Chop and Draw

Nitzavim-Vayeilech

Nitzavim always precedes Rosh Hashanah. The Zohar (part 3, 231a) says that whenever it says "Vayehi Hayom" in the psukim, it is referring to Rosh Hashanah. Other Mefarshim (e.g. Pa'aneach Raza), take this one step further saying that even the word "Hayom" on its own (without Vayehi), is referring to Rosh Hashanah. This is a direct hint in the first pasuk of the parsha "Atem Nitzavim Hayom" (Devarim 29:9) to Rosh Hashanah.

The first pasuk says that everyone is standing before HaKadosh Baruch Hu and then brings a list – the leaders, the heads of the tribes, the elders, the policemen, all males in Am Yisrael. The infants, the women, the converts, from the tree choppers to the water drawers.

It is understandable that after the first pasuk, referring specifically to adult males, the next pasuk comes to add children, women and converts. What is not clear though is why the last two categories are needed – tree choppers and water drawers.

If we take the pasuk literally, i.e. Am Yisrael standing before HaKadosh Baruch Hu and Moshe just prior to Moshe's death, the tree choppers and water drawers were another population group that didn't fit the other categories in the list. These were Canaanites who deceitfully converted when Moshe was still alive (like the Givonim in the time of Yehoshua) and Moshe gave them the jobs of tree choppers and drawers of water. They were not like the true converts mentioned earlier in the list, and were not included in Am Yisrael.

If, however, we understand the pasuk to mean that everyone is standing before HaKadosh Baruch Hu on Rosh Hashanah, then what significance is there specifically to tree choppers and water drawers relating to Rosh Hashanah? All the other groups listed are understandable, but why did the Torah davka spotlight the tree choppers and water drawers and not, say, the stone masons and the shoemakers?

If you notice, there is also a difference between the first group of people in the list and the last two. In the first part of the list, it says "this one, that one, this one and that one, etc., … until it gets to the last two – where it says "from this one to that one." When someone specifies a "from ... to" range, it usually indicates two opposing extremes – from this end to that end. What is the "vast" difference between a tree chopper and a water drawer? If the pasuk wanted to paint a "spectrum of extremes," something on the extreme low end and something on the extreme high end, why did it not use the example of a tree chopper and a prophet, for example?

The mechanism of our world is a combination of nature and man, a partnership. Nature was created for man, but in order for nature to function, man must pray to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. This is what it means in the pasuk (Bereishit 2:15) "Hashem placed Adam in the Garden of Eden to do "Avodah," etc." The Avodah in question is prayer. In Gan Eden, Adam never had to sow seeds, prune trees, spray against bugs, harvest, etc. All he had to do was pray to HaKadosh Baruch Hu to take care of all these "agricultural" concerns and Adam simply walked under the trees with his basket and gathered the fruits as they fell (Ketubot 111b).

This is the way Eretz Yisrael is designed. Am Yisrael pray to HaKadosh Baruch Hu and observe the Torah … and HaKadosh Baruch Hu provides the rain and blesses the earth. Other countries who have no need for rain, like Egypt and the Nile, may seem "on the surface" to be blessed countries, but they are exactly the opposite! HKB"H provides them with "automatic" natural bounty, because He wants to have nothing to do with them. On the other hand, HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants the closest connection possible with Am Yisrael, to see us as often as possible (in shul) davening to Him, so he makes our sustenance dependent on constant prayer.

When HaKadosh Baruch Hu says to HaKadosh Baruch Hu – "You are all standing before me today, (on Rosh Hashanah!)" what He means is that today we are standing before Him, like Adam HaRishon did, on the first Rosh Hashanah in history – the sixth day of Creation, "Hayom Harat Olam" (Gemara, Rosh Hashanah 11a, according to R' Eliezer). "All of you … including the tree choppers and the water drawers!" What do tree choppers and water drawers have to do with Rosh Hashanah (more than shoemakers or stone masons, etc.?)

On the sixth day HaKadosh Baruch Hu created Adam. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says to Adam "Look, here are two trees. I am placing you in Gan Eden "Le'Ovda ule'Shomra," to do Avodah with the Tree of Life, to draw the water of the Torah from the Etz HaChaim. In addition, I want you to "ule'Shomra," to stay away from the Etz Hada'at, the Tree of Knowledge.

The fiasco with Adam on the sixth day, Rosh Hashanah, is that he fell asleep and while he was asleep, the snake duped Chava. A short time later Adam also sinned. For this reason, it is a custom to refrain from sleeping during the day on Rosh Hashanah.

Originally, the Tree of Knowledge was a tree towering up to the sky, but Adam's sin diminished it, "chopped it down" as it were, and turned it into a lowly grass.

Instead of remaining a "drawer of water" as HaKadosh Baruch Hu intended him to be, the highest level on the spectrum, Adam became a "chopper of trees," the lowest end on the spectrum. When did this take place? On the first Rosh Hashanah in history!

As we approach the high holy days and formulate resolutions for the upcoming year, we should place more emphasis on "drawing" from the wellspring of our creation, the Torah and less on "chopping" (tearing) things down.

Shana Tova u'Metuka

Parshat HaShavua Trivia Question: Why are there added dots above the words "Lanu ule'Vaneinu" in the pasuk (Devarim 29:28)?

Answer to Last Shiur’s Trivia Question: Which six tribes stood on Mt. Grizim (for the blessings and the curses)? Shimon, Levi, Yehuda, Yissachar, Yosef and Binyamin (Devarim 27:12).