Episode Details

What does it mean to enter into a bris with Hashem?

On the final Shabbos of the year, Parshas Nitzavim gives us the hachana for Rosh Hashanah: אתם נצבים היום כולכם. Stand up. Stand together. Not because we're all the same. Not because we even understand one another. But because every Jew has something that completes another Jew.

And then the Torah tells us why we're standing there: לעברך בברית ה׳ אלקיך. To enter into a covenant with Hashem.

A bris, the Rebbe teaches, is what two people establish when their love is strong so that the relationship will remain even when there are reasons for it not to. It's a love l'ma'alah mita'am vada'as—beyond logic and reason.

It's the deepest thing we're longing to hear from Hashem on Rosh Hashanah, and the deepest thing we want to be able to say back:

My love for You will not end.

Rav Shlomo Katz and the chevra of Shirat David learn how Elul clears away everything that has covered over that love, why our relationship with other Jews is part of the covenant itself, and how standing together can awaken a sweetness from Hashem that goes beyond what any of us deserve. 
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00:00 Opening Niggun
03:11 The Final Shabbos of the Year
06:57 Nitzavim and Rosh Hashanah
08:42 How to Enter Rosh Hashanah
10:25 Why We Need Every Jew
15:25 Renewing Our Covenant With Hashem
20:00 My Love For You Will Not End
26:41 Elul Reveals the Love Beneath the Sin
28:29 Why Do We Need a Bris?
30:12 A Love Beyond Reason
31:47 Why Rosh Hashanah Needs Every Kind of Jew
33:17 The Shofar: From Judgment to Mercy
35:34 Final Blessings