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Parashat Nitzavim-Vayelech, Deuteronomy 29:9 – 31:30

Weekly Torah commentary by Rabbi David Tokajer

“Parashat Nitzavim-Vayelech takes us to one of the Torah’s most moving moments. Israel stands on the plains of Moab, with the wilderness behind and the Promised Land ahead. Moses, who led them from Egypt, knows he will not cross the Jordan with them. And his opening words are significant: “You are standing today, all of you, before Adonai your God” (Deuteronomy 29:9).

The Hebrew word nitzavim means more than just being present. It suggests standing firmly, being established, and being set in place. Israel stands before Adonai as a covenant people.

Notice who is present: leaders, elders, officials, men, women, children, and even the strangers living among them. Everyone is included in this covenant moment. Even more, Moses says the covenant is made “not with you alone” but also “with whomever is standing here with us today before Adonai our God and with whomever is not here with us today” (Deuteronomy 29:13-14).

This means the covenant always extends beyond the current generation. We inherit a story that started before us, and we are called to pass it on to people we may never meet.”

Continue reading at UMJC.org/commentary

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This week's Torah portion is Parashat Ki Tavo, from Deuteronomy 26:1–29:8. The commentary is by Rabbi Ira Brawer and the full text can be viewed at umjc.org.

"There’s an ancient story that the Romans required bridge builders to stand underneath their completed bridges when the supporting scaffolding was removed. The reason is obvious—it was an incentive for them to show that they had done the job correctly, that they had “skin in the game.” Otherwise there would be some consequences for them.

It is clear that God has a lot of skin in the game in the story of our people. Follow the story from Abraham, through the slavery in Egypt, to the exodus, to the rebellion and wandering in the desert, to the moment Moses is recounting the covenant to the next generation in Parashat Ki Tavo. God’s design to restore mankind is taking a major step forward, and Israel is the key player in the “game” as this new generation is getting ready to enter the land. Over and over, starting with Exodus 1, we read of God’s desire for Israel, from recognizing their identity as his “firstborn son,” “treasured possession,” and their calling as a “light to the nations” and “kingdom of priests.”

In this week’s parasha, we read about a re-affirmation of the covenant, which was first given by Hashem to the previous generation at Sinai, and is now restated by Moses to this next generation getting ready to enter the Land. The idea of covenant was familiar to the ancient world, where two parties entered into an agreement to do certain things for mutual benefit, not just in words, but in actions..."

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This week’s Torah commentary is from Parashat Ki Tetse, Deuteronomy 21:10–25:19, written by Matt Absolon.

“When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God gives them into your hand and you take them captive, and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire to take her to be your wife, and you bring her home to your house, she shall shave her head and pare her nails. And she shall take off the clothes in which she was captured and shall remain in your house and lament her father and her mother a full month. After that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. But if you no longer delight in her, you shall let her go where she wants. But you shall not sell her for money, nor shall you treat her as a slave, since you have humiliated her. (Deuteronomy 21:10–14)
This week’s portion opens with a legal code regarding the treatment of prisoners of war that can seem remote from life today, until we set it against the catalogue of wartime horrors compiled over the past century. Read against that record, the distance collapses.

To students of war, we recognize that sexual violence against women is not an unfortunate byproduct of war, but a deliberate tactic perpetuated against civilian populations for the purposes of terror and subjugation. Imperial Japan’s atrocities in China, N**i Germany’s tyranny of Europe, Russian conduct in Ukraine, and October 7 2023, stand as recent entries in a far longer list. In the light of contemporary and historical record, the awful truth is that this conduct is not an aberration from the norms of warfare . . . it is the norm. What is unusual, historically, is restraint. Torah’s ethic stands in stark relief against that.‍ ‍”

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Weekly Torah commentary preview, by Rabbi Russ Resnik, UMJC Rabbinic Counsel.

Parashat Shoftim, Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9

“The Rock, perfect in every act:

Who can say to Him, “Why do You so act?”

You who speak and act: show us kindness we do not deserve,

And in the merit of the one who was bound like a lamb, hear us and act.
(From the burial service, Koren Siddur)

One of the age-old controversies between Judaism and Christianity concerns the need for a mediator between God and man. Rabbinic writings often assert that Israel needs no intermediary with God, but can approach him directly. Thus, Jewish commentator Ovadiah ben Jacob Sforno (ca. 1475–1550) comments on the first of the Ten Commandments: “I am the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:2)…”
Continue reading at umjc.org/torahcommentary/2026/8/11/the-heart-of-a-mediator

Though summer is winding down, we remain grateful for the wonderful Messianic Jewish summer camps in our community. May the friendships bloom and spiritual seeds planted flourish in the lives of these campers! Thank you for sowing into these precious lives.