Deuteronomy 32:1–32:52
Parshat Ha'azinu
Ha'azinu is the song Moses teaches the people on the last day of his life, calling heaven and earth as witnesses. In poetry it recalls G-d's kindness, foresees the people's forgetting and its consequences, and promises their ultimate redemption. G-d then tells Moses to climb Mount Nevo to see the land he will not enter.
Essays
E-Lights Ha'azinu – The Blessing of Torah Why does the Talmud say the First Temple was destroyed because the people “did not recite the blessing over the Torah”? Recognizing the Divine source of Torah. Parsha Haazinu – Receptivity to Torah The Torah portion Ha’azinu is a song in which Moses first rebukes the people and then showers them with words of consolation. One… Parsha Haazinu – As an Eagle In the future we will gracefully fly like eagles over the waters. This means that we will have the ability to fathom the most esoteric and elusive G-dly knowledge with relative ease. The most profound and heretofore unfathomable levels of Torah knowledge will be available to us. SHUVAH SHUVAH Parsha Haazinu – A Tale of Two Humilities There are two types of leaders. The first sees the outer trappings of power and becomes intoxicated and blinded by this newly found power. The second acquire a greater awareness of G-d in Whose presence they feel their own insignificance. SHUVAH SHUVAH Parsha Haazinu – Closer to Heaven Because we are in many ways feeling the rays of light of the future in the present, we are that much more likely to experience the closeness to heaven that is unique to Moses and is manifest in these Ten Days of Teshuvah than in the past. Today, everybody with relatively minimal effort can access th Parsha Haazinu – Don’t Sell Ourselves Short We have to be brutally honest, and not try to gloss over our faults and transgressions. Finding mitigating circumstances is commendable when judging others. It is the wrong approach when engaging in self-examination and repentance. We must not say to G-d, “I transgressed, but…” We must take full res Parsha Haazinu – Four Ingredients of Teshuvah The most basic requirement for Teshuvah is a resolution for the future. A thief who wishes to repent, must resolve to never steal again. But that resolve is unlikely to endure without the thief truly experiencing remorse and regret for the past, the second component of Teshuvah. SHUVAH SHUVAH Parsha Haazinu – Living in the Present On Yom Kippur we are given a respite from the obsession with the past and the anxiety over the future. We can live fully in the here and now, if only for a 24 hour period. To show how much we savor these precious moments, we sound the shofar at the end of the day and declare “Next year in Jerusalem! Parsha Haazinu – Rain or Sukkah The Sukkah conveys an overarching message of faith and trust in G-d exclusively. The Sukkah reorients our egocentric way of thinking into a G-d centric manner of thinking. The Sukkah reminds us of the way our own understanding and our own initiatives are inherently limited. The Sukkah is the antidot Parsha Haazinu – Return to Returning In the Age of Moshiach we will fully experience all of the qualities and all of the accomplishments of the past. The difference between the past and the future, however, is that in the past the world’s qualities were incompatible with progress. In the future, we will recapture the innocence of the p Parsha Haazinu – Repent Ye Non Sinners There are two levels of Teshuvah The lower level of Teshuvah with its focus on the remorse that we must feel for our past invariably evokes feelings of sadness and discontent. The higher level, by contrast, with its focus on our soul re- connecting with G-d, is punctuated with joy. It is akin to the Parsha Haazinu – The Last Commandment We are situated between the last moments of Galus-exile and the beginning of the Final Redemption. Because we are the “bridge” generation, we may experience conflicting and often diametrically opposing emotions. We can view the unfolding of events through the shaded glasses of Galus which make every Parsha Haazinu – Three Generations-Three Dimensions All areas of Torah knowledge are Divine. They nevertheless differ in the way they reflect the Divine. When one studies criminal law the mind is engaged with criminal behavior. We need to be reminded periodically that we are studying G-d’s wisdom. Chassidic thought, which describes the relationship b Parsha Haazinu – Tikkun Olam? In the literature of Kabbalah, Tikkun refers to the spiritual and G-dly sparks that are imprisoned in the physical world. All physical objects contain powerful sparks of holiness but are incapable of expressing themselves. By performing a Mitzvah, which invariably involves a physical object, we libe