Daily Standing Through Covenant

אתם נצבים היום כלכם

"You are standing today, all of you" (Devarim 29:9).

The opening verse of the parsha, in which Moshe Rabbeinu tells all of Bnei Yisrael that they are standing together before Hashem.

היום בכל יום ע"י הכנה לקבל עול מ"ש ובריתו

"Today" means each and every day, through the preparation to accept upon oneself the yoke of the Kingship of Heaven and His covenant.

The Sfas Emes reads "today" not as a one-time event but as a daily reality: every day a Jew prepares himself to receive the yoke of Heaven and Hashem's covenant.

בזה יכולים להתאסף להיות אגודה

Through this, Bnei Yisrael are able to gather together and become a single bound bundle.

This daily acceptance of the yoke is what allows the individual Jews to unite into one bound community.

וכן שמע ישראל הוא התאספות שנעשין אגודה א' לקבל הברית

And likewise the recitation of "Shema Yisrael" is a gathering whereby they become one bound bundle to accept the covenant.

Reciting Shema is itself such a unifying act — through it Bnei Yisrael become a single bundle that accepts the covenant.

בפ' והי' אם שמוע שכר ועונש שזה קבלת הברית

In the passage of "And it shall be, if you hearken" (Devarim 11:13), there is reward and punishment, and this is the acceptance of the covenant.

The second paragraph of Shema, with its reward and punishment, is precisely the acceptance of the terms of the covenant.

וכמ"ש על הפורק הברית בשרירות לבי אלך לכן הבדילו ה' כו'

As it is written regarding one who casts off the covenant, "In the stubbornness of my heart I will walk" (Devarim 29:18), and therefore "Hashem shall set him apart" (Devarim 29:20), and so forth.

The Torah's warning about the one who throws off the covenant — declaring he will follow his own stubborn heart and is therefore set apart — shows by contrast what entering the covenant means.

כמו כן כל המכניס עצמו לברית הזה זוכה לכנוס בכלל ישראל

In the same measure, anyone who brings himself into this covenant merits to enter into the collective klal of Bnei Yisrael.

Just as casting off the covenant separates a person, joining the covenant lets a person enter the klal of Bnei Yisrael.

וכשנעשין אגודה א' הם נצבים לפני ה'

And when they become one bound bundle, they are "standing" before Hashem.

Once the Jews unite into one bundle, they attain the standing posture of "You are standing before Hashem."

וזה בחי' התפלה אחר ק"ש שנק' עמידה

And this is the aspect of the tefillah that follows the recitation of the Shema, which is called the Amidah (the "standing").

This standing before Hashem is realized in the Amidah, the tefillah said right after Shema, whose very name means "standing."

וכן במדרש מביא כאן זמני התפלה שבאלה הזמנים יכולין להתאסף להתיצב לפני ה'

And likewise the Midrash brings here the appointed times of tefillah, for at these times Bnei Yisrael are able to gather and to stand before Hashem.

The Midrash here lists the fixed times of tefillah, because those set times are when Bnei Yisrael can assemble and stand before Hashem.

ואח"כ כ' פרשת התשובה ע"פ המד' וים רחוקים שערי תפלה פעמים פתוחות פעמים נעולות כמו מקוה והים לעולם פתוח זה שערי תשובה דנצבים היום פי' חז"ל כשם שהיום מאפיל ומאיר כו'

And afterward the Torah writes the passage of teshuvah, in keeping with the Midrash on the verse "and from far-off seas" (Tehillim 65:6): the gates of tefillah are sometimes open and sometimes shut, like a mikveh, whereas the sea is always open — this refers to the gates of teshuvah; for the verse "standing today" (Devarim 29:9) Chazal explained: just as the day darkens and grows light, and so forth.

Following this, the Torah's section on teshuvah is linked to a Midrash: the gates of tefillah, like a mikveh, are open only at certain times, but the gates of teshuvah, like the sea, are always open — and Chazal compare "today" to the day that both darkens and brightens.

והוא בחי' זמני תפלה בכל יום בחי' מקוה פעמים פתוח פעמים נעול

And this is the aspect of the appointed times of tefillah on each and every day — the aspect of a mikveh, which is sometimes open and sometimes shut.

Fixed tefillah is like a mikveh that is available only at set times — sometimes open, sometimes closed.

וכ' יקוו המים מת' השמים א' מקום אחד היינו כשבאים אל בחי' האחדות

And it is written, "Let the waters be gathered from beneath the heavens to one place" (Bereishis 1:9) — namely, when one comes to the aspect of unity.

The gathering of the waters "to one place" hints at the moment a person reaches the aspect of unity through tefillah.

אבל התשובה הוא מעל השמים וע"י התשובה לעולם בכל עת באים להאחדות

But teshuvah is from above the heavens, and through teshuvah one comes to that unity always, at every moment.

Teshuvah, however, draws from a source above the natural order, so it can bring a person to that unity at any moment, without restriction of time.

וב' בחי' אלו תפלה ותשובה הם בחי' ר"ה ויוה"כ ובהם פתיחת ב' השערים על כל השנה:

And these two aspects, tefillah and teshuvah, are the aspect of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and through them is the opening of these two gates for the entire year.

Tefillah and teshuvah correspond to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and through these two days the two gates are opened for the whole year ahead.

Summary: The Sfas Emes reads "You are standing today, all of you" as a daily call: each day, through accepting the yoke of the Kingship of Heaven and Hashem's covenant — chiefly through Shema and its acceptance of reward and punishment — the individual Jews bind themselves into one community and thereby merit to enter the klal of Bnei Yisrael. This unified "standing" before Hashem is expressed in the Amidah, recited at the fixed times of tefillah, which are like a mikveh: open only at set moments. Teshuvah, by contrast, is likened to the sea, whose gates never close, for it draws from a source above the natural order and can bring a person to unity at any time. These two aspects, tefillah and teshuvah, correspond to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, whose two gates are opened to illuminate the entire year.