Parshat Nitzavim: The Weekly Parsha Story Illustrated by AI

Hello children, we have reached the Torah portion of Nitsavim. The portion begins with the words, "You are all standing today before the Lord your God." You are standing today. What day is it talking about? The last day of Moshe's life. He wants to say important things to the Jewish people before he leaves them. Moshe invites everyone to stand before him. Who is standing there? The leaders and the great important officials, the elders and the officers, the wise and the lawmakers. Every man of Israel, the men, the little children and the women, even the converts who joined us and live among us. From the wood cutter to the water drawer. What does this mean? Everyone is important. It makes no difference how big or small. From the wisest to the simplest worker, everyone stands together before God. The verse says, "To enter into the covenant of the Lord your God and his oath which the Lord your God is making with you today." This is an agreement between God and the Jewish nation. Not only with those who were standing there, but also with those who are here today and even with those who have not yet been born. This means that even we thousands of years later are part of this covenant. Moshe warns the people about something very dangerous. There are people who outwardly appear to keep the commandments, but in their hearts they don't believe. This person says to himself, "I will have peace, for I will follow the desires of my heart." He follows the stubbornness of his heart. As if, God forbid, he is showing disrespect to God. He says, "I will do whatever I want and still everything will be fine for me." This is so dangerous. The Torah tells us what will happen to such a person. God will not forgive him easily. God's anger will rise like smoke. All the curses written in the Torah will come upon him. His name will be erased from the world. Moshe describes what will happen if the Jewish people do not obey the commandments. The land will be destroyed. The ground will be burned like Sodom and Gomorrah. Nothing will be able to grow. Not even grass will sprout. When the nations see the destruction, they will ask, "Why did God do this to this land?" What is the reason for this great anger? The answer will be because they abandoned God when he brought them out of Egypt and went to worship idols. God removed them from their land and cast them into a foreign land. And now comes one of the most important verses in the Torah. The hidden things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things apply to us and our children forever. to do all the words of this Torah. What does this mean? There are things that God hides from us. Supreme secrets, things that humans cannot understand. They belong to God alone. Things like when exactly will the Messiah come. Or what will be the fate of each and every person? And how does God manage the world exactly? And the things that God has already told us in the Torah. These are the commandments, the laws, the rules. All of this is given to us. This belongs to us and to all the generations after us. Why did God give us this? So that we would fulfill the commandments. That's the important message. Don't get involved with the things that God has hidden. You have enough work with the things he has revealed to you. Now comes the most beautiful part of the portion, the para of repentance. Moshe promises that even after exile and troubles, there will be rectification. When you are in exile among the nations and you start to think about what will happen to you, you will begin to return to God and listen to what he says. The moment that happens, God will do three things. He will bring you back. He will change your situation, have mercy on you, and gather you from all the nations. Even if you are scattered to the ends of the earth, God will gather you from there. Not only will God bring you back to the land, he will do even better for you than he did for your ancestors. God will cut away all the evil from our hearts, the hardship, the anger, and give us a new heart that will be able to love him. It will no longer be difficult. It will come naturally. One's heart will love God on its own. All the curses that were upon the Jewish people will be transferred to the enemies who pursued us. Everything you do will be blessed. God will rejoice in you just as he rejoiced your ancestors. Now, Moshe says something amazing. You don't need to climb up to the heavens to receive the commandments. You don't need to cross seas and continents because the matter is very close to you in your mouth and in your heart to do it. Moshe reaches the climax of the portion. And from here we learn the way of the Torah and the choice that God gave to every person. See, I have set before you today life and good and death and evil. You have a choice. There are two paths before you. The path of life and good. If you love God and walk in his ways, you will live a long and good life. You will have many children. God will bless you in the land of Israel. But the path of death and evil, if you turn your heart away from God and worship idols, you will die quickly and will not remain long in the land. Moshe calls upon the heavens and the earth to be witnesses. And he says to the Jewish nation, "And you shall choose the path of life." Why? So that you may live and thrive, you and your children. What does it mean to choose life? To choose life is to serve God, not out of fear, but out of love. To listen to his voice, to pay attention to what he says, and to cling to him, to be close to him at all times. God is the source of our life. The portion of Nitsavin prepares us for rash hashana, a time to stand before God, for self-reflection, for repentance, and to make the decision to choose life. Now we are approaching the farewell from Moshe. How did the Jewish people respond to Moshe's words of rebuke? We will tell you about that in the next episode.