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Subject: Parshat Haazinu
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PARASHAT HA'AZINU
by Rav Ezra Bick
The Writing of the 'Song'
As Moshe completes his proclamation of the command of
Hakhel, God instructs him to summon Yehoshua and to stand
with him at the Tent of Meeting in order to receive His
word. As the two listen attentively, God spells out in
ominous language the future infidelity of the people, their
inevitable descent into idolatry, their abrogation of the
Covenant of the Torah, and the portentous prospect of Divine
inaccessibility: "I will surely hide My face on that day
because of the wickedness that they have done, for they have
turned to other gods." (Devarim 31:18). The testimony to
that eventuality, as well as the eternal hope that the
people will one day return, is embodied in the twice-stated
injunction that follows: "Now therefore write this Song, and
teach it to the people of Israel so that they know it be
heart, in order that this Song shall serve as My witness
against them. For when I bring them to the land that I
swore to their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and
honey, and they shall eat, drink and wax fat, then they
shall turn to other gods and worship them, thus abrogating
My covenant to anger Me. When many great tribulations and
troubles befall them, then this Song shall serve as witness,
for it will never be forgotten from among their
descendants." (Devarim 31:19-21).
A number of salient themes are stated in this critical
passage. Yehoshua is about to assume leadership of the
people, and Moshe will die. The former will successfully
bring them into the land and they will settle it and enjoy
its bounty, but many will be the dangers that lurk in its
verdant valleys and on its terraced hilltops. The
widespread idolatry of the Canaanites, its alluring and
licentious rites bereft of any higher responsibilities, its
polytheistic relativism numbingly soothing in its dearth of
any ethical demands, will prey on the people of Israel, and
they will slowly succumb to its spells. Drunk with material
success and excess, they will embrace the corrupt worship
and the vacuous values of their erstwhile foes. The holy
and precious covenant struck with the God of Israel, their
singular destiny to be His treasured nation and to serve as
an exemplar to all of humanity, will be discarded and
forgotten. God Himself will withdraw His providential care
and their fate will be no different than that of the
inhabitants of any other small and insignificant country:
almost certain extinction.
God, however, provides the people with the possibility of
recovery, the glimmer of restoration and the hope of return.
The people of Israel will maintain a tenuous hold on human
history, to survive and to one day fulfill their mission, as
long as a remnant remembers the 'Song' and is able to
transmit it further across the generations. There is much
discussion among the commentaries concerning the identity of
this 'Song', and most see it as a reference to next week's
Torah reading, the Song of 'Haazinu', Moshe's eloquent and
poetic outline of Jewish history. That poem's resonant
words portend Israel's national success inevitably followed
by their abrogation of the Covenant, their subsequent exile,
dispersion, and dreadful torment among the nations, until
such time as Israel finally remembers its exalted calling.
The Song of Haazinu then concludes with the promise of the
people's eventual vindication, as God metes out justice to
their oppressors and restores them to their land. It is not
difficult to see how their safekeeping of such a startling
vision, borne out exactly by the unfolding events of their
history, might help sustain a people, even in the absence of
their posseany other meaningful connection to the very
heritage that gave rise to it.
As we all know, Ha'azinu is "shira," a
song. Unlike the other songs in the Torah,
which fulfill a historical purpose - the
Jews really did sing a song of rejoicing
after the splitting of the sea, Ha'azinu is
a "song on demand" - God told Moshe to
compose the song. One simple question -
why? Or, in other words, what is the meaning
of a "song" in the context of Moshe's
farewell speeches to the Jewish people?
A. Witnessing
First, we have to understand what is the
basic theme of Ha'azinu. I think it is fair
to say that the basic theme of "shirat ha-
yam" (the song of the sea) is praise of God,
as a response to the miracle. This is
the standard meaning of shira, as a
halakhic concept, in general - one
utters shira after a great miracle of
redemption (hallel). But clearly, Ha'azinu
does not have that character, both by an
even superficial internal text reading, and
in the absence of a miracle to which the
song is in response.
In fact, the Torah explicitly and
repeatedly defines the nature of Ha'azinu.
And I shall surely hide My face on that
day, because of all the evil that (the
people) have done, for they have
turned to other gods. Therefore ("ve
ata"), write for yourselves this song,
and teach it to the Jews to place in
their mouths, in order that THIS SONG
BE A WITNESS FOR ME AGAINST THE JEWS
(31,18-19).
And when many evils and troubles shall
befall them, then THIS SONG SHALL
ANSWER THEM AS A WITNESS, for it
shall not be forgotten from their
seed... (31,21).
Gather unto me all the elders of your
tribes and your officers, and I shall
speak in their ears these things, and I
SHALL CALL THE HEAVENS AND EARTH AS
WITNESSES AGAINST THEM; for I know
that after my death you shall become
corrupt, and leave the way which I
have commanded you... (31,28-29).
(Accordingly, the opening lines of
Ha'azinu "Listen heavens, and I shall
speak; let the earth hear the words of my
mouth" - are not merely a poetic opening, but
represent the crux of the song - a
calling of witnesses who will be able to
testify when the time comes.)
The song is to be a future witness,
connected to the evil deeds of future
generations, and to the evil that will
befall them as a result. We can now
define our questions more exactly:
1. What is the purpose or need for a
"witness?" To what does the song witness?
2. Why is it in the form of a song?
3. What is the difference between the prose
"tokhecha" of Parashat Ki Tavo, which
spells out exactly what will be the
terrible consequences of not following the
Torah, and the "shira" of Ha'azinu?
B. Song
What is the difference between a
situation described in prose and one
presented in song? Let us examine a very
suggestive midrash.
Chizkiyahu should have said shira over
the fall of Sancheriv, as is written,
"But Chizkiyahu did not render
according to the benefit he had
received, for his heart has lifted
up"(Divrei Ha-yamim II 32,25). We know
Chizkiyahu was a righteous king, and yet
it is written that his heart has lifted
up (haughty)? It means his heart was
haughty and did not say shira.
Yeshayahu came to him and said: "Sing to
God" (Yesh. 12,5). He answered:
Why? [Yeshayahu answered]: "For He has
done mighty things" (ibid.).
[Chizkiyahu] said to him: This is
already "known throughout the land"
(ibid.). R. Levi said: Chizkiyahu
said, Why should we say retell the
greatness and miracles of God, when this
is already well-known from one end of
the world to the other. Has not the
sun stood still in the center of the
heaven, and God's miracles were seen
from one of the world to the other.
(Shir HaShirim Raba, 4, "Iti
Mimlvanon," 3)
(The gemara in Sanhedrin 94a states
that for this reason Chizkiyahu was not
declared Mashiach).
Chizkiyahu, the personality whose heart
is not able to say shira, does not see why
the well-known historical facts of God's
miracles need to be repeated every time God
performs another one. In other words, shira
does not carry any new information. Prose
states the timeless truth. Shira
expresses the truth of this particular
second, the immediate reaction to the unique
moment in history. To the prosaic eye, there
is nothing essentially new in the downfall
of Sancheriv that was not already
demonstrated in the drowning of Par'o. To
the shira personality, the defeat of
Sancheriv requires an immediate reaction,
for the truth of this moment is unique.
Shira is spontaneous, prose is eternal.
The Tokhecha in Ki Tavo expressed the
timeless truth of the covenant between God
and the Jewish people. It was a BRIT - these
are the conditions by which you are My
people and I am your God. There is a law
that decrees that if you abandon God, you
will be punished, by sword, disease, and
exile. To this, Ha'azinu has nothing to add.
Ha'azinu is shira, though a very
unusual one. It is written not for the Jews
of the desert generation. It is written for
"when many evils and troubles shall befall
them, THEN this song shall answer them as
a witness" (31,21). Today, you read it and
study it only so that it should be ready
"in their mouths" (31,19), so that "it will
not be forgotten from their seed" (31,21). At
that future time, this song will suddenly
become terribly relevant - it will then
be the WITNESS who comes to testify.
Ha'azinu is a case of prepared and
studied spontaneity.
Notice that though Ha'azinu, like the
rest of Sefer Devarim, is a speech of Moshe,
here there is an explicit indication that it
is composed by God and not by Moshe
himself. True, it does not say, "Vayedaber
HaShem el Moshe leimor." Moshe says to the
Leviim that "I will call the heaven and the
earth to testify" (31,28). The shira itself
is in first person, at least at the
beginning "Listen heavens and I will
speak." But this is preceded by the a
command of God to Moshe: "God said to Moshe,
you shall rest with your fathers, and this
people shall rise and whore after the
foreign gods of the land.... Now write
THIS SONG for yourselves and teach it to the
Jews to place in their mouths, so that this
song be a witness for Me against the Jews"
(31, 16-19). This is immediately followed by
the statement that "Moshe wrote THIS SONG ON
THAT DAY, and taught it to the Jews" (31,22).
The song THIS SONG - is something already
existing in some sense when God speaks to
Moshe.
Had Moshe composed the song, it would
have been the song of THAT DAY. The "Song
of Sea" was song "THEN" (AZ yashir Moshe).
Ha'azinu is the song of some future
moment. God then has to write it and it is
taught to the Jews, so that when it will
suddenly reach its magical moment, its one
second of destiny, it will spring forth to
testify AT THAT MOMENT. It is a song that
exists in prophecy from ancient times, but
whose moment of life is in the future.
What then is the meaning of that
special song, that testimony, at that
moment? If we examine the content of
Ha'azinu, it is not different in
outline than the Tokhecha. It says that
you abandoned God, so you were punished.
If I were Chizkiyahu, I would say that there
is nothing new here. The difference is
not in the dry content, but in something
else. What is that something else?
C. Witness
In God's introduction to the need for
the shira in last week's parasha, we find
the following verses (Notice the specific
time references - THAT DAY! - the brit of Ki
Tavo, you will remember, was contracted on
THIS DAY, a phrase repeated over and over
again in Ki Tavo, Nitzavim, and Vayelekh):
God said to Moshe, you shall rest with
your fathers, and this people shall
rise and whore after the foreign
gods of the land to where he is coming
in its midst, and he will abandon me and
transgress the covenant which I made
with him.
An My anger shall burn ON THAT DAY, and
I shall abandon them, and shall hide MY
face from them, and they shall be
devoured, and many evils and troubles
will find them; And he will say on THAT
DAY: it is because my God is not in my
midst that these evils have found me.
And I will hide My face on THAT DAY,
because of all the evil that he have don
for he has turned to other gods.
Therefore (Ve-ata), write this
song foryourselves... as a witness
against the Jews. (31,1619)
Why does God say that the Jews will
state that "because God is not in my midst
that all these evils have found me?" Off
hand, this sounds like an expression of
repentance. The people recognize that their
troubles are because of their poor
relationship with God. But if so, the
verse is out of place. In context, the
verses describe the sin and the consequence,
continuing on with "I will hide my face."
There is no hint of repentance anywhere in
these sections. The summary verse of what the
Jews have done is that they "turned to other
gods."
I would like to suggest that the
verse does not express repentance but
blame - it is true, the people say, that
we have problems, but that is God's fault,it
is because HE HAS ABANDONED US. This
statement is an accusation, against God.
In response, God brings witnesses, the
song, the heavens and earth, to rebut the
accusation - your troubles are because YOU
have abandoned God.
Objectively and outwardly, there
is not much difference between God
abandoning the Jews and the Jews abandoning
God, other than the question of who did
what first. We all know that in questions
like this it is more a matter of
interpretation than bald facts. The song is
designed to teach enlightenment rather than
facts, to lead to true understanding rather
than a broader knowledge.
D. The Contents of Ha'azinu
This explains the most obvious
difference between the Ha'azinu and the
tokhecha. Ha'azinu is based on experience
(future experience, for the most part, in
relation to the Jews of the desert), rather
than theory or rational explanation. There
is a difference between comprehending (and
believing) facts that are explained to us,
and the understanding that comes from
personal experience. Ha'azinu contains
primarily a recapitulation of Jewish
experience and history - "Remember the days
of old, understand the years of generations"
(32,7). In Ki Tavo, the theory of the
covenant is laid out and the Jews say Amen -
they accept it in their heads. But God says,
and Moshe repeats, that He knows that after
Moshe's death they will be corrupted. Only
after the entire cycle of mutual abandonment
will they be able to truly understand, from
within their own long personal experience,
the truth of the eternal theory of Ki Tavo.
That is when the song will spring to
life. The song appeals not to the
intellect, but to the heart - "Do you do this
to God, you foolish people and not wise, is
He not your father who fashioned you, He
made you and established you" (32,6). The
song is meant not to make you feel obligated,
but to feel BAD, to feel foolish, like one
feels when one wakes up and realizes that he
has wasted his life, and all the things that
seemed important were foolish and worthless.
There is, in Vayelekh and Ha'azinu, a
feeling that we can only describe as a sense
of frustration. God knows that the Jews
will be corrupted - and it is as though
there is nothing He can do about it now. He
has explained all He can, executed the brit,
warned them, shown them. But God knows that
experience is larger and deeper than
explanation. The shira waits, waits for a
time when it will be right, not because
there is some new idea there that the Jews
were not intellectually ready for, but
because while ideas are eternal and
unchanging, the depth dimension of truth is
part of time and experience. Only when the
fullness of despair and life are reached
intheir cycle will the song become a witness
rather than a prophecy.
E. Abandonment and Presence
There is one further aspect of a song.
If I claim or explain that God is present
in the Jewish people, my claim does not
change the facts. The Jews said - God has
abandoned us. God answers, in Vayelekh,
that He has (indeed) hidden His face
(31,19). Is that confirmation or rebuttal of
the people's claim?
Ha'azinu has one element, at the end of
the shira, that is lacking in the
tokhecha. It is a kind of consolation,
but differs from the consolation that
appears, for instance, at the end of the
tokhecha of Bechukotai. God says, in effect,
that the enemies of the Jews will be
punished, and He will avenge His people.
Since Ha'azinu does not contain the
promise of repentance, there can be no
promise of redemption. That is not the
point, and would only conflict with the
purpose of eliciting understanding of the
terrible waste and destruction of history.
The shira has the ability to demonstrate that
God IS close to the Jews, even when they
sinned - not by denying the facts that He
has left them to their enemies, but by
showing, by eliciting the feeling, that
His presence exists even in such times.
How can one pursue a thousand, and
two put ten thousand to flight, if not
that their Rock has sold them, and
God given them over.... By Me is found
vengeance and payment, for when their
legs will fail, for the day of their
grief is near, and the future comes
quickly. For when God shall judge His
people, and repent Himself for His
servants, when he sees that the hand is
helpless, and there is none shut up or
left.... Rejoice nations with His
people, for He will avenge the blood
of His servants, and return vengeance
to His oppressors, and will render
atonement to His land, His people.
(32,30-43).
In a seamless, almost indistinguishable
manner, the song moves from punishment to
atonement. Indeed, the commentators are
unclear where the switch begins - see Rashi
32,35 and 43. There is no break in this case
- it is not, as in Bechukotai, that AFTER the
punishment there will come repentance, you
will change your ways and God will then
remember you. Here, from within the
punishment itself arises the feelings of
vengeance and identification with HIS
people. As an eternal idea, punishment
and return, abandonment and presence, are
two different ideas. As part of the song,
they are both parts of one complex
relationship between God and His people. The
very recitation of the song AT THAT TIME
produces the presence of God - not merely
testifies to it, but because the song IS the
response of the moment, it becomes part of
the experience.
This is part of the meaning of the
term "hester panim" - God's hiding His face
- which is God's answer to the accusation
that He has abandoned His people.
Practically, it is the same as abandonment -
but it hints at presence as well. God is
near, close, so close that in order to
express His anger He has to cover His face.
Were He really far away, detached from the
people who were once His, He would not have
to do that. But in fact, the "abandonment"
is deliberate and measured. The result is,
that the very acts called forth by the
abandonment - that a thousand flee one
enemy - elicit a contrary response from the
God of Israel, one of anger at the enemy.
The song tries to express God's emotions,
as it were, a complex and contradictory
love and anger at the Jews. If only they
could understand! How is it that they do
not understand! But you - enemies who kill -
what part do you have in the relationship of
God and His people?
In this sense, the shira is a witness
and answer to the complaint that the bad
things happen because God is not with us.
God answers - or rather, will answer THEN,
when you will be able to truly understand it
- that He is with us, even as He has
abandoned us, for He has hidden His face.
The difference is experiential, not
intellectual; in other words, it is a
difference of shira, not pro
See (not know, but see) now (now,
after all has happened) that I, I am
He (not a statement with much
intellectual content, is it?), and there
is no other god with Me; I shall kill
and give life, I crush and I shall heal,
and there is none who can deliver from
My hand (32,39).
F. Moshe and God
It is interesting to consider the
relationship between Moshe and God concerning
the shira. The shira is, as we claimed, a
future truth. It can only come from God, and
not from within the experience of the
desert generation themselves. But God tells
Moshe to recite it and teach it to the
Jews, and Moshe does so in his own name,
in first person. Moshe is he who the heavens
and the earth to testify. The frustration of
God expressed in 31,16 - "God said to
Moshe, you shall rest with your fathers,
and this people shall rise and whore after
the foreign gods of the land" - is mirrored
by Moshe when he speaks to the Leviim -
"For I know that after my death you will
surely be corrupted, and leave the way that
I have commanded you" (31,29).
The explanation is simple. Sefer
Devarim is Moshe trying to ensure that the
Torah which HE HAS taught the Jews will
succeed. Throughout the sefer, Moshe speaks
of what "I" have taught you. The frustration
with the fact that no amount of TEACHING
can fully guarantee true understanding is
a challenge to the meaning of Moshe's life
and mission. The shira, then, is the
finishing touch on God's Torah and Moshe's
life-mission - beyond the intellectual
eternal teaching of the Torah, there is an
element of life-experience, of Jewish
history, that must be learnt through
disaster and triumph, through tears and even
suffering. This is at once not part of the
Torah and the culmination of it. The Torah
itself, in prophecy sets down the basis for
this shira, this song of life, and in the
same way that God finishes His Torah by
including this part, so too Moshe
concludes his mission, his "failed"
mission (for he knows that after his death,
it will "all fall apart" - you will surely
be corrupted), with the future success,
with the groundwork, in prophecy, of what
cannot be included as such in the
present, but waits, in trust with the
heaven and the earth, for its proper moment
of truth.
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