Divrei Torah for Parshas Haʼazinu
Understanding a Cryptic Medrash
In the beginning of Parshas Haʼazinu, the Medrash (Devorim Rabbah 10:1) cryptically asks whether it is permissible to treat somebody who is suffering from an earache on Shabbos. The Medrash answers that Chazal have taught that saving a person's life takes precedence over the desecration of Shabbos. What is the connection between this Medrash and Parshas Ha'azinu? Secondly, what is the intention of the Medrash, as earaches are generally not life-threatening, and the law that one may desecrate Shabbos to save a person's life is a more general rule not specific to earaches?
The Chasam Sofer explains the Medrash by noting that there is a legal dispute whether a person is permitted to confess his sins on Shabbos. Some maintain that it is permissible since it gives him pleasure to repent and atone for his transgressions, while others forbid it because the focus and emphasis on his misdeeds causes him anguish. Therefore, it is questionable whether it is permissible for somebody lecturing on Shabbos to rebuke the listeners. Even if he feels that they need to hear his reproof to inspire them to examine and improve their ways, doing so on Shabbos may be forbidden because it causes them pain.
However, on the Shabbos preceding Yom Kippur, commonly known as Shabbos Shuva, which has the power to rectify all of the Shabbosim of the previous year (Mishnah Berurah 603:2), the rebuke which the speaker gives is classified as pikuach nefesh [life-saving] and permissible according to all opinions. Proof to this may be brought from the fact that Tosfos writes (Menachos 30a d.h. miʼkan) that Moshe died at the time of Mincha on Shabbos. On his final day in this world, Moshe said the harsh words of rebuke contained in Parshas Haʼazinu. Because Moshe realized that this was his final opportunity to do so, he considered the admonishment to be pikuach nefesh which was allowable even on Shabbos.
We may now understand the true intention of the Medrash and its connection to Parshas Haʼazinu. In discussing a person whose ear hurts him, the Medrash doesn't refer to a medical ailment but rather to a person who suffers anguish upon hearing words of rebuke. The Medrash questions whether it is nevertheless permissible to “cure” him on Shabbos by giving him needed words of reproof. The Medrash answers that although this question is normally subject to a dispute, in a case of pikuach nefesh – such as on Shabbos Shuva, when Parshas Haʼazinu is often read – it is certainly allowed, with the proof coming from the rebuke given by Moshe on Shabbos which is contained within the parsha.