Spending time with children (and adults too!) provides ample opportunity to witness people navigating rules. Whether a child wants one more dessert even though they already had their allotment, or an adult drives a bit above the speed limit (to name only a couple examples), each seems to be acting like a particular rule does not apply to them. But the Israelites lack the grounds to even wonder if the rules apply, though they do not always follow them. In our parsha this week, Moses seems to anticipate that question and tells them, “It was not with our ancestors that Adonai made this covenant, but with us, the living, every one of us who is here today.” Moses is teaching that the laws of Torah were not simply given to our ancestors but are given to each of us alive today. The instructions are for us. It is up to us how we choose to follow them.
