The first verse of Parshas Haazinu states, “The Heavens should listen and I will speak, and the Earth should hear the words of my mouth. My teachings should flow like rain, and my words should drip like dew, like the wind blowing on the plants and like the rain-drops on the grass.” (Devarim 32:1–2)
Moshe Rabbeinu is asking Hashem that his teachings should affect growth in the Jewish People, just like rain and dew, which cause plants to grow.
Now, in the Parsha before this one, (Parshas Nitzavim), it says, (Devarim 30:19) “I bring the Heaven and Earth as witnesses against you today.”
The Heaven and the Earth are witnesses to the conduct of the Jewish People wherever and whenever they are. They can be rewarded for serving Hashem, and, G-d forbid, punished for not keeping the Torah and Mitzvos.
We see that the Heavens and Earth are used to help the Jewish People serve Hashem. Therefore, we need to understand the spiritual significance of “the Heavens and the Earth.”
The Heavens and the Earth: Written and Oral Torah
The Heavens and Earth represent the Written Torah and the Oral Torah.
The Written Torah is referred to as “שָּמַיִם-the Heavens,” since one of the explanations of the word “שָּמַיִם-the Heavens” is that it is a combination of two words, “שָּם־מַיִם-there is water,” and the Torah is compared to water.
As it is written, (Yeshaya 55:1) “Whoever is thirsty to connect to Hashem, should go to learn Torah, which will quench that thirst like water.”
And like it is written regarding Moshe, (Shemos 2:10) “Because his soul was drawn forth from the water of Hashem’s Wisdom,” he (Moshe) is destined to teach the Torah.
The Torah is compared to water that does not have any natural color to itself. Rather, its color changes according to the color of the vessel that it is in; if it is in a red vessel, it will look red, or, if it is in a different color vessel, it will look like the color of the vessel it is in.
So too, the source of the Torah is from Hashem’s Exalted Wisdom, “a Wisdom that cannot be grasped by the finite wisdom of created beings,” since it is beyond the realm of what we can grasp and comprehend. Just like water has no taste or color, so too, the Written Torah is essentially plain, meaning it is beyond our intellectual grasp.
Therefore, the entire Torah is only written as stories of events, without expressing the knowledge of the deep secrets of wisdom contained in the stories.
And even the laws that are written in the Torah were not clearly explained in full detail until the Sages of the Talmud explained them, like it says, (Shemos 13:3) “And Moshe told the Jewish People,” to keep the Mitzvos of eating Matzah and not eating chametz (leavened bread) on Pesach, and, like it says, (Shemos 12:10) “And Hashem told Moshe” to tell the Jewish People to bring the Korban Pesach.
The entire Torah is written in the form of stories. Even the Mitzvos are written in a story form, where Hashem tells Moshe to tell the Jewish People about a certain Mitzva. This is because the entire Torah is essentially beyond human comprehension, and our understanding of it is compared to the way a child reads a story and only knows the basic events that happened, without knowing the deeper meaning of the story.
The explanations of the details of the Mitzvos were given over to the Jewish People by Moshe Rabeinu, and were always learned since then. What the Alter Rebbe means is that the details of the Mitzvos were not written down until the Sages wrote them in the Talmud, since the details are not written in the Written Torah, the Chumash, only in the Talmud.
And the Oral Torah is called “the Earth.” Just like the earth takes an inedible seed and produces an entire plant or tree with fruit, so too, the Oral Torah takes the incomprehensible stories of the Written Torah and produces practical laws and ideas that we can understand and follow.
These (the Written and Oral Torah, which correspond to the Heaven and Earth) are the “witnesses” before Hashem on the Jewish People, since through [the Written and Oral Torah] it can be recognized whether the Jewish People are fulfilling the Torah and Mitzvos properly.
This is because each Mitzva draws forth a revelation of Hashem’s Infinite Light into the Torah, meaning that it causes Hashem’s Infinite Light to dwell within His Exalted Wisdom.
Since Hashem’s Infinite Light is essentially exalted and removed from the category of Wisdom (even Hashem’s Exalted Wisdom), by infinitely many levels, like it says in the Zohar that “no thought can grasp Hashem at all.”
The only way to have any “grasp” of Hashem is through grasping the Torah, and it is the fulfillment of the Mitzvos that causes Hashem’s Light to be revealed, so that it should dwell and become invested in the Torah.
Like it says, (Bamidbar 27:34 and Vayikra 18:5) “These are the Mitzvos that a person should fulfill and live in them.” “In them” refers to the Mitzvos, and the energy that Hashem invests in the Mitzvos, meaning that through fulfilling the Mitzvos, one draws down the Infinite Light of Hashem (Who is the Source of All Life), so that it should settle within the Mitzvos.
Similarly, through the Mitzvos, the Light of Hashem is revealed also into the Torah that one studies, causing this Light to dwell within his/her Torah study.
Therefore, our Sages said that the meaning of the verse, “ו עֲש ִיתֶםַׁא תָּםַׁ-and you shall fulfill them (the Mitzvos),” is written in such a way that it could be read “וַעֲש ִיתֶם ֶַׁת אם-and you should make them.” Meaning that it is as if the Mitzvos and the Torah study are saying that by us fulfilling the Mitzvos “it is as if you made me,” since by revealing the Light of Hashem in the Mitzvos, we are giving them spiritual life.
And this is the idea of “learning Torah לשמה—for its own sake,” meaning for the sake of the Torah itself, since through the combination of fulfilling the Mitzvos and learning the Torah, one calls forth and draws down a revelation of the Infinite Light of Hashem into the Torah.
This is also the idea of what is written, (Yeshaya 43:7) “Everything that is called by My Name (of Hashem) and exists for My Honor, I have created, formed, and made.”
“Everything that is called by My Name” is a reference to all of the Jewish souls that He created for His Glory.
And, “There is no true glory (of Hashem) except for the Torah,” (Pirkei Avos 6:3) since the Torah is Hashem’s ‘garments,’ like it says, (Tehilim 104:2) “He wraps Himself in the Light (of the Torah) as with a garment.” This is also like our Sages say, (Shabbos 113a) “Rabbi Yochanan would call his garments ‘those that honor me.’”
Just like, by way of analogy, a king may not be seen while he is naked, only when he is wearing the royal garments. However, the king does not usually get himself dressed in the royal garments. Rather, a servant dresses him.
So too, regarding the King of kings, the Holy One Blessed be He: The way He is by Himself is something that cannot be grasped or revealed to the created beings, since “no thought can grasp Him at all.”
The only way He is revealed is through investing Himself into the Torah, which is His wisdom and will. And it is only the Jewish People who are able to cause Hashem to “dress Himself” in the Torah so that we can perceive Him, just like it is only the personal servant of a king who dresses him in the royal garments so that the rest of the nation can see him.
This is the meaning of the verse, “Everything that is called by My name, I created for My glory;” the Jewish People, who are called by Hashem’s name, were created in order to bring a revelation of Hashem into the Torah, so that His glory would be revealed.
This is also the meaning of “וְדִ ב ַרְ ת ָ ב ָּם-and you shall speak of them (the words of Torah).” (Devarim 6:7) The word “וְדִ ב ַרְ ת ָ,” which usually means, “You should speak,” could also mean, “And you should guide and move something from one place to another,” like we find the meaning of the word in the verse, (Tehilim 47:4) “י דְ ב ֵּרַׁע מ ִים-may He (Hashem) cause the nations to follow our instructions.”
Thus, the inner meaning of “וְדִ ב ַרְ ת ָ ב ָם” is: “וְדִ ב ַרְ ת ָ -you should draw down” “ב ַָּׁם-into them (into the words of the Torah),” meaning to drawn down the Infinite Light of Hashem into the Torah.
This is connected to the previous verse that says, (Devarim 6:6) “And these words (of the Torah) that I (Hashem) command you today should be on your heart.” The meaning of “That I command you” is a reference to “I, Who I really am”- the essence of Hashem Himself- is not just “commanding us,” but also connecting to us. This interpretation is derived the word “מְצַוְּךָ,” which usually means “command you,” could also mean “connect to you.”
Therefore, the inner meaning of the verse is, “And into these words of the Torah, you should express the essential connection that I have with you.”
And the power that exists in our soul to cause this revelation of Hashem through the Torah comes to us through the prayers that come before the Torah study.
Like our Sages say, (Yevamos 109b) “Whoever says that he only has (time and interest in) Torah study (and doesn’t have time or interest in prayer), then he doesn’t have (real) Torah study either,”
because he needs to first “love Hashem” through reciting the Shema, where he gives himself over to Hashem when he says the word “אֶחָּד-Hashem is One.”
The idea of giving ourselves over to Hashem does not mean (like some people think) that it means to yell out with great passion the word “אֶחָד ,” intending to thereby show his dedication to Hashem.
Rather, the meaning is like it is written, (Tehilim 25:1) “I lift up my soul to You Hashem.” Meaning that one does not want to have any ego or feel himself as something separate from Hashem. Instead, he wants feel that he has no independent importance compared to Hashem, and he wants to turn his whole soul over to Hashem, Who is the Source of All Life, before Whom nothing has any separate importance.
This concept is expressed in the following part of the davening (orig. Divrei Hayamim I 29:11): “To You, Hashem, is the greatness, the might, the splendor, the victory, and the majesty, since everything on heaven and earth belongs to You, to You Hashem is the kingship, and You are exalted above all rulers.”
The idea of saying that “the greatness” belongs “to You, Hashem,” means that the idea of “greatness,” which refers to the expression of His Kindness, which gives life to “a great amount of” worlds, like it says, (Daniel 7:10) “There are millions of levels of angels that serve Him,” showing that Hashem’s Kindness is expressed in creating a “great” number of worlds and levels. This “great” number of worlds and levels belong “to You Hashem,” meaning that they have no independent importance, since everything before Him is like nothing important.
When is His “greatness” expressed in creating worlds? When He invests His power “in the city of our G-d,” (Tehilim 48:2) which is a reference to the different combinations of the Letters of the Ten Statements of Creation, which Hashem uses to give life to the worlds and to the created beings.
On that level of creation, Hashem’s greatness and the expression of His creative power is revealed. All of the worlds and creatures that were created by Hashem (His “greatness”) are “to You,” meaning they all have no independent importance before Hashem. Their only importance is that they express some minute amount of the greatness of Hashem’s creative power, but on their own, they have no importance, whatsoever.
Therefore, for us to recognize this concept, the Sages of the Great Assembly established that prior to the Amida prayer, we say the two blessings before the Shema and Pesukei Dezimra (Verses of Singing Praise to Hashem), which the word זִמְרָה-Zimra (of Pesukei Dezimra), which means to sing praise to Hashem, is related to the word זַמֵר-Zameir, which means to cut down, as in the phrase, (Yeshaya 25:5) לְזַמֵר עֲרִיצִים, “To cut down the arrogant.” This cutting down of ego is accomplished through “exalting Hashem with the praises we say from our throats,” (Tehilim 149:6). The above verse ends by saying that through exalting Hashem with our throat, we make “a double-edged sword in their hand.” So, this process of praising Hashem is like a sword that cuts down our egos.
Through contemplating on the fact that the Ofanim Angels and Chayos Angels praise Hashem by saying “Blessed be the glory of Hashem,” and the Serafim Angels praise Hashem by saying “Holy, Holy, Holy, is Hashem, ...”
