By Rabbi Shloimie Lindenbaum
אתם נצבים היום כלכם (פרק כט פסוק ט)
Before creating a ברית, a covenant, between Hashem and כלל ישראל, that we will always be His nation and that he will reward us and punish us accordingly, Moshe tells us “You are all standing here today”. The שפת אמת points out that when the Torah is saying a rule that is forever true- we are always in a state of standing before Hashem. He explains that כלל ישראל as a whole never loses this status. We are always standing as a nation before Hashem, and those who sin and distance themselves from Him are merely temporarily detaching themselves from the nation. When we come to do תשובה we begin by “entering” back into כלל ישראל, by making ourselves part of the צבור, part of the nation, and that puts us back into this position of being close to Hashem. This is the real secret of how every Jew, regardless of how they have fallen, can always return to Hashem, because we are a nation that is eternally attached to Hashem, and every individual can make a decision to be part of the כלל.
ראה נתתי לפניך היום את החיים ואת הטוב ואת המות ואת הרע (פרק ל פסוק טו)
Moshe declares, “See I have placed before you today life and good, death and bad”. R’ Moshe Feinstein asks why the word “today” belongs in the פסוק. Usually, when the Torah describes something as being “today” it is because it applies equally to every day, present and future. Here, though, it would seem that Moshe presented us with just one choice: between good and bad. R’ Moshe answers that Moshe used this wording to impress on us that every single day we have the ability to decide what that day will be. Even if until now we have chosen the path of sins and death, we can decide today to begin a new path of life. It is not a one time decision, rather every day we make the choice anew. This also reminds us that even if we have been good until now, we can not let down our guard and assume that our streak will continue. Every day is another opportunity to choose how we want to live our lives, and every day can be the first day on a new level of spirituality.
