Nitzavim contains the reminder that the Torah has been given to us for our use, not hidden away in the mountains or the skies. Our sages used this verse to tell the story of the Oven of Akhnai, one of my favorites; invite me to tell it to you sometime!
In the meantime, here’s a very different take on the same verse: “The word is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it…” (Deut. 30:14)
This midrash has the form of the clever enumeration of a phrase in the Bible, and using that counting to teach a deeper lesson – or two! Listen:
The Rabbis say: Solomon said seven things of the sluggard, but what Moses said was greater than all of them. How so?
People say of the sluggard: ‘Lo, your teacher is in the province, arise and go to him,’ and he replies: ‘I fear lest there be a lion in the road’ (Prov. 26:13). People say to him: ‘Your teacher is in the city, go and learn Torah from him.’ To this the sluggard’s answer is: ‘I fear the lion in the streets’ (Prov. 26:13). They say to him: ‘But he lives near your house,’ and he replies: ‘The lion is outside’ (Prov. 22:13). They say to him: ‘He is in the very house.’ He replies: ‘If I go and find the door locked I will have to return.’ They say to him: ‘It is open.’ (Prov. 26:14). Finally, when he knows not what further answer to give, he says to them: ‘Be the door open or closed, I desire to sleep a little longer’ (Prov. 6:9). When he arises from his sleep in the morning and food is placed before him, he is too lazy to put it into his mouth (Prov. 29:24). And what is the seventh thing? The sluggard will not plow when winter sets in, therefore he shall beg in harvest and have nothing (Prov 20:4). R. Simeon b. Yohai said: This refers to one who not having learned Torah in his youth, desires to learn it in his old age and is not able.
But what Moses said is the greatest of them all. How so? But the word is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. In other words, you need but utter the word with your mouth.
This apparently simple message – don’t be a sluggard, don’t procrastinate, just get started! – carries some deeper questions and meanings for me. For example, is it enough to merely utter the words of Torah? Shouldn’t we be compelled to act upon those words? Or is there something about the act of speaking Torah that leads to other actions? Are ‘words’ and ‘things’ – devarim in Hebrew – really the same?
And, can we be too old to learn Torah? It seems to me that it’s never too late; perhaps the sages are speaking about a spiritual withering, not a physical one. And how do we revive a withered spirit? Is it not with words of Torah?
But the most important to me is that the Torah, the word, the thing is in us, ready for us, if only we will open wide, not only to accept it, but to let it out!
