Reply To: Short & Sweet

Nitzavim: One For All and All For One

Rashi famously writes that after Klal Yisroel heard all of the curses that would befall those who disregard the Torah, their faces turned green out of apprehension. Moshe then told them אתם נצבים היום כולכם, you’re all still here today; despite all the mistakes you’ve made, Hashem has not destroyed you.

The obvious question is asked, wasn’t the whole point of the curses to impress upon the nation how crucial keeping the Torah is? Didn’t Moshe just undo what he’d set out to accomplish?

R’ Betzalel Rudinsky points out that אתם נצבים היום כולכם is plural, referring to the whole nation. The Jewish people as a whole will never be destroyed, even if they may deserve it.

So how do we as individuals tap into this group guarantee? The answer is to be כולכם, all together. If we are together as one, connected to every Jew, we are a part of the klal, and the klal will always make it.

Heading into Rosh Hashanah, one way to merit a favorable judgement is to say בתוך עמי אנוכי ישוב, to be at peace with every Jew.

לע״נ דוד חיים בן ישראל דוב הכהן
לע״נ ר׳ חיים דוב בן ר׳ בןציון שלום