Nevertheless, nowhere is it indicated that the covenant between God and Israel will be broken or ended. There will be punishment galore for violating the covenant but the covenant itself remains untouched, viable and binding for all eternity. It is this understanding of the covenant that makes the situation and history of the Jewish people so unique and singular.

 

Deep down in our inner souls we are all aware that we are bound to one another and to our Creator by this unchanging and unbreakable covenant. It haunts us in our daily and national lives. It is the unseen hand of our diplomatic and foreign policy. It alone explains the survival of the Jewish people throughout all of the vicissitudes of our long and painful history.

 

It alone explains why there are currently well over six million Jews living in the State of Israel in spite of all the inherent superficial problems and dangers that this poses. We may, in weak moments, not live up to our obligations under the covenant, but we have never truly forsaken it nor believed that it could somehow be annulled or canceled.

 

The reinforcement of this idea by Moshe in his final oration to the Jewish people is meant to reassert the timelessness and effectiveness of this covenant. This message reverberates in our ears and hearts to this very day.

 

Usually, covenants and contracts are mutually dependent. A breach of the covenant by one of the parties almost automatically frees the other party from its obligations. However God's covenant with Israel is an exception to this rule. We have breached the covenant many times but we are all aware that somehow the Lord is still bound on His end of the deal.

 

This is implicit in the words of the prophet Malachi that “I, the Lord, have not changed, and you, the people of Israel have not been destroyed.” God, so to speak, will not backtrack on His end of the covenant. Therefore it should be apparent that we cannot avoid the consequences of that covenant.

 

We are bound to the covenant because the Lord God, the other party, will not allow us to withdraw from its obligations and consequences. It is interesting to note that in spite of centuries of denial by Christianity and Islam, much of the world still believes that there is a covenant between God and the Jewish people.

 

This belief reflects itself in many different ways and attitudes (not all of them positive) of the non-Jewish world to the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Nevertheless, the instinct of humanity reaffirms that the covenant referred to in this week's Torah reading is binding and effective, demanding and challenging. We should also be aware of this truth.

 

Shabbat shalom

 

Rabbi Berel Wein