Individual Punishment

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1. Punishment of the Individual and of the Nation

   Parashat Nitzavim

   Dr. Mordechai Sabato

   Parashat Ki Tavo describes kelalot - the curses – from a public perspective; the unique innovation of Parashat Nitzavim is that the curse can also relate to the individual, the family, and the tribe. The Torah therefore emphasizes that he covenant relates to and includes each and every individual, in any status and from any time. This emphasis negates the ability to escape both the covenant and the curse.

2. Yehezkel’s Prophetic Mission

   Dr. Tova Ganzel

   Yehezkel is told at the outset that he is being sent to the nation to convey God’s word, for them to know that a prophet was among them before the Destruction. But the people dwelling in Jerusalem – like those in Babylon – will not change their ways. The role of the prophet is not to bring about repentance but rather to convey God’s word and thereby justify the imminent punishment. Therefore when he is commanded to eat the scroll, he is ambivalent. Just as the scroll contains lamentations, with no hint of redemption, so too Yehezkel’s prophecy includes, initially, only the coming of the Destruction.

   Nonetheless, there is a message that the prophet addresses to each individual in his generation: the Temple is going to be destroyed, and the nation will be exiled from its land, but every person bears personal responsibility for his own fate, because even at this most bitter time there will be those who will die and those who will be saved. Every individual is responsible for his own actions. Yehezkel must therefore carry out his mission even if the nation’s fate is already sealed.