United And As One Grants Us A Good Year

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Parshas Netzavim is always read on the Shabbos before Rosh Hashanah, which is the Shabbos before the month of Tishrei. Every Shabbos that precedes a new month, is called Shabbos Mevarchim, because we bless the new month. The only month that we don't bless, is the month of Tishrei. If we don't bless the month of Tishrei, how is it blessed?

We have a teaching of the Baal Shem Tov, handed down by his student, the Maggid of Mezrich, to Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (the Alter Rebbe). This is how the Alter Rebbe said it, "The seventh month (Tishrei), which is the first month of the months of the year, Hashem Himself blesses on Shabbos Mevarchim, which is the last Shabbos of the month of Elul, and this gives Israel the power to bless the months, eleven times a year. It is written, 'All of you are standing hayom (today),' hayom refers to Rosh Hashanah, which is the Day of judgment, as it is written, ' And it was hayom (the day)...' and the Targum (Yonasan translates), 'and it was the great day of judgment,' And you are standing - existing and standing, means that we are meritorious in the judgment, and on the Shabbos before Rosh Hashanah, which is the last Shabbos of the month of Elul, we read parshas Atem Netzavim (You are standing), and this is the blessing of Hashem... (He blesses us) with a lot of good, to all of Israel, for the entire year."

commentaries explain the verses, "You are standing... To enter a covenant..." That Moshe entered them in to pact of (arvus) responsibility for one another. As our sages say, "All of Israel are responsible for one another."

When there are two explanations on the same words of a verse, they have to be connected somehow. What is the connection between the Baal Shem Tov's explanation and the commentaries'?

Another question. We find in the Talmud, that although Moshe entered them into the covenant of responsibility for one another, in the desert, it didn't actually take effect, until the Jewish people entered the land of Israel. Why did it have to wait until they entered the land?

In order to understand this, we first have to take a look at the idea of arvus, which I translated responsibility, for lack of a better word. It takes many forms, the simple meaning of it in our context, is that we should help each other keep Torah and mitzvahs, and that we can include another Jew, when we say a Brocha. But for clarity sake, we will take the classic case of an areiv, and that is with a loan.

When someone asks another for a loan, often the lender will ask for someone to guarantee the loan, to take responsibility in the case that the borrower will not have the money to repay the loan. In this case, it makes sense that a more affluent person, takes the guarantor position, being the areiv for the loan. In every case arvus, the one who has more is the areiv, the other way around, just doesn't make sense.

When it comes to being Jewish, keeping the Torah and mitzvahs, one would think, that the one who is more involved in Torah and mitzvahs, would be the areiv, for the one who is less involved. But that is not the case, rather, "All of Israel are responsible for one another." What that means, is that every Jew is the more affluent person, compared to every other, in some aspect of Judaism. It is not enough that we keep Judaism the best way we can, but we should try to see to it, that other Jews do so as well. Because they each have a part of Judaism that we don't, and their part is vital to the completeness of Hashem's Torah. In other words, we are not complete, without the inclusion of every one of our Jewish brothers and sisters.

And that is why, we could be included in a Brocha of the most simple and unlettered person, because in some aspect, he is greater.

How does this unity manifest itself?

The Alter Rebbe, when explaining the verse, "All of you standing here today," he says, that all the Jewish people together are, "One complete person." Just as in a person, there is an advantage of the foot over the head, meaning, that there are some things that the head can't do without the foot, therefore, the head is not complete without the foot. The same is true for the Jewish people, even the simplest Jew has an advantage over the greatest, the "heads" of the Jewish people, and they must rely on them to do their part.

To put it in other words, every Jew has a point where he is the "head."

To explain how the unity of the Jewish people manifest itself, the Alter Rebbe brings the verse, "When the heads (the count) of the nation are gathered and the tribes are united." And he explains, "that everyone is gathered together to be united as one." And he explains that "united" means that "Everyone needs each other," and "as one" means "One complete person."

So there are two things working together. We are united and as one.

United means, that there are separate things or people, that come together in unity, to serve a certain purpose. They could have nothing in common, but for the sake of the common goal, they come together and unify. They are individuals with individuality, each is unique, but they unify to attain their goal.

As one means, that they are in essence one, and that is the true underlying reason for their unity. True, they could help each other out by being united, but that isn't the reason for their unity, just the result.

It seems that being "as one," is a loftier idea than just being "united." Why does the Alter Rebbe have to employ both, "united" and "as one"?

We must conclude, that being individual is important as well. In fact, both are extremely necessary, we have to value our individuality, every one of us has something that the others need to be complete, and at the same time, we are at our core, "One complete person."

In actuality, the Alter Rebbe spends much more time discussing the importance of the individual, because to accomplish our mission in this physical world, the unique contribution of every individual is necessary.

Now we could understand why the covenant of arvus, only took effect when they entered the land. Because that is when the actual mission began. In the desert, they were living a completely spiritual life, they were living in the clouds, quite literally. It was only when they entered the land, into the physical world, when the mission began, to transform this lowly physical world into a home for Hashem.

And we will also understand the connection between the Baal Shem Tov's explanation, that we are "meritorious in the judgment," on "hayom," the day of Rosh Hashanah, and the commentaries ', that they entered into a covenant of arvus.

Because it is through our togetherness, both "united," and "as one," when we don't take into account the level of the other, and when we see every Jew as important and necessary. That Hashem will grant us all a happy and sweet year.