Deuteronomy - Cycle One - 2909-3020 - Netzavim

In Netzavim we are reminded of mystery, the hidden, the light so bright we can’t see it. We are
reminded of what we do and don’t know. But we don’t have to know anything to embrace it. We merely want to feel its essence in the world in which we live.

Look at the line 29‐28. Hidden things may pertain to God our Lord but that which has been revealed applies to you and your children forever.

What does this mean? First, let’s go to the beginning of the parasha. Moses says that you are standing before God; your leaders, your children and so on. The suffix your is loud, rhythmic . It speaks of ownership, of the powerful knowledge of who we are as a people. Then, soon after, we learn that it is not with you alone that I am making this covenant. Oh, I think, it isn’t? So there are others? Do I know them? Apparently not. We are left in the dark as to who else is present. This is fun. Rav Ashi (who compiled the Babylonian Talmud) teaches that Moses is referring to our angel advocates (maybe the dead, future lives, prophets). They are the hidden, those not yet found. Some are represented by pieces of time as in Chayay Sarah and the summing up of her years. Clearly, the living are such that not even the living yet know. And this is all right. We like the wafting of the unknown within our beings, our hearts, our Torah. We like the veiled nature of love given our barriers, those that God will soon remove (see 30‐6). We like the veiled nature of Torah. In 30‐11 we read that Torah is not too mysterious. This precludes that there is mystery in each letter, each word; that our beings, our hearts and our Torah merge through the mysterious, that there is love in mystery and mystery in love.

So, while in Ki Thavo we receive the gift of experience, of that all necessary for teshuva, in Netzavim we are gifted with what resides beyond the all; the necessary and radiant unknown.

Now, let’s get back to line 29‐28, to the hidden things of God. In the Masoretic text, there are dots or stars above the words you and your children forever. What do you think the scribes are saying? Perhaps they see the mystery and love in generations of creation, that the created and the creator are separated through each act of creation ( Bereshith), that all that is separate is as holy as that which is embraced, that all that is separate is merely waiting to be embraced. Perhaps we are unknowingly creating with each breath, each word, each pause. Perhaps we cannot possibly know all that we do and have done. Perhaps for every known action for which we seek forgivingness, there is one unknown action to balance it. And perhaps, the more we choose to seek, the more we choose to embrace the mystery of love and the more the creator merges with His creation. There is so much pain and joy! This merging can be seen as the final act of turning. But how do we seek forgiveness if we don’t know? What if our intentions are good, if we don’t grasp our power, see all that we have done? According to Rabbi Nachman we don’t have to know all. We just need to embrace the essence of the mystery. He says, imitate God by being compassionate and forgiving to others. He will in turn pardon your offences.

So, may we embrace mystery within ourselves and among our people, our hearts, our Torah. May we choose light and in so doing forgive and seek forgiveness for the unknown. May our teshuvah, our turning, blossom into more and more merging. May we help each other. And may we know our breath as we crystallize into the one fine love in the heart of the divine.