By Rabbi Chaim Litvin
Rabbi Chaim Litvin
As we prepare to close the year and enter the new one, the Torah reading offers us a timeless message. In Parshat Nitzavim we read:
Atem nitzavim hayom kulchem lifnei Hashem Elokeichem (“You are all standing today before G-d your G-d”) (Devarim 29:9).
Midrash teaches that hayom — “today” — refers to Rosh Hashanah, the day we all stand before G-d in judgment. The Torah emphasizes kulchem, (“all of you,” from the leaders down to the water carriers), because on Rosh Hashanah there are no divisions. Before the King of Kings, each of us stands with equal value, equally essential to the Jewish people’s collective destiny.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe explained that unity is not only a condition of judgment but is a source of blessing. When we all come together in true solidarity, our combined strength brings G-d’s blessing for a good and sweet year. That is why Rosh Hashanah is celebrated with the sounding of the shofar, a simple blast that comes from the essence of the heart. Unlike words, which can divide by language or perspective, the shofar is a sound that unites, and awakens the inner bond between every Jew and G-d.
A second powerful lesson comes from the Rambam in Hilchot Teshuvah (3:4). He writes that every person should see the world as if it is perfectly balanced. With one mitzvah, one act of kindness, one moment of prayer or one mitzvah, we can tip the scale and bring salvation to our community, and the entire world. The Rambam concludes: “Therefore, every person must see themselves all year long as if their next deed could bring the redemption for the entire world.”
Taken together, these two teachings give us the keys for the closing out the year:
Atem nitzavim, “You are all standing,” reminds us that we stand together, united as one people before G-d.
Rambam reminds us that every individual has infinite power to affect the world with even one deed.
This balance between the unity of the collective and the power of the individual is the beauty of Jewish life, and the essence of Rosh Hashanah.
Today, these messages strike us with particular urgency. We cannot ignore the pain of our brothers and sisters in Israel, especially the families of those still held hostage in the dungeons of Gaza. The Torah’s vision of nitzavim kulchem, all of us standing together, means that their suffering is our suffering, their prayers are our prayers. We are one body; when one limb feels pain, the whole body feels pain.
The Rebbe, throughout the years, often emphasized that spirituality is directly connected to physicality. When we increase in study, mitzvot, and acts of goodness, it brings protection, safety, and blessing to the world, especially in Israel. That is why the Rebbe would encourage very practical things: puttinng on tefillin, lighting Shabbat candles, and studying Torah. These simple actions are not symbolic – they are real sources of blessing that affect the safety and peace of the Jewish people.
As we close the year, the Rebbe taught us not to only look backward with regret, but to look forward with commitment. Every year begins with crowning G-d as our King, and that is done through our unity, through our prayers, and through our dedication to unity in the coming year.
And so, in these days, each of us has the opportunity to add one more mitzvah, one more act of kindness, one more moment of prayer and to know with confidence that it may be our action that tips the scales, that brings protection to Israel, releases for the hostages, comfort to the bereaved, and peace for our people.
This year especially, we can take the sound of the shofar as our model. The shofar is raw, simple, unadorned but it reaches the deepest places. It reminds us that beyond all divisions, politics, or differences, at our core we are one nation with one heart. When we call out with the shofar, we are crying together, not alone.
And just as the shofar is a call, it is also a promise. As we read in Prophet Isaiah: “And on that day, a great shofar will be sounded, and the lost ones will return” (Yeshayahu 27:13). The shofar of Rosh Hashanah is a preview of the shofar gadol — the final redemption, when every exile will return home, every tear will be dried, and peace will reign not only in Israel but throughout the world.
May we merit, in this new year, to see that promise fulfilled. May it be a year of unity, a year of revealed blessings, a year when the hostages are freed and every Jew can live in safety and peace in the Land of Israel and around the world. And above all, may this be the year of the great shofar of Moshiach, when “nation shall not lift sword against nation, nor shall they learn war anymore.”
Shanah tovah umetukah, may you and your loved ones be written and sealed for a good and sweet new year.
Rabbi Chaim Litvin — known to many as “The Bourbon Rabbi” — is CEO of BourbonRabbi, Rabbinic Coordinator of KLAS and Kentucky kosher, and for 25 years affiliated with Chabad of Kentucky.