For a prop this Shabbat Nitzavim we set up a green ladder with an orange life-vest hanging from it.
What’s the connection? Here’s the verse from Devarim/Deut, Nitzavim 30:11-14:
For this mitzvah which I command you this day, it is not hidden from you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who shall cross the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?” Rather, the thing is very near to you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it.
This passage is about Torah’s accessibility. Don’t think you have to climb up into heaven to find it, or cross a vast sea. It’s right here. Anywhere. Available and accessible.. Even at UAlbany.
The last line of this passage is on the title page of Tanya, the classic book of Chabad Chassidic philosophy. And its one of the 12 Torah verses that the Rebbe encouraged children to learn and know by heart.
And this reminds me of a Eureka moment by a student at Torah Tuesday, maybe a dozen years ago, or more:
We were doing a class titled “Jews Sing the Darnest Things” and the piece we were discussing was the song “Vayehi Binsoah” (“when the Ark traveled”) which many congregations across the Jewish spectrum sing when the Ark is opened. We shared a talk of the Rebbe as to why the staves/poles of the Ark (meant to be carriers for travel) were never allowed to be removed from it. Why not, asks the Rebbe, and why of all the Temple vessels that had carrying poles, why is are the ark’s poles singled out not to be removed? The Rebbe answered, that it is to teach us: “Have Torah, Will Travel”. The Torah is never stuck in the Temple or behind closed doors. Wherever we are, no matter where we may be, the Torah comes along with us. It is wherever we are.
This student (now an alum, married with children in Israel) piped up and said, “I’m sensing a pattern in the Rebbe’s teachings. It seems to be a lot about accessibility and connection, wherever we are, whomever we are.”
Indeed, indeed. This verse from Nitzavim is a big theme for the Rebbe, not just in the world of ideas, but in the world he set into motion. It’s all about closeness, access and connection – anywhere and everywhere.