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, on the last Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah. Moshe gathers the whole nation, "from your leaders to the one who cuts your wood" (Devarim 29:9), and tells them they are all standing there together, on the same day. A Midrash teaches that on this Shabbat the Creator gives us the chance to stand like angels, ready and willing. The blessings of Rosh Hashanah descend to the collective, the knesset Yisrael, and so unity is the vessel that receives them.
Karen Berg asks a direct question: have you ever felt like a leaf carried 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 close to you, in your mouth and in your heart" (Devarim 30:11-14). And then comes the commandment that names the week, "I have set before you life and death, therefore choose life" (Devarim 30:19). It is not fate, it is a choice placed in our hands today.
In Vayeilech, Moshe says simply: "Today I am 120 years old. 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, and Joshua, his student, is the moon. The sun does not disappear when it sets, it is gathered so that the moon can shine, and it goes on lighting it from out of sight. Concealment is never absence.
The last instruction is the tenderest of all. The Creator tells Moshe that even when His face seems hidden, haster astir panai, write a song and place it in the mouth of the people, so they never forget (Devarim 31:17-19). Not a law carved in stone. A song, something the people carry, sing together and pass from mouth to mouth, generation after generation.
Moshe gathers everyone, from the leader to the one who cuts the wood. The blessings of Rosh Hashanah descend to the collective, so it is unity that receives them.
It is not in heaven nor across the sea. It is in your mouth and in your heart, and that means choosing life is a decision made today, not a fate.
The sun does not vanish when it sets, it is gathered so the moon can shine. Moshe goes on lighting Joshua from out of sight.
The final instruction is not to carve in stone. It is to write a song, because a song is carried in the mouth and passed on.
Nitzavim-Vayeilech is the last Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah, and it gathers three parting gestures. Moshe stands the whole nation up, from the leader to the woodcutter, because the blessing of the new year descends to the collective and not to each person separately. Then he warns that the choice is not far away, it is in the mouth and in the heart, which is why choosing life is something done today. And at the end, knowing he is leaving the stage, he does not leave a law in stone. He leaves a song.
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.
If someone you love is handing something over, a role, a home, a child who has grown, it may help to remember that concealment is not absence.
Share on WhatsApp"I stand together in unity. I choose life, it is already in my mouth and in my heart. I pass the Light forward."
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