September 19th: Nitzavim
THIS WEEK IN THE TORAH
Rabbi David E. Ostrich
Our Torah portion begins week with a call for national formation and identity—for national purpose:
“You stand this day, all of you, before the Lord your God…to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God…so that you will be God’s people…” (Deuteronomy 29.9-12)
It is a call that echoes God’s words at Mount Sinai. Just before the revelation of the Ten Commandments, God explains the basis and purpose of the Covenant:
“If you will obey Me faithfully and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples. All the earth is Mine, but you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19.5-6)
If we follow God’s Covenant, we shall be God’s Chosen People.
The idea that we are the Chosen People is both inspiring and troubling, both a source of support and a target for hostility. It is always a relevant question, but, these days, our chosenness and our holy mission seem to be more on our minds. With the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the political dissension in Israel, and the piling-on of commentators, “humanitarians”, and various nations, we find ourselves in a storm of turmoil—a storm that surprises those of us who thought that pogroms and rampant anti-Semitism were things of the past. Many of us are emotionally black-and-blue and shocked at the ferocity of attacks against Israel and everything Jewish. We may even find ourselves thinking about Tevye’s famous question in Fiddler on the Roof: “I know, I know. We are Your chosen people. But, once in a while, can’t You choose someone else?”
Many words have been written about our current situation, and some of them have been helpful. Some of the best thinking has been presented in Sapir, a fairly new journal edited by Brett Stephens and published by Mark Charendoff. Appearing quarterly (both digitally and in print: info@sapirjournal.org), Sapir has offered a voice of reason and thoughtfulness amid the ideological maelstroms of our day. I recommend it highly and would like to share with you a recent essay by the publisher. His subject is Jewish Chosenness, and I find his words both clarifying and inspiring.
In January 1983, the New York Times reported on a debate between John Murray Cuddihy, an associate professor of sociology at Hunter College, and Irving (Yitz) Greenberg, then the director of the Jewish National Resource Center. The topic? Chosenness.
The debate was part of a series called “Turning Inward: The Retribalization of the Jews.” Cuddihy warned that chosenness leads to a “covert form of superiority” while Rabbi Greenberg argued that, for Jews, chosenness is less of a status and more of a calling. In fact, other peoples can be chosen as well, just for other callings.
But what is our calling? Abraham Joshua Heschel said, “Man is a messenger who forgot the message.” So what is the “message” that we Jews are supposed to be delivering? And is that message static, or does it change as the currents of history carry it and us from place to place and from time to time? Did it shift after the Holocaust, as Jews pondered a world that seemed indifferent to their destruction? Did it shift in 1948 when we once again had a sovereign state for the first time in nearly two millennia? Did the message change on October 7, 2023, or on June 13, 2025?
For many Jews, the notion of bearing a special message seemed embarrassing, an outdated mode of thinking — “tribalizing,” as the debate series put it. But many of those same Jews began finding their voice around 650 days ago. It seems that humanity did in fact need to be reminded of a divine message. They needed to be reminded that not every culture treasures life and protects its children at all costs. They needed to be reminded that evil does in fact exist. They needed to be reminded that freedom is fragile and must be protected. They needed to be reminded that all of humanity is created in the image of God and all are deserving of dignity. They needed to be reminded that study is important, not only to increase knowledge but to spot the rhyming patterns of history.
And they needed to be reminded that we can never give up on hope and redemption, that better days lie ahead and our mission is to work together, getting us to those better days a little sooner, a little faster.
Today’s Jews have reclaimed their message with newfound urgency and clarity as the Jewish state fights to deliver it. (Mark Charendoff, Sapir, Summer 2025)
Perhaps our time together during the upcoming Holy Days—time spent with God and with other Members of the Tribe, will lead us to some good thinking.
See you soon.
L’shanah Tovah Tikatayvu!