Double Torah Portion - Nitzavim -Va-ye'lekh

Through all the closing chapters of the Torah, we are admonished to, when all our options are set before us, to choose Life and not Death.  This week, among other things, we are also admonished to be wary about those among us who are tempted and seduced by other cultures and may worship "stones & silver & gold."   

 

Almost everything we read this week is aimed at the future.  This generation is merely the bow that will shoot arrows into the future... and each generation in kind will do the same thing.  We are given all the tools and wisdom we need... but how will we choose? 

Judaism is obsessed with the future, unlike the other cultures of the time that were "death oriented". Think of Egypt's pyramids, which held elaborate tombs decked out for the afterlife. A pharaoh could literally spend his entire life preparing for death.  But God wants something different for us.  God gives life so that it may be lived... and the Torah is the guide book AND the play book that gives life meaning.

 

Yes, there is room in Judaism for belief in the afterlife and "the world to come" but it is not the focus of our daily lives.  Our view of eternal life is knowing that "we" as a people, will carry on. The message: HOW we carry out God's plan via His teachings and how we "pay it forward" that determines our longevity and legacy, not placating gods of stone, silver and gold.  

Gary and I wish all of you a Shana Tova, and may you be written for a good life!