From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2004 3:33 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Ha'azinu, 5764




                                             The Whole Story
             
                 By Rabbi Joshua (inclusively known as The Hoffer) Hoffman


In parshas Ha'azinu, Moshe tells the nation the shira, or song, that he had mentioned to them previously, at the end of parshas Vayeilech, as a foretelling of what would occur to them after his death. As an introduction to the shira, he tells them, " When I call the Lord's name, ascribe greatness to God" (Devorim 32:3). The Talmud (Berachos 21) derives from this verse that there is a Biblical obligation to recite a blessing before reading the Torah. Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl explains that this can be understood in accordance with the comment of the Ramban in his introduction to his Torah commentary, that the entire Torah consists of names of God, if the letters are combined in the appropriate ways. Thus, when one reads from the Torah, he is actually reading out the names of God. On a broader level, the Ramban is saying that the Torah is our way of connecting to God in this world. However, one may still ask, why is this requirement taught here, as a prelude to the shira that Moshe delivered to his nation, telling them of future events that would occur in their history?

Rabbi Sholom Noach Brozofsky of Slonim, in his Nesivos Sholom, asks a similar but somewhat different question. In parshas Vayeilech, in the midst of appointing Yehoshua as Moshe's successor, God tells them, "So now, write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the bnei Yisroel, place it in their mouth, so that this song shall be for me a witness against the bnei Yisroel" (31:19). Although, as Rashi explains, the song referred to here is the shira in parshas Ha'azinu, this verse serves as the source for the mitzvoh incumbent upon each Jew to write a sefer torah. The Sefer HaChinuch explains that the verse means that we must write a Torah that includes within it the shira of Ha'azinu. The implication of this verse, concludes Rabbi Brozofsky, is that the shira in Ha'azinu contains within it the essence of the entire Torah. In what way, he asks, is this so? Rabbi Brozofsky offers an answer based on Ramban's observations on the shira, which I would like to expand upon and utilize to explain some other points in the parsha, as well.


Ramban writes that parshas Ha'azinu contains within it a brief version of all Jewish history, from beginning to end. The shira serves as a witness because it predicts all that will happen to us throughout our long exiles, and ends with a promise of future redemption and recompense from our enemies. The shira begins by recounting the kindnesses that God bestowed upon the Jewish people from the time He took us as His people, discusses the role of the other nations within the scheme of history, and then speaks of the sins of the nation and their punishment. However, says the Ramban, this shira is our guarantee of redemption, as spelled out in its last verse, "Sing, nations, the praise of His people, for He will avenge the blood of His servants, He will bring retribution to His enemies, and He will appease His land and His people" (Devorim 32:43). This verse testifies to the eternity of the Jewish people as God's people, declares that their enemies are His enemies, and assures them of their ultimate redemption, whether or not they fully repent of their sins. Although Ramban disagrees with the Rambam on this last point, he bases his remarks on one opinion in the Talmud Sanhedrin, as he elaborates on in his work Sefer HaGeulah.  Because of this central message, says Rabbi Brozovsky, the shira of Ha'azinu is considered as the most important section of the Torah, because it encapsulates God's purpose in creating the world and the path through which He actualizes it in history. As the Sifrei says, this shira contains the past, the present and the future, meaning, the entire history of the world, and God's presence in it behind the scenes. Perhaps for this reason, then, the source for the requirement of reciting a blessing before reading the Torah is mentioned in the prelude to the reading of Ha'azinu to the Jewish nation.

To expand on Rabbi Brozofsky's remarks, we may add the comment of the midrash in Bereishis Rabbah (1:1), that God looked into the Torah and created the world. A number of Jewish thinkers have explained this to mean that the history of the world reflects the contents of the Torah. Thus, when the Ramban explains the shira of Ha'azinu as containing within it an encapsulated version of all Jewish history, he is also saying that the essence of the entire Torah is contained in the shira. Based on this notion, we can now understand why God delivered this shira to Moshe and Yehoshua together, as we have seen in the verse we cited from parshas Vayeilech, and why Moshe and Yehoshua told it to the nation together, as we read in the end of our parsha, "Moshe came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Hoshea (Yehoshua) son of Nun" (Devorim 32:44). Rashi comments that it was a Shabbos of a set of two, with Moshe giving over the leadership position to Yehoshua by having him lecture to the people in front of him, in his lifetime. Rashi does not, however, explain that it was specifically the shira of Ha'azinu that they taught together. Based on the explanation of the shira we have presented, the reason becomes clear, as we shall now see.

Immediately following the presentation of the shira to the people, God told Moshe, on that day, to ascend Mt. Nevo, view the land that he was not permitted to enter, "as Aharon your brother died on Mt. Hor." (Devorim 32:3). Rashi explains that Aharon's death is referred to because when Moshe witnessed the manner in which Aharon died, on that mountain, he longed for the same kind of death. Rav Dovid Feinstein, in his Kol Dodi to parshas Ha'azinu, notes that, on its face, Moshe's manner of death was not the same as that of Aharon, because Aharon saw his son Elozor, being appointed as kohein godol, or high priest, in his place, dressed in the kohein godol's clothing and ready to do his service, while Moshe was not succeeded by his own son, but by his disciple, Yehoshua. Rav Dovid answers that Moshe's greatness as a leader was in his role as a teacher of Torah. The Talmud tells us that while a father brings his child into this world, a teacher brings his student into the next world, by teaching him the eternal Torah.Yehoshua, then, as Moshe's closest student, was considered by him as a beloved son. Thus, by appointing Yehoshua as his successor before he died, Moshe was, indeed, experiencing the same kind of death that Aharon experienced when he appointed Elozor in his place on the day that he died. Based on the explanation we have presented of the significance of the shira of Ha'azinu, as encapsulating the entire Torah, we may add that, by teaching the shira of Ha'azinu, together with Yehoshua, on the day that he died, Moshe was, in effect, teaching the entire Torah together with his successor on that day.

Parshas Ha'azinu is usually read during the period of the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This year it is read on the Shabbos between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, known traditionally as Shabbos Shuvah, because of the opening word of the haftarah read that day. Rabbi Brozofsky concludes his presentation of the Ramban's approach to the shira of Ha'azinu by saying that, the main idea one should carry away from this period of the year is that, no matter how far we may have strayed from God, we are always His people, His children, and are never really lost. With this thought in mind, may we all remove, in this period, whatever separation that has developed over the past year between ourselves and God, and merit a wonderful new year.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  As Sukkos approaches, you are invited to visit lulavandesrog.com for your yomtov needs. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.

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