Shabbat Greetings

This Shabbat is different from other Shabbatot. We stand at the threshold of a new year, just before Selichot, just before Rosh Hashanah. In additiion, this year, there is another threshold we have just crossed: Labor Day, a day when we pause to recognize the work that sustains our families, our communities, and our society.

There is a beautiful connection between Labor Day and our double portion, Nitzavim–Vayelech (Deuteronomy 29:9-31:30) gives us a word that feels especially powerful at this moment: hayom – today. The text begins by teaching us: “Atem nitzavim hayom kulchem lifnei Adonai Eloheichem (29:9)” – “You are standing today, all of you, before Adonai your God.” The question is: Why today? Of course they were standing there that day. Why emphasize it?

The rabbis teach that hayom is not simply a date on the calendar. It is a spiritual invitation: Today is the day we choose to begin again. We often enter the High Holy Days carrying the weight of yesterday. Often we are thinking of the things we wish we had done differently, words we wish we hadn’t said, opportunities we missed. But the Torah reminds us that we are not defined only by our past. We are capable of standing before God, and before one another, today.

And then, further in the portion, Moses says, “Lo uchal od latzet v’la’vo (31:2)” – “I am no longer able to go out and come in.” His own journey is coming to an end. Yet the Torah’s message is not about endings alone. It is about transition: one chapter closes, and another begins. That is exactly where we are now.

Tomorrow night, Selichot asks us to look honestly at yesterday. Rosh Hashanah asks us to imagine tomorrow. But the only place where change can actually happen is today. So perhaps the invitation of this Shabbat is very simple:

Stand where you are. Acknowledge where you have been. And believe that today, something can begin again. Hayom—today—we stand together. Hayom—today—we can forgive. Hayom—today—we can return.

And hayom, perhaps more than any other day, we can hear the quiet call of the new year asking us: Who do you want to become? May we enter these holy days not burdened by the past, and not anxious about the future, but fully present in the sacred possibility of today. Shabbat Shalom, and may we all be written and sealed for a year of blessing, health, meaning, and peace.

SHABBAT SHALOM