Stand together in unity, choose life, it is already near, and write the song that carries the Light forward. The last Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah.
One week · from Sunday to the Shabbat of Nitzavim-Vayeilech · 23 Elul
✦ All insights are drawn from articles by Michael Berg and Karen Berg published on kabbalah.com.
In 2026, Nitzavim ("You are standing") and Vayeilech ("And he went") are read together, the last Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah. Moshe gathers the entire nation, "from your leaders to the one who chops your wood" (Devarim 29:9), and says: you are standing here today, all of you, together. A Midrash teaches that on this Shabbat, the Creator gives us the chance to become like angels, ready, prepared, willing to do what the Creator wants. The blessings of Rosh Hashanah flow to the collective, knesset Yisrael, which is why unity is the vessel that receives them.
Karen Berg asks us a direct question: have you ever felt like a leaf blown by the wind, never actively choosing the direction of your own life? The portion hands us the antidote: "It is not in heaven… it is not across the sea… it is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it" (Devarim 30:11–14). And then comes the command that names the whole week: "I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse, therefore choose life" (Devarim 30:19). Not fate. A choice, placed in our hands, today.
In Vayeilech, Moshe simply says: "I am 120 years old today. I can no longer go out and come in" (Devarim 31:2). The Zohar reads this moment as the sun handing its light to the moon: Moshe is the sun; Joshua, his student, is the moon. The sun does not disappear when it sets, it is gathered so the moon may shine, and it keeps illuminating the moon even beyond sight. Concealment is never absence. Moshe blesses Joshua and the people again and again: "Be strong and of good courage": chazak ve'ematz (Devarim 31:6–7).
The last instruction is, perhaps, the most tender of all. The Creator tells Moshe: even when My face seems hidden, haster astir panai: write a song, and put it in the mouth of the people, so they never forget (Devarim 31:17–19). Not only a law carved in stone. A song, something the people carry, sing together, and pass from mouth to mouth, generation after generation. This is the thread of our week: even the greatest leader eventually hands the torch forward. And concealment is never the end of the story, it is an invitation to sing what we received, so it lives on in every mouth that follows.
This is the last Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah. Deepen your week by reviewing, honestly and without guilt, what you truly want to choose in the year ahead.
Practice conscious unity.
Think of someone in your circle you have been avoiding or forgetting. Reach out today, a message, a call. No one is left outside the vessel.
Set aside your own agenda for a moment.
Before starting your day, ask: "What does the Creator want from me today, beyond my own plan?" Stay open to an unexpected answer.
Recognize the change is already within reach.
Choose something you've postponed because it felt "too big." Take one small, concrete step today, prove to yourself it is already in your mouth and heart.
Choose actively, not by default.
Write one clear sentence: "This year, I choose…" Read it out loud. Don't settle for a small wish, ask for the whole blessing.
Trust the Light continues even when hidden.
Think of someone who passed something important on to you, a teaching, a value. Thank them, even just in thought or by message.
Strengthen someone before Shabbat.
Tell someone "be strong and of good courage", in your own words. A real word of encouragement, not a generic one. Enter Shabbat having passed strength forward.
Seal the year with something sung, not only thought.
During Shabbat, write or say out loud one sentence, prayer, or intention you want to carry into the new year, something simple enough to never forget.
"I stand together in unity. I choose life, it is already in my mouth and in my heart. I pass the Light forward."
Find a full library of content on the portion of Nitzavim here, articles, videos and meditations.
kabbalah.com/en/collections/nitzavimKabbalistic insights, the consciousness of each Torah portion, and the calendar's windows of Light, straight to your WhatsApp.
Join the WhatsApp group
Comments
Share what this study awakened in you. We're here to listen.
Loading…