On the second day of Rosh Hashana, we read that we will be like the stars of the heavens and the sands of the sea. Why aren’t we compared to the sands of the desert? Surely they are more numerous?
The answer comes in Parshat Nitzavim. The Torah is not in the Heavens where we cannot reach it. Instead, we are like the stars – able to connect directly with the Torah of Hashem. And the Torah is not across the seas. Instead, we are like the sands – touching every shore.
We can encompass all the world and the heavens have to offer. This is the path of life. This is the path of potential realized. Hashem can pakad us when we circumcise our hearts.
The route will not have been easy, but still, it lays before us.
On the other hand, we can choose gods and values that have been assigned to others. Our potential can be wasted. Then too, we will be rescued. But only because the covenant of Hashem must stand.
If we are rescued in this way, then we will be ‘zachar’ed.
It is a rescue – even one we pray for; but it is a pale shadow of what we can actually achieve.
The portion warns that even those who deny the covenant are held to it. Just as the ewes sacrificed by Avraham at the end of the first day’s readings serve as witnesses against Abimelech, in Parshat Nitzavim, the mountains themselves serve as witnesses against those who would deny their place in the covenant.
As we enter the Days of Awe, we must recognize that it is a joy to honor and serve true royalty.
May it be our blessing to find this joy in our relationship with our King – and may we be reckoned like Sarah for our righteousness.
Shana Tova.