Parsha Pizzazz - Ha'azinu The Jewish Learning Exchange
In last week’s parsha, Moshe reached the very last day of his life and said goodbye to the Jewish people. This week, Moshe leads the people in a beautiful and poetic song...
The Grand Finale
Moshe’s grand speech was drawing to a close, and so was the 120th and last year of his life. This was it - his last chance to get his message across to the Jewish people, to impress upon them the importance of keeping the Torah. So... he started to sing!
"Ha’azinu hashamayim va’adabeira... Listen, heavens, and I will speak! V’tishma ha’aretz imrei fi... Earth, hear the words of my mouth!" His beautiful voice could be heard throughout the entire people. Almost the whole parsha is Moshe’s song. In the Torah, the layout of the section with the shira (song) looks different from the rest of the parshiot. It has line breaks, like a poem. (It’s similar to the shira in parshat Beshalach, when the Jews sang their praise to HaShem for allowing them to cross the Red Sea on dry land.)
Moshe’s song is so special and holy that many rabbis say that great blessings for all good things come to someone who learns the song of Ha’azinu by heart!
A History Lesson
In his song, Moshe reminded the Jewish people of what came before them.
"Zechor y’mot olam - remember the days of old! Think about what happened in each generation, and learn from your history. The chain of events that began long ago continues now through you, and will carry you into the future. Ask your parents and the wise elders of your generation, and learn from the prophets. They will tell you everything that you need to know. The present is linked to the past - learn from it!"
On Eagle’s Wings
Moshe continued to sing, telling the people of HaShem’s great love for them.
"HaShem has taken care of you the way a mother eagle cares for her babies. Other birds hold their young beneath them in their claws as they fly - to protect them from the eagle, who soars high above. But the eagle has no need to protect its young from other birds. The only threat comes from below - from hunters shooting arrows from the ground. So the eagle carries its young gently on top of its back, keeping them safe and sound. In the same way, HaShem protected you in the desert with His Clouds of Glory, so that wild animals and the arrows of enemies could not harm you.
"And when the baby birds are sleeping in the nest, and the mother eagle is returning from a trip to find food, she doesn’t land suddenly on the nest, which would startle the babies. First she hovers over the nest, flapping her wings to gently rouse the baby birds. In the same way, when HaShem spoke to you at Mount Sinai, He didn’t use His full power, which would have completely overwhelmed you. Instead, He spoke in a way that you could hear and understand."
Passing the Torch
When Moshe was finished with his song, the leadership was taken from him and passed on to his student Yehoshua.
HaShem said to Moshe: "Go up onto Mount N’vo, in the land of Moav. You will die on that mountain, and you will not enter the land of Israel, which I have given to the Jewish people - although you will be able to look out over it from the mountain."
Moshe remembered that his brother, Aharon, had gone up on a mountain to die. Moshe had helped him remove his special Kohein Gadol clothes, which were immediately placed on Aharon’s son, who would replace him. At that time, Moshe had thought, "Fortunate is the one who dies in this way!" Now Moshe would end his life in a similar way, just as he wanted.
Moshe said to HaShem, "Before I go up on the mountain, I just have one last request - to bless the Jewish people."
