Perashat Nissabim 5779

Perashat Nissabim 5779

The Shulchan Aruch teaches that our perasha must always be read on the Shabbat before Rosh HaShanah. It seems we are being told that there is a link between the two. What is it about this week's perasha that necessitates this practice? 

There are a few answers, but I'd like to focus on one. If you like another one of the answers, write your own article. 

Our perasha begins by saying that Moshe gathers all the Jews together. 
אַתֶּ֨ם נִצָּבִ֤ים הַיּוֹם֙ כֻּלְּכֶ֔ם לִפְנֵ֖י ה' אֱלֹקיכֶ֑ם רָאשֵׁיכֶ֣ם שִׁבְטֵיכֶ֗ם זִקְנֵיכֶם֙ וְשֹׁ֣טְרֵיכֶ֔ם כֹּ֖ל אִ֥ישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ טַפְּכֶ֣ם נְשֵׁיכֶ֔ם וְגֵ֣רְךָ֔ אֲשֶׁ֖ר בְּקֶ֣רֶב מַחֲנֶ֑יךָ מֵחֹטֵ֣ב עֵצֶ֔יךָ עַ֖ד שֹׁאֵ֥ב מֵימֶֽיךָ׃ לְעָבְרְךָ֗ בִּבְרִ֛ית ה' אֱלֹקיךָ וּבְאָלָת֑וֹ 

You are standing this day, all of you before Hashem your G-d: your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel. Your little ones, your wives, and the stranger that is in the camp, from the wood chopper to the water carrier. To put you through the covenant of Hashem your G-d.

This makes you wonder. 

Moshe is gathering an entire nation with the sole purpose of enacting a commitment between two parties, namely Hashem and His people. Absolutely everyone is there. What difference does it make what job two of the people have (wood choppers and water carriers)? Does G-d see them as any different than a doctor, lawyer or accountant? Are their missvot any different? Is the Torah they might learn, or the prayers they recite in the morning, any different because their destination for work is a forest or a well instead of Wall Street or a hospital? Why mention their job? Does it matter to Hashem at all?
The answer is one that helps us understand why we read these verses each year the week before Rosh HaShanah. 
The answer is NO. It doesn't matter one bit to G-d what business you are in, or your social status on some imaginary ladder. He is not the stereotypical Jewish mother wishing He could say, "my son the doctor". So why mention the water carrier and the wood chopper, especially as the pasuk already says all the men of Israel? Do we not even consider them men?!

It may not make a difference to Hashem or His Torah. It may not make a difference to Moshe. But sometimes it makes a huge difference to the person themselves. When people think they are inadequate or less than, they becomeinadequate or less than. They say to themselves: I am but a simple water carrier or wood chopper or taxi driver. I am but a young person. I am unlearned, or untalented. What can I contribute? Does it matter if I show up and stutter through the prayers? Worse still, do I matter?
Hashem tells us that his brit, or covenant, is with all of us. It was only ever with all of us. If it is not all, it is none. Do you think you are a wood cutter, a bad influence, someone who breaks things or is destructive? You need to be here too. We need you and what you were born to contribute to the community.
Do you think you are a water carrier, or to translate it more precisely a water drawer? Do you feel like you are a taker with no capacity or value to give? 
We need you too.
Am Yisrael is not a nation without all of its members. Without each and every single individual we do not have a covenant, or even a Torah. So before Rosh HaShanah when we crown Hashem the king, we contemplate a deep truth. The kingdom crumbles without its highest minister but also without its garbage collector. Both are equal servants to a majestic King. Wherever you are in the totem pole of observance, your missvot are precious and critical. Otherwise G-d would not have made you as you are. 
A question we must ask ourselves then is, What do I bring that no one else can?

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Shlomo Farhi