This week is a double torah reading and features the two shortest readings in the entire torah which have 40 and 30 verses in each Parsha respectively.

The first of the two readings is Parshah Nitzavim, it is introduced as Moshe makes a covenant with the nation when entering the land, and the parshah continues with one of the main theme’s for the month of Ellul, ‘Teshuva’ (repentance), where Moshe promised that if the Jewish nation do Teshuva while in Exile, Hashem would redeem them, Hashem always listens to the sincere prayers of the Jewish people and one of the first steps in doing Teshuva is to have regret on the actions the person had previously made, there were countless individuals throughout the Tenach who did Teshuav including the first born of the twelve tribes, including, Reauven (after moving his fathers bed to his own mothers tent), the Jews after commiting the atrocity of the Golden Calf, Rachav after she commited years of Harlotry did teshuva and many other people throughout biblical history, there is even a concept of an individual who performs multiple transgressions and then has sincere regret in his prior actions, his original transgressions maybe transformed into mitzvahs.

The Parshah of Nitzavim is concluded as Moshe emphasizes that by keeping the Torah a person acquires eternal life.