Parshat Nitzavim-Vayeilech פָּרָשַׁת נִצָּבִים־וַיֵּלֶךְ

Moshe tells us that not only did the covenant with Hashem include all of those who stood at Sinai, but it extends to all descendants of those who experienced the Revelation at Sinai (29:14).  This would indicate that the covenant was binding upon all future generations who were not even there.  This poses an obvious logical problem.  The Midrash indicates to us that all Jewish souls were present at the time of the beginning of the Torah, even those who had not been placed in physical bodies at that time.

Therefore, all of us were actually there because our souls were in existence back at that time.  The covenant was established not with individuals but with the nation of Israel, and just as the nation of Israel is eternal, so, too, the covenantal relationship with the Almighty is eternal.  Anybody who is part of the nation of Israel is part of Knesset Yisrael, which means that that individual is automatically included within the covenantal relationship.  It is the eternality of the nation of Israel that in turn obligates every future Jewish soul who comes into this world to obey and adhere to the binding relationship with Hashem.

At the end of the first Aliyah, Moshe says: “The hidden things belong to Hashem our God, and the revealed things are for us and our descendants forever, to observe all the words of this Torah” (29:28).  The Ktav Sofer noted that our Sages relate that there are two possible times for salvation: one which is hidden from us, and one which is revealed.  Moshe was prophesying about the long and bitter exile which the Jewish people were destined to endure, the conclusion of which was not revealed to the prophets.  This hidden fact is known only to Hashem.  
However, there is another possible time of salvation and that one is revealed to us and our descendants.  The time of that salvation is brought about by the nation of Israel observing all the words of the Torah.  This is similar to the rabbinic interpretation of the words of Isaiah when we read recently in a haftorah that Hashem will redeem us; He will hasten it in its time.  If we do nothing it will come in its proper time.  If we observe Torah as a nation we will therefore enable God to hasten the time of redemption.  One time of redemption is in our hands to create while the second time of redemption is in God’s hands alone.

Haftorah Nitzavim:

This haftorah is the last of the seven haftorahs of consolation spanning Tisha B’Av to Rosh Hashanah. The prophet Isaiah compares the salvation of Israel to the earth that gives forth its plants, the seeds of which disintegrate in the soil and then sprout, renewed and better than they were originally; for the new is generally better than the old.  Moreover, from one seed emanates many kernels.  So is it with Israel.

We have been in exile for thousands of years; we have been persecuted; and many have perished.  Yet when redemption arrives, we will multiply to many times their former number and increase in greatness and in glory.  Isaiah then compares us to a garden in which various seeds are sown, each one maturing in another season.  So will Israel experience many benefits, one following the other.  

• These miracles will take place before all the nations.  
• The nations will witness them and recognize that God's benefits to Israel are greater than any benefits in the world.  

When all this occurs, Jerusalem will rejoice with Hashem and so will all its people.