D’var Torah: Nitzavim 2025/5785 נצבים
Rabbi Jenna Turow, Grade 8 Jewish Studies
It’s just semantics—or is it?! When it comes to understanding Torah, it’s all about semantics. In this week’s parashah, Nitzavim, a close reading clarifies the path of Teshuva (repentance/returning) we walk during this season of Yamim Nora’im, the High Holy days, and always.
In last week’s parashah, we learned about different blessings and curses we may experience, based on how closely we follow mitzvot and how righteous a path we walk through the world. In this week’s parashah, we learn the effects of our actions; we get into the semantics of when blessings or curses befall us.\
In Devarim 30:1, the verse starts with “וְהָיָה,” meaning “When these things befall you” - it’s clear to God that we will experience both blessings and curses, based on human nature. We will make mistakes and veer from the righteous path. Thankfully, we also know that we will return to the path - according to the next verse, where it says “וְשַׁבְתָּ֞,” “And you return,” meaning we return to mitzvot. So we surely will stray, and we surely will return, or in other words, we will do Teshuvah (וְשַׁבְתָּ֞ is the same root as Teshuvah).
My next question, then is, how do we find our way back, and what do we do once we get there? How do you “do” Teshuva? What does it mean to return to ourselves?
A few verses later, 30:6, we get our answer. The verse begins with “וּמָ֨ל”: God will “open,” or translated literally, “circumsize” our hearts, so we can love God with all of our heart and soul. What is the mental, emotional process of circumcising or opening our hearts? It reminds me of the phrase “suspend your disbelief,” which usually refers to setting aside criticism and semantics for the sake of enjoying fiction/fantasy. It essentially means to open your mind, but particularly to open your mind to believing in things that you typically would never believe to be true. We have to open our hearts (and minds, and souls) to the possibility of change, to the potential to return to, or turn anew, to a better version of ourselves.
