You are all standing today. (Devarim 29:3)
Why is the parsha of Nitzavim placed immediately after the curses?
When the Jewish people heard the ninety-eight curses, in addition to the forty-nine in Toras Kohanim, their faces turned pale. They said, “Who can possibly withstand these?” Moshe then began to appease them, saying, “You are standing here today.” He was telling them, "You have angered Hashem many times, yet He did not destroy you, and here you are, still existing before Him." (Rashi)
If you are here listening to me speak, then this pasuk is about you. The Torah is telling us that even after all the harsh rebuke and punishment elaborated so starkly in the previous parshah, the Jewish people is still around.
But the real point is brought out in Midrash Tanchuma. It is precisely the tough times that makes us, the Jewish people, so permanent. Unlike the nations of the world, who fall as a result of their suffering, we just get stronger. Because the more hardship the Jewish people endure, the more they daven to Hashem and draw close to Him. Our adversity is actually the secret of our survival. We are iron.
Galus is called כור הברזל – “The iron furnace.”
What does this pasuk mean? No, it’s not about a furnace made of iron. It’s about a furnace that creates iron. When iron ore is mined from the ground, it is covered in rock and dirt. It must be purified by melting it down and beating it. Then, all the waste falls away, leaving the iron pure, without any dross.
This is the natural process of cleansing and purification for so many things. You remove all the extraneous things that have become attached to the desired object, and then its essence is revealed in all its purity. We do the same with wheat. By threshing and beating it, the valuable wheat kernel is extracted from all the chaff and stalks and husks that surround it and cling to it.
This is the purpose of adversity. It is actually a natural process. When a person is smitten, his heart and his true inner self reveal themselves. This idea is expressed in the famous words of the Rambam explaining the principle of כופין אותו עד שיאמר רצוה אני – “Forcing him until he says, ‘I am willing.’”
Since this man who does not want to give his wife a get really does want to be part of the Jewish people – he wants to perform all the mitzvos and stay away from transgressions, and it is only his evil inclination that has overpowered him. Therefore, once he has been struck to the point that his evil inclination is weakened, and he says, “I am willing,” he has thereby divorced of his own free will.
Deep down, we all want to do the right thing. We all wish to draw close to Hashem. We all seek to fulfill His Will. That is our essence.
