Nitzavim, Deuteronomy 29:9–30:20
Receiving in Order to Give
Yael Splansky
“You stand this day, all of you, before the Eternal your God ... to enter into the covenant of the Eternal your God ...” (Deuteronomy 29:9–11). Parashat Nitzavim is a retelling of the exchange of giving and receiving that took place at Mount Sinai.
Kabbalah is the art and discipline of “receiving.” The modern kabbalist Rabbi Yehuda Ashlagtaught that there are four ways of giving and receiving:
The first way is “to receive in order to receive.” This is what a baby or a very young child does. This is what an egotist of any age does. Like the baby birds with desperately open mouths larger than their bodies, there are times when we are so needy, nothing and no one else matters. The immediate- and end-goal are one and the same—to get.
The second way is “to give in order to receive.” This is conventional morality. Most interactions between ordinary good people fall into this category. For example, I give my neighbor a Christmas present each year. Why? So he’ll continue to keep an eye on my house when I’m out of town? So he won’t complain when I let the weeds grow too tall? So he’ll speak well of me in the neighborhood? “Giving in order to receive” makes the world livable.
Last Edited by judy@jvillagenetwork.com at 9/10/2012 1:01 PM
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