Nitzavim-Vayelekh (Hasidism)

“You are Standing this day”

A few very brief teachings on the opening verse of this week’s portion, from R. Efraim of Sudylkow, the Degel Mahaneh Efraim:

“You are standing…” [Deut 29:9]. One may say that this is a hint at what is written in the holy Zohar: “Lies do not stand, but truth stands.” Hence Father Jacob never died, for he was the embodiment of the attribute of Truth [Emet}, which always exists, forever. And this is alluded to in the opening word of this verse: atem (“you,” in the plural), which has the same letters as emet (“truth”); i.e., “truth stands”—that it exists for ever, as in the Zohar saying, “truth stands.” And understand this.

The Kabbalistic attribute identified with Jacob, Tiferet (“Beauty”), is alternatively known as Emet “truth.”

“Before the Lord your God; your heads….” [ibid.] And one may interpret this in terms of what happened when Israel asked of Samuel, “Give us a king,” and he answered them, “Know and see that you have done an evil thing to ask for a king, for the Lord your God is your king!” [1 Sam 12:17 & 12]. And this is what is alluded to here: “You are standing before the Lord”—that is, when you behave with truth and wholeness before the Lord, then you shall merit that “your God shall be your head”—that is, you will not need any king, for your God shall be your head and your king.

This homily is based upon a form of word-play in which the syntax of the biblical verse is broken down and put together in a different way: rather than “your God; your heads of tribes…” etc., the words eloheikhem rasheikhem are read as if they were a continuous phrase in themselves, viz. “your God shall be your head.” As I have noted many times, such deliberate distortion of words and phrases to make an exegetical point is very common in Hasidic sermons. (re the story in Samuel, see HY II: Korah)

It also alludes to what is said in the Zohar, “The wise man’s eyes are in his head.” That is, that he gazes continuously to the Shekhinah that is above his head. And this is what our Sages said [m. Avot 2.1]: “Know what (mah) is above you”—that is, the name HWYH, blessed be He, which in its fullness [i.e., the sum of the names of its component letters: [yod + he + vav + he] is equivalent to the numerical value of Mah [45], is above you. And that is, “you are standing before the Lord your God”—literally. Then you shall merit that “your God shall be your head”—that is, that the Shekhinah shall be present over your heads. And understand.

All three of these teachings are based upon seemingly forced word-plays, which distort the literal meaning of a familiar biblical verse beyond recognition: in which the pronoun “you” is turned into “truth”; the “heads of your tribes” become God as your leader; and one’s head, in the bodily sense, becomes the Shekhinah. But behind each of these clever twists lies an important religious truth, lifting the verses onto a wholly different plane, that of constant awareness of the presence of God. And, I would add: these teachings are particularly fitting for the Sabbath before Rosh Hashana, the great day of “standing before God,” of anointing God as our king, and of knowing that, for at least a little while, “the King is in the field.”