A former disciple of the Ramban (Nachmanides) scoffed at the entire Torah because he did not find his name in the Torah portion of Ha’azinu. When his master showed him where his name actually was hidden, it aroused him to return to God.
The Torah portion of Ha’azinu is mostly in poetic form, composed and spoken by Moses before his passing. The contents of the poem, even without going very deeply, tell of the history of the Jewish people, from the beginning of time until the end of days. From “Remember the days of old” all the way to the herald of the final redemption when “He will purify His land for the sake of His people.” The sages state, “This poem is great for it includes the present, it includes the past, and it includes the future to come and it includes this world and it includes the World to Come.” In the words of the Nachmanides, “it includes all the future that will be, even though it is short in words.”
Thus, we find that the poem of Ha’azinu is all-inclusive, which explains why it specifically is the unique inheritance bequeathed to us by Moses on the day of his passing from this world. It also makes sense that there is a special directive to repeat it: “And now, write for you this poem and teach it to the Israelites, place it in their mouths so that this poem will act for me as a witness to the Israelites.” It is recounted that the Maggid of Mezritch encouraged every Jew to commit the poem of Ha’azinu to memory.
The poem’s perspective is from above, from the point of how God views the world. From it, we learn that from God’s perspective, everything that happens is one epic narrative, with all the twists in the plot already revealed and known. All of man’s deeds and machinations are taken into account and they all play a role in the greater picture.
If all is already known, however, does this mean that all of us are nothing more than actors in a play, marionettes on a string with no real choice? Not at all. We all have free choice and hence, we are completely responsible for our deeds. Nonetheless, everything is known to God, and we all participate in His plans. This is the famous paradox of Foreknowledge and Free Will, which has occupied man for millennia. It remains a wondrous enigma: God has foreknowledge of everything, but we have been given the freedom to choose our actions and our path through life.
