Ha'azinu: The Unnatural Existence of the Jewish Nation

By Rav Berel Wein, rabbiwein.com, translated by Hillel Fendel

Moshe calls upon heaven and earth to be the witnesses necessary to verify the existence of the eternal covenant between God and Israel. Though there is a certain amount of logic in using the heavens and the earth as the buttresses to the eternal covenant, for after all they are also timeless relative to human life, they are mute witnesses. How do they testify to the covenant and relationship between God and Israel?

What is the message that lies in this call of Moshe to heaven and earth? The Torah after all does not engage in needless hyperbole. I sense that the Torah comes to point out to us the unnatural state of existence of the Jewish people throughout the centuries.

Just as there is a visible order and food chain in nature so too does there appear to be such an order in human history and its processes of civilization. Even the strongest and largest empires and superpowers eventually weaken and disappear from the stage of human events.

There is apparently a food chain that applies to nations and ideologies as well. The heavens and their galaxies, stars, planets and suns operate with an unchanging exactitude that influences human lives here on our small planet.

The earth revolves on its axis in an exactitude that preserves it from the fire of the sun and the frost of space. The opinion of Rambam is that the laws of nature are eternal and immutable.

The so-called miracles that occur within nature are built into nature itself and are not to be seen as violations of the laws of nature themselves. The heavens and earth are governed by laws that never change and this type of inexorable law also applies to human history and events.

To all of this idea that there is nothing exceptional in nature and in human events there is one great exception - that of the story of the Jewish people over all of its millennia of existence.

The continuing wonder of Jewish existence and resilience in the face of impossible conditions and brutal enemies, of internal weaknesses and divisions, and external foes who proclaim their intent to destroy the Jewish people and state, is the greatest proof of the eternal existence of the covenant between God and the Jewish people.

Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman in his debate with the Church and Jewish apostates in 1263 Barcelona stated that the greatest proof of the uniqueness of the Jewish people is its survival against all odds. How much more would he insist on the correctness of this argument today, almost eight centuries later.

It is the very regularity of heaven and earth and all of nature that they govern that serves as the counterpoint for the inexplicable and unnatural existence and creativity in world history and affairs.

The Jews are the exceptional unique people in the world and their exceptional existence is based completely upon God’s covenant with them. Thus the heavens and the earth are the correct and natural witnesses to the supernatural existence and triumph of Israel over the long centuries. Moshe’s witnesses and covenant remain firm until today.