(for the week of September 4^th, 2010/25 Elul, 5770)

Parashat “Nitzavim-Vaylech”
Deuteronomy 29:9-31:30

As we approach the end of the Jewish year, this week’s double parasha (Torah portion) turns us towards the last events in the Torah’s narrative. Moses is told that he will die soon and that he should prepare Joshua to succeed him as leader. God also prophesies Israel’s future disobedience and the resulting punishment: “…I will abandon them and hide My countenance from them (Deuteronomy 31:17).” Each year, we encounter this disturbing image—of God’s abandonment and purposefully hidden face—just as we are preparing to observe the High Holy Days. In other words, we come across these words just as we are getting ready to reflect deeply upon and, hopefully, renew our relationship with God. So, how might this terrible prophecy fit into our preparation process?

The Torah’s original intent for this phrase seems both clear and consistent with its overall theology. If you violate your covenant with God by not obeying the commandments, God will punish you. That punishment will take both active and passive forms—God will cause terrible things to happen to you and also will allow your enemies to triumph over you (rather than protecting you from your enemies). It is this passive form of punishment that seems to be implied in this imagery of God turning away and hiding God’s face; I won’t pay attention to your suffering (or listen to your pleas for help) and protect you. Instead, I’ll turn my back and allow matters to take their own course. But whether God’s punishment is active or passive, the message is quite clear: be careful to follow God’s rules…or else!

Of course, many of us don’t relate well to this theology of a God who rewards/punishes us in a direct and intentional way. And while we’re on the subject, we also may not relate so easily to the theology that permeates our High Holy Days liturgy—a God who literally sits in judgment and decides our fate based on the quality of our teshuvah (repentance). But here’s another interpretation—what if the punishment for sinning is not found in the terrible, practical consequences of God’s turning away from us but in the turning away itself? What if the true punishment for sin is a kind of spiritual exile, a disconnection or at least a distancing from our sense of God’s presence? In this framework, God does not angrily turn away from us to hurt and punish us. Instead, God’s hidden face is an automatic and terrible consequence of our losing our way and making bad choices. The further we go from our own best selves, the harder it becomes to feel God’s presence—to see God’s face.

If we adopt this interpretation, then the significance of this phrase for our own spiritual preparation becomes quite clear. Teshuvah (lit., “turning” or “returning”) or repentance is actually an effort to recover God’s hidden face. And how do we search for that face? We seek God’s face when we struggle to return to our truest and best selves. Because just as the Torah warns us that abandoning our best selves causes God’s face to grow increasingly hidden from us, our tradition also promises that the very moment we make real, sustained and courageous efforts to return to those best selves, God’s face starts to be revealed once more. So, as 5771 begins, may each of us and all of us find our way back to the warmth, joy and light of that Presence.