מסורת

This week’s Parsha is נצבים. The word, נצבים, means, standing. Moshe tells the people before his death that they were standing before Hashem in a unique covenant.

Unlike the covenant on Mount Sinai that was more of an oath, the נצבים was a covenant for all generations. The Pasuk says כי את אשר ישנו פה as well as ואת אשר איננו פה. This commitment to Hashem applied to those who were physically there with Moshe, as well as those who were not there.

In other words, this was the moment that our ancestors also committed future generations to the Torah given by Moshe Rabbeinu. We must see ourselves as the carriers of this obligation. We are to take it seriously and see it as our duty to teach it to our children and grandchildren.

This is what is known as the מסורת, tradition, that is the major reason why we survived as a people for nearly two thousand years of Galut.