Choices

This is the d’var Torah I delivered at Congregation Neveh Shalom on Saturday, September 5, 2026.

Choices, choices. Chocolate or vanilla. Window or aisle. There are some choices in life that are wonderfully easy. Stay up for one more episode or take the responsible action of going to bed. Ok, maybe that one isn’t quite so easy.

But then there are the choices that actually shape our lives. I’m not talking about choosing between things that are obviously good and obviously evil. Those are rare. More often, it’s between two things we value. Do I speak up, knowing I might hurt someone, or stay quiet, knowing silence has a cost? Do I protect a relationship or hold firm to a principle? Do I choose what is comfortable now or what might create something meaningful later? The hardest choices are difficult precisely because there is something important on both sides.

That is where we meet Moses this week in the combined portions of Nitzavim and Vayelech. Israel stands on the edge of the Promised Land, and Moses stands at the end of his life. He gathers the entire community and reminds them that Torah is not beyond their reach: “It is not in heaven.” It is close to us, “in your mouth and in your heart to do it.” And then comes one of Torah’s most famous declarations: “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life.”

Is it me, or is this the most obvious choice ever? Who would choose death over life? Who would choose curse over blessing?

Well, the Torah could be asking a harder question. Not simply, “Do you want to live?” but, “What kind of life are you choosing to build?”

Because we choose our lives incrementally. We build them through hundreds, maybe thousands, of decisions that may not feel monumental in the moment. We choose whether to show up. Whether to listen. Whether to forgive. Whether to apologize. Whether to make room for another person. Whether to stand by our values when doing so costs us something.

And Vayelech reminds us that even Moses must make a painful choice. He cannot cross into the land. He must hand leadership to Joshua and trust that the story can continue without him at its center. Sometimes choosing life means holding on. Sometimes it means letting go. Sometimes it means recognizing that our responsibility is not to control the outcome, but to choose our next step with integrity.

As we approach Rosh Hashanah, perhaps that is the invitation of Nitzavim-Vayelech. We are not being asked to make perfect choices. Life is far too complicated for that. We are being asked to make choices that add substance to our lives.

So this week, don’t stop at “What do I want?” or “What is easiest?” Ask: Which choice helps me become the person I want to be? Which choice adds blessing? Which choice creates a life worth living?

U’vacharta bachayim. Choose life. Again and again and again.