Haazinu: G-d Doesn't Miss

by Rav Netanel Yosifun, Rosh Yeshiva, Yeshivat Orot Netanya, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

This Shabbat – the special Sabbath of T'shuvah (Repentance), between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur – is also the Sabbath of a very special Torah portion: Haazinu, which is the entire chapter of D'varim 32.

Haazinu is often overlooked because of the abundance of holidays during this month. But if we delve into it a bit, we might be surprised to find a wealth of depth and themes of critical importance to the Jewish Nation.

I ask you to perform the following experiment, which I have done myself several times: Ask someone to suggest his or her idea of a central Torah portion (with no intent to detract, of course, from the importance of every single letter in our holy Torah) that stands out. They will likely answer Kriat Shma, the Ten Commandments, the story of Creation, and others. Unless you do this on Parashat Haazinu itself, no one ever suggests Haazinu – until you explain the following.

For one thing, the very last mitzvah in the Torah – that of writing a Torah scroll – appears in Haazinu, and it sheds light on the entire picture. The command in the previous portion is, "And now, write yourselves this song" (31,19), referring to the Song of Haazinu. However, since the Torah is not written in fragments (parshiyot parshiyot), it means that we must write (or have written for us) an entire Torah. Thus, writing Haazinu means writing the whole Torah.

But more comprehensively, as the Ramban (Nachmanides) emphasizes in his commentary on the Torah, Haazinu speaks of and recounts our entire history.

Z'khor yemot olam, "Remember days long gone by, ponder the years of each generation; ask your father and he will tell you, and your elders and they will explain it to you" (32,7). The portion then goes on to describe Israel's entry to their Land, the sins there, the terrible exile, and finally – the return and the Redemption.

The centrality of Haazinu is based on two point. First, Israel's history teaches that the Torah is not just a book on the shelf, but rather a song, a song of life, the Torah of life. Our mission is to live the Torah and to bring it to the reality of the world. The path is long and winding, filled with stumbling blocks and failures – but in the end, it will lead us to success and Redemption for the entire world.

The second aspect of Haazinu's importance is explained in the very mitzvah that it be written down and studied: "… so that this song will be a witness for the children of Israel… And when they are beset by many troubles and evils, this song shall attest for them like a witness… for I knew their inclinations… even before I brought them into the Land…" (31,19-21).

The Torah is telling us that there will come a time during the terrible centuries of Exile when Jews will fear, as the accursed Replacement doctrine (supersessionism) held, that, Heaven forbid, G-d's plan for the world to bring Redemption via the Jewish People had failed. "Behold," went the theology, "Israel has sinned and is being terribly punished and humiliated; the Jews are a desecration of His Name, and are now being replaced."

At that time, all we have to do is open up the Song of Haazinu and see that this was the entire Divine plan all along! G-d knew, as we read in these very verses, that Israel would sin and that would be exiled – and with this in mind, He created the world, the Torah, the Jewish People, and the entire world! For in terms of history and nations, there is no Free Will as there is for individuals; everything is pre-determined. (The Ramchal, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, 18^th-century author of the classic work Mesilat Yesharim, expands on this topic at length.)

When we need this reassurance, the Song of Haazinu will strengthen and encourage us to continue and bear the torch, carrying it down through the generations, and to remember and believe that just as the difficult parts of Haazinu came true, so too will those aspects that deal with our Redemption.

As the Ramban wrote: If we were to find the writings of some fortune teller who was able to successfully predict and accurately describe many events that had not yet happened, would we not then believe his writings concerning events that have not yet occurred? How much more so, then, regarding this poem, written by the Creator of the World Himself, which describes many events that later came to pass, that we also believe in its conclusion, which states, "He will reconcile His people [to] His Land" (32,43) – may it be speedily in our days, Amen.