Rabbi Pesach Siegel
Moshe Rabeinu, in taking his leave from the Bnei Yisriel prior to his passing, addresses the assemblage. He says to them, "You are a monument (nitzavim), today, all of you, in front of Hash-em your G-d, the heads of your tribes, elders, enforcers, all men of Israel, children, women, converts, and slaves."
The purpose of the gathering, to forge a "bris" (covenant) between the Bnei Yisroel and Hash-em.
Rashi comments that the gathering was an orderly one. First came the important leaders then the rest of the Bnei Yisroel. Why is the holding of an orderly convocation integral to the formation of a bris?
Furthermore, what is meant by the term "nitzavim", a monument. The simple meaning is that they were standing, but to convey that idea the term "omdim" would have been sufficient.
Rashi in perek 29 posuk 12 comments on the proximity between this parsha and the rebuke of last week's parsha. Upon hearing the 100 minus 2 curses that would befall those who failed to uphold the Torah, besides the additional 49 curses in parshas b'chukosai, the faces of the Bnei Yisroel turned green. They said, "who can withstand these calamities?" Moshe Rabeinu comforted them by saying, "You are standing as a monument today. As much as you have brought Hash-em to anger, he still has not consumed you. He darkens and brings light, and so in the future will he continue to shine light upon you. It is the very curses that give you continuity and cause you to be a monument in front of him.
Again we see the connection between a covenant with Hash-em and being a monument. The curses are what brings this happening about. They are the cause of the light of the future.
In parshas devorim (perek 1 posuk 22) the Torah says "Vatikrivun eilai kulchem", you all approached me. Rashi quotes the Sifri, when requesting from Moshe Rabeinu to send the meraglim (spies) they approached him without any semblance of order. Youths pushed in front of their elders. As opposed to the gathering of this week's parsha.
Harav Yochanan Zweig, shlita (Rosh Hayeshiva of Talmudic University of Florida) explains the connection between not respecting one's elders and the sin of the meraglim. For four hundred years it was passed down from father to son the ultimate destiny of the Jewish people.
