HaRav Dov Begon is Head of Yeshivat Machon Meir
As we learn in this week’s Torah portion of Nitzavim, upon our entrance into the Land of Israel, the Holy One, Blessed be He, forged a covenant of mutual responsibility with us, as it is written: “You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God... to enter into the Covenant of the Lord your God and into His oath, which the Lord your God makes with you today" (Deuteronomy 29:9, 11).
The Covenant concerns that which is revealed, meaning our actions - not our thoughts, as it is written: “The hidden things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and to our children forever, to fulfill all the words of this Torah" (29:28).
As Rashi explains: “‘The hidden things belong to the Lord our God.’ If you say: What can we do? You punish the many for the thoughts of the individual... but no person knows the hidden thoughts of his fellow. I do not punish you for the hidden things, for they belong to the Lord our God, and He will exact punishment from that individual. But ‘the revealed things belong to us and to our children’ - to remove the evil from our midst, and if we do not administer justice regarding them, the many will be punished. Even for the revealed things, He did not punish the many until they crossed the Jordan, when they accepted upon themselves the oath at Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal and became responsible for one another" (see Rashi there).
Upon entering the Land of Israel, we rose to a higher level. We went from a level in which every Jew is judged individually for his thoughts and actions to a level in which the individual takes responsibility for all of Israel, where every action is transformed from a private matter into a matter concerning the entire nation. This can be compared to a soldier serving in the army. His every action as a soldier contributes to the army; he conducts himself accordingly and is judged accordingly based on the effect his behavior or misbehavior has on the entire fighting force.
Today as well, in our generation of the Ingathering of the Exiles, the Nation of Israel has gone from being “one people scattered and dispersed among the nations" to being “one NATION in the Land." We have gone from the exile, where every individual Jew and every individual community lived for themselves and struggled separately for their physical, spiritual, and cultural survival, to a far broader situation of national sovereignty where the individual becomes national in scope. We have a State of our own. We have an army of our own. All citizens of the State are obligated to obey the laws of the State. No longer are we merely individuals.
Mutual responsibility relates not only to the existential and security aspects of our beloved State, but also to the spiritual and moral character of the Nation of Israel. We cannot close our eyes and ignore what is not good in Israeli society and place responsibility for the situation upon others, because we are all responsible for one another.
Even when we confess our sins, we do not confess in the singular but in the plural: “We have sinned, we have betrayed, we have robbed," and so forth. We must take responsibility not only for ourselves but also for our people as a whole.
We are on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, which is approaching for the good. We must correct our ways and repent not only for ourselves but also for our people and for the entire world, as the Rambam writes:
“Although the sounding of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is a decree of Scripture, there is a message contained within it, as if to say: ‘Awake, you sleepers, from your sleep, and you who slumber, arise from your slumber. Examine your deeds, repent, and remember your Creator!’ Every person must see himself throughout the entire year as though he were half meritorious and half guilty, and likewise the entire world as though it were half meritorious and half guilty. If he commits one sin, he has tipped himself and the entire world to the side of guilt and brought destruction upon it. If he performs one mitzvah, he has tipped himself and the entire world to the side of merit and brought repentance and salvation to himself and to them, as it is stated: ‘The righteous person is the foundation of the world.’"
How fortunate we are; how good is our portion, that Hashem, blessed be He, has chosen us from all the nations to perfect the world under the sovereignty of the Almighty. Through this, all the inhabitants of the world will recognize and know that sovereignty is His, and that He will reign in glory forever and ever, as it is written: “And the Lord shall be King over all the earth; on that day the Lord shall be One and His Name One."
With blessings for a good and sweet year, and may you all be written and sealed for a healthy and prosperous year.