Lo Bashamayim Hi – “It Is Not in Heaven” - 9/18/25

This week’s Torah portion, Nitzavim, comes at just the right moment. We are nearing the end of the Jewish year, and the portion speaks about both accountability and hope.

One of my favorite verses in the entire Torah is here: “Lo bashamayim hi”—“It is not in heaven” (Deut. 30:12). The Torah is not something distant or untouchable. It is in our hands, a living document for us to interpret, reinterpret, and live by in every generation. The rabbis of the Talmud used this very verse to establish that Jewish law is decided not by voices from the heavens, but by the reasoning and debate of human beings. In later centuries, commentators such as Nachmanides (Ramban) taught that this verse affirms that the Torah’s teachings are meant to be accessible—that each of us has the capacity to understand and live by them.

This message feels especially powerful at this season. Nitzavim also speaks of the aftermath of curses: of people looking back and asking what happened to Israel. The answer is that the people strayed from God’s ways. But then the text pivots: if the people return to God—if they do teshuvah—God will restore them and bless them. In other words, there is always a way back.

These two teachings belong together. If Torah is “not in heaven” but entrusted to us, then teshuvah is also in our hands. Sometimes we feel powerless in the face of the forces that shape our world or the habits that shape our lives. Yet this portion reminds us: we are never without agency. We can always return, reorient, and choose a different path.

That is, after all, the work of the High Holidays. To look honestly at the path behind us, to consider the road ahead, and to trust that we have the ability to change direction where it is needed. The Torah is not in heaven—it is here, with us, in our learning, our actions, and our choices.

As we enter these final days of the year, may we feel the empowerment of these words. May we carry the confidence that we can shape our lives and our community for blessing in the year to come.

-Rabbi Hannah Wallick