As the time for entry into the Promised Land draws near, Moses turns from speaking of nation-building and instead casts his prophetic gaze deep into the future. He leaps over the years that the Israelites will live upon the land and focuses on the days when they will have been cast off it. He speaks to them of their descendants’ final return after a long and taxing exile.

“Now it shall be: when there come upon you all of these things, the blessing and the curse that I have set before you, and you take them to your heart among all the nations where God your Lord has thrust you away, and you will return to God your Lord… you and your children, with all your heart and all your being” (Deuteronomy 30:1-2).

“If you be thrust away to the ends of the heavens, from there God your Lord will collect you, from there He will take you, and… bring you to the land that your fathers possessed” (30:3-5).

It is return that is the theme of his message and it is assured.

However, his assurance  of  return, or teshuvah, is linked to a process that will unfold across generations. This final homecoming will not occur by mere logistics but through the painstaking maturation of the nation’s heart, which must first become sensitised and fully responsive to reality. “God, your Lord, will make vulnerable your heart… for the sake of your own life” (30:6).

According to the commentator Sforno, that means  “God will open your eyes so that you may avoid mistakes that confuses the mind [and keep it] from the truth. When you strive to cling to Him… you will surely come to love Him. He will bring you to it for the sake of your life, always.”

Happy is the nation who knows the sound of the shofar

Moses thus links this return to an awareness of existential reality, of life and death. In essence, it is a true acceptance of what is good and viable, and a full relinquishing of harmful thoughts and behaviours.

Simply understanding or intellectually accepting truth is never sufficient to rectify the damage that falsehood creates. We must move from a reality that we know, to a reality that we live. For such a full teshuvah to occur, the heart must align with the mind and also become vulnerable and embrace reality. It must be transformed. 

More often than not this occurs not only by learning, but by events; by reality pressing on us in some way that brings us to attention, making it more difficult for us to maintain our non-viable behaviours while carrying on with life. 

The return to one’s truest and highest self and to God, is slow and complex; it involves relinquishing habits and giving up comforts and securities, most of all by forfeiting self-deception. 

The road to return is paved with disillusionment and it therefore includes struggle, sadness and pain. But it is also paved with epiphany and with that comes grace, love and joy. It is the path of life itself and its ultimate gift to us is that it awakens us from one level of consciousness to the next. 

When we awaken on any level, even if it is from our beds after a night’s sleep, if we are not yet ready to stir, we are faced with choices. We can seize the new opportunities that the day brings, or we can resent the wake-up call and protest it by going back to sleep.

Why though must this transition be so difficult? Why is Moses telling the people early on that it is likely that the nation will hit considerable distresses and lows before reaching the heights? It seems that we learn invaluable lessons from the depths that we bring with us as a steady foundation for reaching the top. 

We truly see how far off course we were and that our life choices were unsustainable. We see the dysfunction clearly and know its effects. We gain humility by understanding that we are not in control of all we thought we were and develop compassion for others who are struggling and in despair. 

We move from superficial fixes for our lives, to substantial rectifications. Most importantly, we become grateful for God’s care in bringing us to a stronger, fuller and more meaningful existence.

Reading  Parashat Nitzavim before Rosh Hashanah prepares us not only to hear the awakening call of the shofar but to know its meaning and build it into our preparations for the day.

“Happy is the nation who knows teruah [the sound of the shofar],” says Psalm 89.

We know the shofar is not only calling us to attention but also calling us to love our own lives and diligently to do all we can to build them on the firm foundation of truth, to solidify our return. 

We have struggled as a nation, but we have persevered. When faced with challenges, we chose to awaken and open our eyes, not to give in to the death of eternal slumber. Each of us inherits this strength from our forebears and within our souls lies an immense power to rise like lions and face the day.