or
this oath, but with him that
our ancestors were.
standeth here with us this day before
Now this notion may seem to he
the Lord, Our God, and also with
an extravagance of imagery, an exer-
him that is not here with us today."
cise in rhetoric. But in a profound
Who was not there? And how
sense, it is true. Our ideals and val-
could those not present be included
ues were determined by the
in this agreement?
Torah/tradition embodied in that
The word for covenant or agree-
Covenant.
ment is brit. It stands along such
The past is present in us. From
words as Torah, mitzvah or tzedaka.
the Jewish point of view, we stand
It expresses two elements: the
before God not as one-dimensional
unique consciousness of the presence
private persons, but as men and
of God in the lives of the Hebrew
women joined by a great tradition.
people and the assumption of the
We are original partners of that tra-
fullness of obligation that flows from
dition. This sense of being part of
that recognition. A brit is a mutual
the very beginning is both the won-
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
What challenge does the
ratified the Covenant with the
Covenant present to us today?
Almighty? Without the verse quoted
Who entered the Covenant with
above, we might say that they were
the Almighty that Moses pre-
those present when Moses called this
sented to the people — the gen-
solemn assembly — 600,000 and
eration of the present only, or
more. But the Torah declares that
the generations of the future
the Covenant bound those who were
also? How does the Covenant
Shabbat Nitzavim-
Vayeilech: Deuteronomy
29:9-30:20; Isaiah
61:10-63:9.
T
Conversations
define Jewish identity?
Irwin Groner is senior rabbi of
Congregation Shaarey Zedek.
a
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