Nitzavim-Vayelech 5786

Moses makes a covenant not only with the people standing before him, but also with future generations. Rashi explains that even those who are not yet born are included. This teaches that our connection to Judaism is not simply a contract we choose, but an inheritance we receive at birth.

Like inheriting an old family home, we receive both its beauty and its responsibilities. We may not choose our family, history, or people, but these connections give our lives meaning. Rabbi Soloveitchik calls this inherited belonging brit goral—the covenant of fate—and the choices we make with it brit ye'ud—the covenant of destiny.

The question is therefore not whether we are heirs, but what kind of heirs we will be. We have received a house, a story, and a tradition from those before us. Our task is to care for them, add something of our own, and pass them on to the next generation in better condition than we found them.

The ideas are shaped and based on the work of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, and influenced by Maimonides, Nachmanides, Don Isaac Abarbanel, Samson Raphael Hirsch, David Zvi Hoffmann, Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel, and Uri Amos Cherki.