The Ohr Hachaim has multiple questions on this possuk.
First, why does the Torah not speak simply ‘Listen Heavens to my speech’? Why does it first say that the Heavens should listen, and then He will speak?
Second, why are the Heavens and Earth separated in the possuk? Why does it not say Listen Heaven and Earth at once?
Third, why does the Torah use the word האזינו for the Heaven, and שמיעה for the Earth?
Fourth, the word used for the Heaven is in a command form, telling the Heavens to listen. When talking to the Earth, the Torah talks in the third person, that the earth will hear, without being commanded to do so. Why?
Fifth, the Torah uses an expression of דיבור, which is a stronger way of speaking, when the Torah is referring to the Heavens, and the Torah uses the expression of אמרי, which is a weaker form of speech, for the Earth. Why?
Sixth, why does the Torah refer to the words said to the Earth as אמרי פי – the talk of my mouth? Why is אמרי insufficient?
Chazal write that Moshe was closer to Heaven than to Earth, which is why he used the word האזינו, whereas Yeshaya, who was closer to the Earth and further from the Heavens, used the expression שמעו שמים referring to the Heavens.
This answers some of the questions we asked, but not all of them.
However, we have another way of understanding the pessukim, based on an understanding of the word האזינו. This word could mean two things – it could mean that the listener should bend an ear, and it could also mean that he should listen to the words of the speaker.
According to the first explanation, the listener is distant from the talker, and he must bend his ear to hear what is being said. However, the second explanation is that the ear is so close to the one speaking, that all he has to do is hear.
(The Ohr Hachaim makes an important, timely point here. He acknowledges that his explanation is in opposition to that of Chazal, but he explains himself by saying that the Torah has seventy faces. When regarding the Aggadaic portion of the Torah, one may explain things in any way as long as the Halachos of the Torah are not in opposition.)
The Heavens are far from us mortals, and Moshe called out to the Heavens to bend an ear and listen to his words. The Heavens would have to do a positive act to hear his words, whereas the Earth has to hear his words merely passively. The Earth is close to the speaker and does not have to do anything positive to hear what he has been told. That is why the words said to the Earth are called אמרי פי, because they are so close to the mouth, they hear it directly. The words used for the Heavens are דבור – harsh, or strong, words. In this context, the words are strong because they are to be heard far away. The words said to the Earth are heard from close by, and they do not need to be said in a harsh manner.
Yeshaya Hanavi spoke differently. He said שִׁמְעוּ שָׁמַיִׁם וְהַאֲזִׁינִׁי אֶרֶץ - Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth. Yeshaya was no less distant from the Heavens and no less close to the Earth than Moshe Rabbeinu, yet he transposed the expressions. Why is this?
The possuk continues and explains the answer to this כִׁי ה' דִׁבֵּר – for Hashem has spoken. The One speaking here is Hashem, who is closer to the Heavens than the Earth. As the possuk writes הַשָׁמַיִׁם שָׁמַיִׁם לַ ה' - The heavens are the heavens of Hashem. The closer place is the Heaven, which is why the possuk uses the term שמעי – hear – when talking about the Heaven. The Earth is indeed distant from Hashem, and it would have to bend an ear – והאזיני to be able to hear Hashem’s words.
The Ohr Hachaim acknowledges that האזינו could mean the opposite, as Chazal read it, and he suggests that Moshe Rabbeinu’s Neshama was wholly in Heaven, while his body was on Earth. The words emanating from his body indeed traveled a great distance to the Heaven, whereas the words that emanated from his soul did not have too far to travel.
The Ohr Hachaim adds another layer of depth to his explanation. Each person is made up of two parts – his physical portion and his spiritual part. Moshe was speaking to both of them in this week’s Sedra. When Moshe was talking to the spiritual part of Klal Yisroel, he said האזינו השמים – the parts of the person that are Heavenly, which are usually hidden from the corporeal human eye, he needed them to bend their spiritual ear, to overcome the distance and separations between them and the words of Hashem. Additionally, the spiritual portion of a person can handle the strong talk of ואדברה. It is created to nullify itself to Hashem, and it will not be scared off by harsh talk.
When talking to Klal Yisroel’s bodies, the Torah uses a different language. The Torah then says וְתִׁשְמַע הָׁאָׁרֶץ אִׁמְרֵּי פִׁי – let the Earth hear the soft speech of my mouth. The body is visible and can hear speech easily with no obstacles. That can hear every word clearly without effort, but it finds the understanding of abstract concepts to be difficult and it needs soft speech to understand.
Another level of meaning from the Ohr Hachaim is that the Torah is referring to two different types of people among Klal Yisroel. We have the great men - the Talmidei Chachamim and Tzadikim, who are called Heaven, and we have the simple folk who are considered earth.
The simple folk follow in the footsteps of the leaders and the Tzadikim, and they make their decisions based on them. Hashem first speaks to the leaders and the Tzadikim, and they hear harsh words, because they can handle it. Afterward, as though on their own, the earth will hear Hashem’s easy words. Once the leaders have listened to Hashem, the followers will do so on their own.
The possuk hints to more levels of Avodas Hashem. When a person listens to Divrei Torah, he transforms his physical self to spiritual. Chazal tell us that Tzadikim have the ability to transform form to substance and Resha’im’s actions transform substance to form.
When Klal Yisroel listen to the words of Torah, they will become Heavenly. This is only when they listen under all circumstances, even when the going is tough. Even when Hashem speaks to them in a strong manner, they listen and accept His words. With this, they are considered Tzadikim who have transformed their form into substance, and they are now considered Heaven people.
If Klal Yisroel act like this, they will merit ותשמע הארץ – even after the Neshama shall leave the body of a person and he is to be considered earth, with a decomposed body, the earth will still hear his voice.
The Zohar tells us that an echo will emerge from every Matzeiva of a Kever and announce צאינה וראינה – emerge and see, leave your tiring earth, awaken from your sleep, daughter of Tzion (Tzion means Zion, but it also means the sign that is placed on the burial place of a dead person.). The earth will hear Hashem’s voice, when He announces the awakening of the dead and their ressurrection.
Someone who does not listen to Hashem’s words and learn His Torah, will not hear His voice when He comes to awaken us and return us to His land.
