פרשת האזינו תשכ"ד - לביאור השירה

זכור ימות עולם, After concluding the introductory section of his poem, during the course of which he announced that it was his purpose to proclaim the perfect righteousness of the Lord G’d, Who has proven a loyal G’d showering goodness upon the people of Israel, and Who would not reverse a blessing once bestowed, Moses begins to discuss Israel’s past and future.
First, Moses reminds the people that G’d had originally hoped to bestow a brilliant future for all of mankind, i.e. ימות עולם, He had hoped that history would develop in that direction. When this failed to happen, שנות דור ודור, during the years of one generation after another, G’d decided on His pilot project the Jewish people and He raised them to an elevated position among the nations. This is basically what He will do at the end of “history,” [history is perceived as a period of education for the people filling or making a brief appearance on the stage of history. Ed.]
Second, G’d had provided the people with optimum conditions to serve Him joyfully while they enjoyed all the material advantages that life on earth has to offer. He gave them a beautiful country, one flowing with milk and honey, to do this in. Instead, they rebelled and repaid good with evil. There can be no question that the people responsible for frustrating G’d’s master plan deserve to be severely punished for this.
Third, due to the serious nature of their sin they deserve to be wiped out completely. If it were not for the desecration of the Lord’s name that would be a by-product of the destruction of His chosen people, nothing would have prevented G’d from administering this punishment.
Fourth, Moses reveals the reason why the redemption of the Jewish people will occur at the end of what we call “history,’ באחרית היים.
Fifth, Moses elaborates somewhat on the nature of this redemption and the retribution G’d will wreak at that time on the other nations of the world. The nations will primarily be punished for what they did to the Jewish people throughout history. These then are the five sections into which the portion of Haazinu is divided, our sages having given us an easy way of reminding ourselves of this division by calling the portion הזי'ו ל'ך. (Rosh Hashanah 31) Moses therefore commences with the words: זכור ימות עולם, “study history and thereby learn to recognise how much G’d had endeavoured to shower good upon you, starting already with first man whom He transferred to Gan Eden, the most exclusive environment on earth.

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the children of men, He set the borders of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel.

בהנחל עליון גוים WHEN THE MOST HIGH DIVIDED TO THE NATIONS THEIR INHERITANCE — when the Holy One, blessed be He gave those who provoked Him to anger their inheritance, He afterwards caused the flood to pass over them and He drowned them (Sifrei Devarim 311:1)

בהפרידו בני אדם WHEN HE SEPARATED THE SONS OF ADAM — i.e. when He scattered the generation which witnessed the separation of races, He also had the power to remove them from the world, yet He did not do so, but יצב גבלת עמים HE FIRMLY ESTABLISHED THE BOUNDARIES OF THE NATIONS — He let them (the peoples) remain in existence and did not destroy them,

למספר בני ישראל ACCORDING TO THE NUMBER OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL — i.e. because of the number of the children of Israel that were in future to descend from Shem’s sons, and in accordance with the number of seventy souls of the children of Israel who went down to Egypt He firmly established גבלת עמים THE NATIONS ACCORDING TO THEIR BOUNDARIES — i.e. seventy separate nations (cf. Sifrei Devarim 311:5).

בהנחל עליון גוים, when He assigned to them ancestral lands בהפרידו בני אדם, after the death of Noach and the time of Avraham about which the Torah wrote (Genesis 10,5) “from this point on they separated, branched out by their respective lands, each with its language, etc.” יצב גבולות עמים, twelve descendants of Canaan (Genesis 10,6) mentioned in that context in that chapter of Genesis, corresponding to the eventual 12 tribes of Israel. Canaan and his 11 sons amounted to twelve. (Genesis 10,15-18) The Torah describes the boundaries of the Canaanites as extending from Tzidon in the north to Gerar, near Gaza in the south, and Sodom in the east. This entire region became the land of Israel during the conquest commencing in the days of Joshua, except for the coastal plains inhabited by the Philistines which was conquered many hundreds of years later, and Jerusalem which was captured by David. The Torah does not give details of the boundaries of the territories of any of the other sons of Noach. למספר בני ישראל, matching the number of the Children of Israel.

For the portion of the LORD is His people, Jacob the lot of His inheritance.

Not like these is the portion of Jacob; For He is the former of all things, And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; The LORD of hosts is His name.

The portion of Jacob is not like these; For He is the former of all things, And [Israel] is the tribe of His inheritance; The LORD of hosts is His name. .

הצור תמים פעלו THE ROCK, HIS WORK IS PERFECT — Although He is strong (הצור!) yet when He brings punishment upon those who transgress His will, He does not bring it in a flood of anger, but in deliberate judgment, because תמים פעלו HIS WORK IS PERFECT.

צדיק וישר הוא — The meaning is: All acknowledge His judgment to be just (צדיק), and this is befitting and right of them (ישר), i.e., He is declared צדיק by the mouth of men, וישר, and it is right for them to declare Him צדיק, as righteous.

הלה׳ תגמלו זאת DO YOU THUS REQUITE THE LORD? — This Is an expression of astonishment: Do you mean to grieve Him Who has the power to punish you, and Who has bestowed all these favours upon you?