Interestingly, this week we read the same parsha that we read last year.  Most parshas are divided into three parts, and one part is read in each year of a three-year cycle.  With Nitzavim, we read the same thing in all three years. (See last year’s Torah Tidbit.)

Moses is addressing everyone who is “standing here today.”  Kind of like a huge rock concert, only without the electronic sound system.

These folk are entering into a covenant, a word which Merriam-Webster defines as a contract or pact.  This is a legal agreement with God:  F ollow all my commandments and you will prosper.  Don’t follow them and you won’t. 

But the people gathered around “are not the only ones with whom the LORD is making this covenant,” but also “the one that is not here with us today.”

Food for Thought

What does God mean when God says that people who are not there are nevertheless making the pact?”