The last Shabbat of the year is upon us. Let's tune in a bit to our shared pulse — this week's portions, Nitzavim-Vayelech, read on Shabbat morning in every synagogue in the world.
Moshe Rabbeinu is parting from us, at the end of his days. It would seem that he should be talking about death. He knows he won't cross the Jordan and won't enter the Land of Israel. Instead, he keeps talking about something else entirely — educating the next generation.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks writes that here Moshe Rabbeinu teaches us an important lesson: how to defeat death.
All the ancient nations at that time tried to build pyramids, to embalm their dead — but with Moshe Rabbeinu, we don't even know where his grave is.
Instead, he passes down to the entire world a revolutionary idea: if you connect to the Torah, to the covenant that God offers you, you will merit eternal life. Something wonderful will happen to you: your parents and grandparents will live on within you, and you will go on living within your children and grandchildren.
And if you also engage in the Jewish education of others, if you become teachers and educators — you'll add yet another powerful connection to eternity.
This is a covenant between all of the past and all of the future, with each of us in the middle as the link of the present. Don't just accept these things as a "copy-paste" from previous generations — connect to them, live them, pass them on.
The last Shabbat of the year 5786 is here. May we all feel connection. Shabbat Shalom.
