Summary of the Parasha
“You are all standing today (Nitzavim) before Hashem your God”: the heads, the elders, the officers, every man of Israel, the children, the women, the stranger, “from the woodcutter to the water drawer”. All enter the covenant, and not only those present, but also “whoever is not here with us today”: all future generations and the souls of future converts.
Moses warns against one who, in his heart, would turn to idolatry while telling himself “I will be at peace”, a root that bears poison and wormwood: the whole land would suffer, and the nations would ask why it was laid waste. “The hidden things belong to Hashem our God, and the revealed things belong to us and to our children forever”: each person is responsible for what he sees, the foundation of mutual responsibility, “kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh”.
Then the great promise of teshuvah: when all these things happen to you, “you will return to Hashem your God”, and God will bring back your exiles, “even if they are at the end of the heavens”, and will “circumcise your heart” to love Him. The Ramban sees in the passage that follows the mitzvah of teshuvah: “It is not in heaven… nor beyond the sea… the thing is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it”. Finally, the choice: “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse: choose life, so that you and your descendants may live, loving Hashem your God, listening to His voice and cleaving to Him.”
Nitzavim is always read just before Rosh Hashanah: the whole people stands together before the Judge.
Summary of the Haftara
“Sos Asis” (“I will greatly rejoice”)
Text in Isaiah 61:10–63:9
The seventh and last haftara of consolation: now it is Jerusalem who answers. “I will greatly rejoice in Hashem, my soul shall exult in my God, for He has clothed me in garments of salvation”, like a bridegroom and a bride. “For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness shines like light”. She will no longer be called “forsaken” but “My delight is in her”; “as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you”. Then the vision of God returning from Edom, His garments red, having judged the enemies alone. The haftara ends: “In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them”.
Parasha-Haftara Connection
The parasha promises return and the circumcision of the heart; the haftara sings of that return fulfilled, in the language of a wedding between God and Israel. Before Rosh Hashanah we stand before the King, knowing that He suffers with us in each of our troubles.