This Shabbos, Parshas Nitzavim, marks the final Shabbos of the year 5768. As the last Shabbos of the year, it affords us the opportunity to both reflect on the quality of all the past year’s Shabbosos and to elevate them through our observance this week. It also serves as a sacred moment of preparation for the Yemei HaDin that are fast upon us.

There is a common theme in both the Parshah and its Haftorah which bespeak of the level of preparedness we should be at this juncture. The Haftorah begins with the phrase “Sos asis b’HaShem,” “I will rejoice in my salvation by HaShem”… “K’chatan cohen paer v’kallah tiada kalya,” “as a groom adorned in his finery and as a bride bedecked in her jewelry.” The level of joy at our return to HaShem is so great it can be compared to the joy of a bride and groom.

HaShem responds in kind and states that “U’misos chatan al kallah yasis alaiyich elokaiyich,” “He will rejoice over you the joy of a groom to his bride.” HaShem’s joy with Bnai Yisrael is reciprocal, yet there is a glaring difference – whereas Bnai Yisrael compare their joy to that of a bride and groom, HaShem’s joy is literally that of a groom to his bride. Is there a significance to this difference and if so, what does it teach us?

The answer lies in a deep thought of the Sforno in the Parshah itself. The Parshah summarizes the pitfalls of both the individual and collective rejecting of “din v’cheshbon” and then proceeds to detail the process of teshuva and the rebuilding of the relationship between HaShem and Bnai Yisrael.

Moshe Rabbeinu explains that the apex of this rebuilding comes at the moment that “ki tashuv el HaShem elokecha bichal livavcha u’vichal nafshecha,” “that we return to HaShem with a complete heart and soul.” At that time HaShem will shower us with bounty, because:

“Ki yashuv HaShem lasos alaiyich l’tov kaasher sas al avotecha,” “because HaShem will return to rejoice over you as He rejoiced with your fathers.”

Again, a comparison joy with Bnai Yisrael like the joy with our forefathers. The Ibn Ezra explains that this refers to the generation that will eventually return to Eretz Yisrael and that HaShem will rejoice with them just as He did with the generation that Yehoshua brought into Eretz Yisrael many generations ago.

The Sforno offers a radically different approach to this Pasuk, which will be prefaced with a definition of the Malbim on this Haftorah. The Malbim explains the difference between sosson and simcha. Simcha is the state of inner joy and contentment and sosson is the external manifestation of that simcha. It is possible to have simcha without sosson but there cannot be sosson without simcha.

So, for example, in the tefilla of Yomim Noraim, when we say “simcha l’artzecha v’sosson l’irecha,” it means that the joy celebrated in Yerushalayim, through all the mitzvos, korbanos and avodah that take place there, is an external manifestation of the simcha that envelops all of Eretz Yisrael. The Sforno explains: “Ki yashuv HaShem lasos alaiyich,” HaShem’s sosson is a response to, and a consequence of, HaShem’s satisfaction, HaShem’s simcha, with our complete teshuva. Much of our bounty today, the Sforno elaborates, is a product of the merit of our Avos, as we pray daily, “vzocher chasdei avot u’maivee goel lifnei vinaihem.”

Our Avos, themselves, were possessed of no zechus Avos and HaShem’s sosson with our Avos was on their own merit alone. So too, says the Sforno, when our teshuva is complete and pure, HaShem’s joy in us is direct, in our own merit – “kaasher sas al avotecha,” just as HaShem rejoiced with our Avos Hakedoshim in their own merit.

This, too, is the message of our Haftorah. When Bnai Yisrael can truly feel that “sos asis baHaShem,” that joy becomes the external barometer of our inner connection to HaShem, to the simcha that reflects the complete teshuva to HaShem. When we have truly reached that elevated stage, the parallel of the Sforno is complete and HaShem’s joy is now direct. No longer with a “khof hadimyon,” (the Khof of comparison), no longer like a choson to his kallah- but rather a true direct simcha and sosson of HaShem to Bnai Yisrael.

This, then, should be the goal of our Elul and Yomim Noraim, not merely to ask for forgiveness for our trespasses but rather to elevate ourselves and purify ourselves to the point that we can truly say “sos asis baHaShem” and merit “yasis alecha elokecha.”

Shabbat Shalom.

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