The Poetics of Torah - Parshat Ha'azinu

(1) Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Eternal. They said: I will sing to the Eternal, for God has triumphed gloriously; Horse and driver God has hurled into the sea.

(17) Then Israel sang this song: Spring up, O well—sing to it—

(23) And Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; O wives of Lamech, give ear to my speech:

I have slain a man for wounding me,

And a lad for bruising me.

(24) If Cain is avenged sevenfold,

Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”

(1) Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. (2) He said to them: I am now one hundred and twenty years old, I can no longer be active. Moreover, the Eternal has said to me, “You shall not go across yonder Jordan.” (3) The Eternal your God will cross over before you; and God will wipe out those nations from your path and you shall dispossess them.—Joshua is the one who shall cross before you, as the Eternal has spoken.— (4) The Eternal will do to them as God did to Sihon and Og, kings of the Amorites, and to their countries, when God wiped them out. (5) The Eternal will deliver them up to you, and you shall deal with them in full accordance with the Instruction that I have enjoined upon you. (6) Be strong and resolute, be not in fear or in dread of them; for the Eternal your God marches with you: God will not fail you or forsake you.

(7) Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel: “Be strong and resolute, for it is you who shall go with this people into the land that the Eternal swore to their fathers to give them, and it is you who shall apportion it to them. (8) And the Eternal will go before you. God will be with you; God will not fail you or forsake you. Fear not and be not dismayed!” (9) Moses wrote down this Torah and gave it to the priests, sons of Levi, who carried the Ark of the Eternal's Covenant, and to all the elders of Israel. (10) And Moses instructed them as follows: Every seventh year, the year set for remission, at the Feast of Booths, (11) when all Israel comes to appear before the Eternal your God in the place that God will choose, you shall read this Torah aloud in the presence of all Israel. (12) Gather the people—men, women, children, and the strangers in your communities—that they may hear and so learn to revere the Eternal your God and to observe faithfully every word of this Torah. (13) Their children, too, who have not had the experience, shall hear and learn to revere the Eternal your God as long as they live in the land that you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.

(14) The Eternal said to Moses: The time is drawing near for you to die. Call Joshua and present yourselves in the Tent of Meeting, that I may instruct him. Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the Tent of Meeting. (15) The Eternal appeared in the Tent, in a pillar of cloud, the pillar of cloud having come to rest at the entrance of the tent.

(16) The Eternal said to Moses: You are soon to lie with your fathers. This people will then go astray after the alien gods in their midst, in the land that they are about to enter; they will forsake Me and break My covenant that I made with them. (17) Then My anger will flare up against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them. They shall be ready prey; and many evils and troubles shall befall them. And they shall say on that day, “Surely it is because our God is not in our midst that these evils have befallen us.” (18) Yet I will keep My face hidden on that day, because of all the evil they have done in turning to other gods. (19) Therefore, write down this poem and teach it to the people of Israel; put it in their mouths, in order that this poem may be My witness against the people of Israel. (20) When I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey that I promised on oath to their fathers, and they eat their fill and grow fat and turn to other gods and serve them, spurning Me and breaking My covenant, (21) and the many evils and troubles befall them—then this poem shall confront them as a witness, since it will never be lost from the mouth of their offspring. For I know what plans they are devising even now, before I bring them into the land that I promised on oath. (22) That day, Moses wrote down this poem and taught it to the Israelites. (23) And He charged Joshua son of Nun: “Be strong and resolute: for you shall bring the Israelites into the land that I promised them on oath, and I will be with you.” (24) When Moses had put down in writing the words of this Torah to the very end, (25) Moses charged the Levites who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the Eternal , saying: (26) Take this book of Torah and place it beside the Ark of the Covenant of the Eternal your God, and let it remain there as a witness against you. (27) Well I know how defiant and stiffnecked you are: even now, while I am still alive in your midst, you have been defiant toward the Eternal; how much more, then, when I am dead! (28) Gather to me all the elders of your tribes and your officials, that I may speak all these words to them and that I may call heaven and earth to witness against them. (29) For I know that, when I am dead, you will act wickedly and turn away from the path that I enjoined upon you, and that in time to come misfortune will befall you for having done evil in the sight of the Eternal and vexed God by your deeds. (30) Then Moses recited the words of this poem to the very end, in the hearing of the whole congregation of Israel:

“Now therefore write this poem for you..." (Deuteronomy 31:19). This refers to the poem itself.

But it then says: “That this poem may be a witness for Me among the children of Israel” (Deuteronomy 31:19)

(1) Give ear, O heavens, let me speak;

Let the earth hear the words I utter!

(2) May my discourse pour down like the rain,

My speech drop down like the dew,

Like storm-showers on shrubs,

Like droplets on the grass.

(44) Moses came, together with Hosea son of Nun, and recited all the words of this poem in the hearing of the people. (45) And when Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, (46) he said to them: Take to heart all the words with which I have warned you this day. Enjoin them upon your children, that they may observe faithfully all the words of this Torah. (47) For this is not a trifling thing for you: it is your very life; through it you shall long endure on the land that you are to possess upon crossing the Jordan. (48) That very day the Eternal spoke to Moses: (49) Ascend these heights of Abarim to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab facing Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving the Israelites as their holding. (50) You shall die on the mountain that you are about to ascend, and shall be gathered to your kin, as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his kin; (51) for you both broke faith with Me among the Israelite people, at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, by failing to uphold My sanctity among the Israelite people. (52) You may view the land from a distance, but you shall not enter it—the land that I am giving to the Israelite people.

We still have to understand how the whole Torah could be called a poem! Surely it is not written in the language of poetry. Rather, the answer is that Torah has in it the nature and the richness of poetry.

For the Torah speaks in a fragmented language. And it is well-known to anyone who has studied that this language of fragments is very different from the language of prose.

In a poem, the idea is not fully explained the way it is in prose. And so, one has to look at it sideways, saying that one rhyme means this, and another rhyme means that. And that is not just creative interpretation. That is simply the nature of poetry, even the most basic poetry...

This is the nature of the whole Torah as well, whose stories are not fully explained. Rather, one has to make insights and explanations based on the intricacies of the language. And this is not just creative interpretation. On the contrary, this is the most basic way to understand the verses…

In poetry, there is also a richness that comes from it having been adorned with all kinds of hints, in a way that isn’t done with prose. Like the custom of using the first letter in each line to spell out the alphabet, or to write out the poet’s name. There is a richness that is special to this fragmented language and not to prose...

So it is exactly with the whole of the Torah, all of it.

Aside from the most basic, simple reading, there is in every word many secrets and hidden ideas. Because of this, there are many instances when the language of the Torah is not to be read literally.

And all this is not true for the Holy Torah alone, but with all sacred scripture.