Deuteronomy 29:9-31:30
“Deja-Vu vs. Vuja-De”
If a Deja-Vu is finding something familiar in a place that is unfamiliar, what is a Vuja-De? Finding something new in a familiar place, of course. I learned about this cool concept in a reading for my Clergy Leadership Incubator Class by Adam Grant, in his book, Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World and thought it was the perfect way to describe High Holy Days. In our “turn it, turn it, everything is in it” religion, we continually come back to the same place, hoping that in doing so we will find something different.
This week’s double Torah portion, Nitzavim-Vayelech, describes our annual pilgrimage to Mount Sinai to receive the teachings of Torah along with the hundreds of generations of Jews who have come before us. As the text tells us: “Not with you alone will I make this covenant and oath, but with those who stand with us before the Lord our God, and also with those whom are not here with us” (Dueteronomy 29:13-14).
The rabbis tell us “those whom are not here with us” refer to all the Jews not yet alive, like us. We are there, with Moses and God, with all of the people both alive and dead, every year, over and over again. Like a Groundhog Day scenario, we continually come back to the same place on the same day, to receive the same Torah. What gives?
It is only by coming back to the exact same place year sfter year after year, that we can truly see how much we have changed. Hence the Vuja-De.
But, this year, because of Covid, we also get Deja Vu. The place is different and yet strangely familiar. Perhaps, it will give us one more way to explore this very strange time we are living in. Both Deja-Vu and Vuja-De exist simultaneously, creating a truly unique perspective for the New Jewish Year. May it be a great one.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex
Last Updated on 09/10/2020 by wpadm