Nitzavim-Vayelech will always be read on the Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah. In this portion we learn about and can connect to something that is certainly not religiosity or commandments of God, but is rather the kind of energy that would permit us to exercise complete control over our situations in life.
The Zohar says that the reason there are negative, chaotic conditions is because we, ourselves, create negative energy that affects our minds, our health. There is no way to escape it, not even by going to live on a remote island. We are all contaminated. The only option is to make the presence of the Lightforce felt. This is the entire purpose of the study of Kabbalah.
We are either reinforced with sufficient Lightforce of God, so that darkness will not penetrate our lives, or we can rely on our accountant or lawyers or physicians.
Next week, we have the two days of Rosh Hashanah that are going to determine the entire next year’s proceedings, yet we hang on to the ego that says, “I am the master of my destiny.” However, those of us who have come to grips with the reality that we are not in control can become connected and partner with the Lightforce of God so that our very essence is the Lightforce of God.
The Zohar makes it clear that Rosh Hashanah was never meant to be a Jewish thing. Rosh Hashanah is for all of humanity. It is the day when Adam was created. On these two days, we can execute and administer the kabbalistic tools and technology that were presented to mankind, albeit concealed in the Zohar and the Writings of Rav Isaac Luria.
The Zohar explains that God did not abandon us, and at this time of year, with the portions of Vayelech-Nitzavim, we can retrieve our God-given birthright to prepare ourselves on a very physical level, to explore our life and eject ourselves from the field of Satan that we have been playing in all year, weeding out the chaos that has overtaken our lives. We have an opportunity with this effusion of Light to level the playing field. But it will not be different unless we make an active effort to clear our individual field, and proceed on to the next year.
The Zohar explains that in this section we have an unusual saying that is, in fact, a most powerful expression of the Lightforce of God: “The secret things belong to the Lord, our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us…” There are eleven dots on top of the letters in the phrase “things that are revealed,” and we know the number eleven is a system by which we can eliminate Satan, and that if we eliminate Satan, we eliminate the root of chaos. The Zohar says that although physicality controls civilization, our consciousness can be removed from this physical reality and reach the highest places of the Upper Realms.
God does not punish us, we punish ourselves. Ignorance is not knowing there is a technology to set our own playing field, which could and should be without the presence of chaos. Kabbalah and the Zohar is what this civilization needs; this knowledge must reach everyone.
We are going to infuse these eleven dots into the physical reality; they are the protective custody of the Lightforce of God, an opportunity that comes only once a year on the Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah.
In Deuteronomy 30:19 it says, “I set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse, therefore choose life, that you may live.” Is it not obvious that you live, if you choose life? Many of the commentators struggle with this because not everyone who is alive is necessarily living. Some who are alive are living a nightmare. Therefore, the Zohar is telling us that living does not guarantee being alive, does not guarantee that we will truly live. May we all merit the understanding and the consciousness that this reading can bring us.