The Standard That Defines Us: Nitzavim-Vayelech 5786

This piece by Rabbi Kenigsberg, first published in the Hanassi Highlights on Thursday 3 September 2026, is also available in Hebrew, thanks to ChatGPT. For the Hebrew version, click here.

There is something strange about the way we approach Rosh Hashana. For a few precious days, we try to be at our very best. We daven with greater concentration, take on additional practices, and make resolutions about the people we hope to become. Indeed, the Shulchan Aruch records the practice of adopting additional stringencies during the Aseret Yemei Teshuva, even when we know that we may not maintain them throughout the year.

But is that really meaningful? If we already suspect that in a few weeks’ time we will have returned to our usual routines, what is accomplished by reaching for a standard that we cannot sustain? Perhaps the answer lies in a central theme of Parshat Nitzavim. Moshe Rabbeinu gathers the entire nation and declares: “You are standing today, all of you, before Hashem your God… to enter into the covenant of Hashem your God” (Devarim 29:9–11).

Rav Yaakov Moshe Charlap explains that the essence of a brit (covenant) is that two parties establish their relationship at a moment of particular closeness. They know that circumstances will change and difficulties will arise. Precisely because that moment cannot last forever, they make a brit: they declare that the relationship will always be defined by the closeness they experience now. Rav Charlap explains that the purpose of the covenant is that “their relationship to one another should always remain as it was at the moment the covenant was forged.” Perhaps this idea can transform the way we understand Rosh Hashana, and indeed the entire period of the Yamim Noraim.

Rosh Hashana is not a performance in which we pretend for two days to be people we are not. It is the moment when we identify who we most deeply want to be. During the year there will inevitably be distractions, failures and moments when we fall short. But those moments need not define us. Before the year begins, we establish the standard—the ideal by which we truly wish to be defined.

That may be why Nitzavim is always read as Rosh Hashana approaches. “Atem nitzavim hayom” — today we stand before Hashem. Every person, from the leaders of the nation to the “drawer of water,” enters the covenant. No one is excluded.

As Rosh Hashana approaches, the question is therefore not simply whether we can guarantee that every resolution will last. The deeper question is: What do we want our relationship with Hashem to look like when we are at our best? These final days of the year give us the opportunity to answer that question - and to establish the brit that can define the year ahead.

Shabbat Shalom veShana Tova!