Our calendar of Torah readings is arranged so that certain readings precede specific annual events, and one of the most famous of these scheduling priorities is that Parshat Nitzavim always is read right before Rosh Hashanah. This should come as no surprise because Chapter 30 of Devarim in this reading is called Parshat Teshuva, the section about the repentance process. It definitely is meant to get us ready for the Teshuva season.

When we look at the ten verses of this section, we immediately notice that the big reveal is that all of the warnings from last week’s Torah reading will actually transpire, eventually. As this opening verse informs us: And it will be when all of these things will have transpired, both the blessing and the curse…(Devarim 30:1).

Only after all these historical developments have transpired will you ‘return’ to God. What exactly does this ‘return’ include? Well, that seems to be complicated. The root SHUV appears in various forms seven times in these 10 verses. 

One could make a case (and numerous commentaries do) that each appearance represents another aspect of ‘return’. The physical return to Eretz Yisrael; the spiritual return to Torah values and performance, a return to connection with God, and (according to Rav Hirsch) God will return to you.

Cool! But why did ‘everything’ have to transpire before the return? Couldn’t we just have the blessings and the good times. Why does there seem to be an........

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