A thought on Parshas Nitzavim - Vayelch

"...chizku v'amtzu...lo Yarp'echa v'lo Yaz'vecha..." (31:6, 7-8) "...be strong and brave... HaShem will not fail you or abandon you..." Moshe addresses the nation, and then Yehoshua, charging them to take heart and to remain steadfast in spirit. They are poised to enter the Promised Land and will face many new challenges. Pay attention to the phrases which Moshe uses twice. He speaks about taking strength and courage. He promises that we will not be forsaken or deserted by our Lord. What might be the deeper message in these words? Rabbeinu Avigdor offers that the difference between chazak and amatz - strength and courage - is that being chazak refers to adhering to the Torah. Being amatz - brave or courageous - refers, Rabbeinu Avigdor writes, to our adhering to derech eretz - pious and courteous conduct. Moshe signals us that just as HaShem expects us to be faithful to Him and to His law, He expects us to be decent people. Torah is what we do. Derech Eretz is the manner in which we do it. So, Moshe charges us to lead lives of Torah and to frame our Torah practice in a package of decency and consideration for others. What are the differences between the promises that HaShem will not fail us, and that He will not abandon us? Here Rabbeinu Avigdor writes that the former - HaShem not failing us (or not letting go of us) is a promise relevant to our residency in the Promised Land. He will not fail to "be there" for us. We will know, as will the surrounding nations, that we are His people and that His Presence is sensed among us. As for the latter - HaShem will not abandon or leave us, this is the Divine pledge that HaShem will not forsake us even when we are far off in the lands of exile. It may be that His Presence will seem faint during those centuries, yet He will not leave us. He will not abandon us. He will be, in the holy words of Tehillim (121:5) watching and shadowing us even when we seem to fade into the dismal distance. We know that our Sages assert that we lost our Land because people insisted on sticking to the letter of the law and were not as attentive to going the extra mile. In essence, we were charged with two tasks - to keep the Torah and to practice considerate sensitivity. When we entered this long exile, our task is also to remain strict in our Torah practice within a framework of decency and derech eretz. We are not supposed to polarize these values. We should not divide world Jewry into those who are learned versus those who exhibit ethics. We entered the Land of Israel with the Divine expectation that our Torah would be a Torah of Derech Eretz. We lost the Land. We have entered golus where the expectation remains: be Torah scholars and be decent people. Chazak v'amatz - these are both our only strengths to survive and to earn the privilege of returning to our Land. This is the close of 5773. Wishing you a sweet New Year. Good Shabbos. D Fox