Parashat Nitzavim–Vayelech

Parashat Nitzavim–Vayelech opens with Moshe making clear that the Holy One establishes the covenant with all Israel, from greatest to least, leaders and servants alike, throughout their generations. With those standing here today, and with those not yet born.

“To establish you today as his people, and to be your God, as he told you and as he swore to your fathers, to Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov.”

Deuteronomy 29:12

Moshe has just declared the blessings and curses connected with keeping or breaking the covenant. Now his words take on a prophetic tone. He speaks of the covenant being broken, the exile that follows, and the redemption still to come.

“When all these things come upon you… and you bring them back to your heart… and return to Adonai your God… Adonai your God will restore you… Even if your scattered ones are at the ends of the heavens, from there Adonai your God will gather you.”

Deuteronomy 30:1–4

Why a covenant, if failure is already foreseen?

Moshe is already looking beyond Israel’s failure to keep the covenant, toward their return and redemption. Why does the Holy One make a covenant with his people, knowing they will break it? And why does he promise redemption in the face of that failure?

The Holy One’s purpose is more than giving Israel mitzvot they may or may not keep. He wants to dwell among his people and share a living, real relationship with them.

The word is near, but the heart turns away

Moshe identifies the deeper problem. God’s instruction is neither distant nor impossible to understand: “For this commandment that I give you today is not beyond you, nor is it far away.” Israel need not ascend to heaven or cross the sea to find Adonai’s will. The Holy One has already spoken to them and led them through the Sea of Reeds.

“For the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may do it.”

Deuteronomy 30:14

Israel preserved the words of Torah and passed them from generation to generation. Yet again and again, the human heart turns away from Adonai, and in every generation we have broken the covenant. Our hope therefore rests in what the Holy One himself has promised to do.

“Adonai your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so that you love Adonai your God with all your heart and all your being, and live.”

Deuteronomy 30:6

Then we read: “For Adonai will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers.” The Holy One himself will do what he has promised. His plan of redemption is already reflected in the Torah of Moshe.

The appointed time for redemption

Moshe commands the Torah to be read aloud to all Israel at Sukkot in the shemittah year. The timing matters. Sukkot recalls Israel living in temporary shelters and the Holy One accompanying them in the wilderness. Shemittah is a year of release and the cancellation of debts.

These cycles are more than a calendar. They give us glimpses of the promised redemption. The Holy One has an appointed time of release, return, and restoration. We have something to look forward to.

Why is a redeemer needed?

In the Torah, a redeemer acts for a beloved relative who cannot redeem themselves. He pays to buy freedom for someone enslaved. The family’s duties also include preserving a deceased brother’s name and line, and redeeming land that was sold so it can return to the family.

Every act of redemption has a cost. The redeemer pays it for his relative out of love, chesed, and compassion.

The Torah teaches us to look for a Redeemer who can do for Israel, precious and close to Adonai’s heart, what we cannot do ourselves: free us from slavery to sin, pay our debts, and bring us life beyond death.

“Mighty to save”: the figure in the Haftarah

In this week’s Haftarah, Yeshayahu speaks of the joy of someone redeemed by Adonai:

“I will greatly rejoice in Adonai; my soul will delight in my God, for he has clothed me in garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness.”

Isaiah 61:10

In the parasha, we read that the Holy One rejoices over his people when they return to him. In Yeshayahu, the redeemed person rejoices in God’s redemption. Then the picture changes suddenly: Yeshayahu sees a mysterious figure coming from Edom, splendidly clothed, with stained garments.

“Who is this coming from Edom, with stained garments from Botzrah? This one, magnificent in his clothing, striding in the greatness of his strength?”

Isaiah 63:1

The answer is surprising: “It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.” Here is a righteous Redeemer with power to save. He is described as a warrior returning from battle, and then uses language that recalls yovel: “For a day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed had come.”

Adonai is not indifferent to his people’s suffering. He is close to them in their distress, and the angel of his presence saves them. These words raise a deep question: who is this angel of his presence, so closely connected with Adonai’s redemption?

The pieces begin to come together

Our people’s expectation of redemption is also an expectation of Mashiach and the Redeemer. The Tanakh does not portray him in a single verse. Across Scripture, it gives us pieces that gradually come together.

Could all these threads be pointing toward the same redeeming figure, uniquely close to God’s people and his presence?

As we bring the pieces together, we recognize these outlines in Yeshua.

He came from among our people and drew near to us. He heard our distress and paid the price of redemption we could not pay ourselves. In him, we see that Adonai’s redemption includes more than deliverance from outward trouble. It is also the beginning of the new heart Moshe promised.

“They will be called the holy people, the redeemed of Adonai.”

Isaiah 62:12

Shabbat shalom and blessings

Scripture excerpts are translated from this site’s Hebrew text. Full-reading links open the Complete Jewish Bible, which follows Hebrew verse numbering.