2 Tishrei 5778 | September 22, 2017
Parshat Ha’azinu
Rabbi Dr. Devorah Schoenfeld
Advanced Kollel: Executive Ordination Track
Class of 2019
(א) הַאֲזִ֥ינוּ הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וַאֲדַבֵּ֑רָה {ס} וְתִשְׁמַ֥ע הָאָ֖רֶץ אִמְרֵי־פִֽי׃
Give ear, heavens, and I will speak! Listen, earth, to the words of my mouth!
This short parasha of Ha’azinu is almost entirely the song of Moshe before his death. He begins this song by asking heaven and earth to listen. Devarim Rabbah 10:4 explains why in a parable which compares Moshe to someone who served in two feuding places:
אָמַר רַבִּי שְׁמוּאֵל בַּר נַחְמָן לְמָה הַדָּבָר דּוֹמֶה, לְאִסְטְרָטִיגִין שֶׁשִּׁמֵּשׁ בִּשְׁנֵי מְדִינוֹת פָּרַס וּקְּלָאוֹנָה, עָשָׂה יוֹם טוֹב, אָמַר אִם קוֹרֵא אֲנִי לָאֵלּוּ, אֵלּוּ כּוֹעֲסִים, וְאִם אֲנִי קוֹרֵא לָאֵלּוּ, אֵלּוּ כּוֹעֲסִין, מֶה עָשָׂה, קָרָא לְאֵלּוּ וּלְאֵלּוּ. כָּךְ משֶׁה הָיָה מִן הָאָרֶץ וְגָדַל בַּשָּׁמַיִם, מִנַּיִן, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמות לד, כח): וַיְהִי שָׁם עִם יקוק אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם וגו', אָמַר אִם קוֹרֵא אֲנִי לַשָּׁמַיִם, הָאָרֶץ רוֹגֶזֶת, וְאִם אֲנִי קוֹרֵא לָאָרֶץ, הַשָּׁמַיִם רוֹגְזִין, אָמַר, הֲרֵינִי קוֹרֵא לִשְׁנֵיהֶם, לַשָּׁמַיִם וְלָאָרֶץ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: הַאֲזִינוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם.
Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman said, what is this like? A general who served in two provinces, one Roman and one a colony. When he was about to make a celebration, he said to himself, “If I invite one the other will be angry.” What did he do? He invited both. Thus Moshe was from the earth and raised to heaven, as it is written, “And he was there with God forty days.” (Exodus 34:28) He said, “If I invite heaven, earth will be angry, and if I invite earth, heaven will be angry. So I will invite both heaven and earth, as it is written, ‘Give ear, heavens.’” (Deuteronomy 32:1)
This parable is startling on a number of levels. First, Moshe here is preparing for his own death. In what way is this a celebration? Second, what does it mean for heaven and earth to be angry with each other? Why would they both want the attention of Moshe?
A second parable in Devarim Rabbah 10:4 describes Moshe and his concerns rather differently:
דָּבָר אַחֵר, לָמָּה לַשָּׁמַיִם וְלָאָרֶץ, אָמַר רַבִּי חֲנִינָא לְמָה הַדָּבָר דּוֹמֶה לְאֶחָד שֶׁהִפְקִיד פִּקָּדוֹן אֵצֶל אוֹהֲבוֹ, מֵת אוֹהֲבוֹ שֶׁהִפְקִיד אֶת הַפִּקָּדוֹן אֶצְלוֹ, עָמַד בְּנוֹ שֶׁל אוֹתוֹ שֶׁהִפְקִיד הַפִּקָּדוֹן וְהָיָה מְכַבֵּד לְאוֹתוֹ שֶׁהִפְקִיד הַפִּקָּדוֹן אֶצְלוֹ וּמְכַבֵּד לְאִשְׁתּוֹ, אָמְרוּ לוֹ לָמָּה אַתָּה מְכַבֵּד אֶת שְׁנֵיהֶם, אָמַר לָהֶן פִּקָּדוֹן יֵשׁ לִי אֶצְלָם וְאֵינָהּ בְּרוּרָה לִי אֵצֶל מִי הוּא הַפִּקָּדוֹן, אִם אֶצְלוֹ אִם אֵצֶל אִשְׁתּוֹ, כָּל הֵיכָן שֶׁפִּקְדוֹנִי מֻנָּח שֶׁיְהֵא שָׁמוּר יָפֶה. כָּךְ אָמְרוּ לוֹ לְמשֶׁה לָמָּה אַתָּה מְצַוֶּה לַשָּׁמַיִם וְלָאָרֶץ, אָמַר לָהֶן, אֲנִי עָתִיד לָמוּת וְאֵינִי יוֹדֵעַ לְהֵיכָן נַפְשִׁי הוֹלֶכֶת, אִם לַשָּׁמַיִם אִם לָאָרֶץ, מִנַּיִן, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (קהלת ג, כא): מִי יוֹדֵעַ רוּחַ בְּנֵי הָאָדָם הָעוֹלָה הִיא לְמָעְלָה וגו', לְפִיכָךְ אֲנִי מְצַוֶּה אֶת שְׁנֵיהֶם, כָּל מָקוֹם שֶׁתְּהֵא נַפְשִׁי מֻנַּחַת שֶׁתְּהֵא יָפָה. אָמַר לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא חַיֶּיךָ אֵין בְּרִיָּה שַׁלִּיט עַל נַפְשֶׁךָ, וְהֵיכָן הִיא מֻנַּחַת תַּחַת כִּסֵּא הַכָּבוֹד בַּשָּׁמַיִם, שֶׁכֵּן אֲבִיגַיִל אוֹמֶרֶת (שמואל א כה, כט): וְהָיְתָה נֶפֶשׁ אֲדֹנִי צְרוּרָה בִּצְרוֹר הַחַיִּים אֶת יקוק אֱלֹקֶיךָ.
Another interpretation: Why heaven and earth? Rabbi Hanina said: what is this like? It is like someone who left something with his friend for safekeeping. The man who left the article died and his son came and showed honor to the friend and his wife. They asked him, “Why are you honoring both?” He replied, “You have something of mine and it is not clear to me which of you has it, the husband or the wife. This way whoever has my possession will guard it well.” Similarly, they asked Moshe why he was addressing heaven and earth. He said to them, “I am going to die and I do not know where my soul is going, to heaven or to earth, as it is said, ‘Who knows if the soul of a person ascends?’ (Ecclesiastes 3:21) Therefore I am addressing both, so that wherever my soul rests it will be well guarded. God said to him, “By your life no creature will rule over your soul, it will rest under the Divine Throne in heaven.” As Avigayil said, “And may the soul of my lord be bound in the bounds of life with the Lord your God.” (1 Samuel 25:29)
In this Midrash, Moshe is speaking as he is about to die and doesn’t know if he is going to heaven or to earth. He shows honor to both of them in the hope that whichever receives his soul will care for it well. God consoles Moshe by swearing that his soul will go nowhere but the Holy Throne. Here Moshe is neither happy nor celebrating, rather he is afraid, and worried about what will happen to him after his death. Heaven and earth are not rivals here but a married couple, responsible together for the care of human souls.
The song itself, in its complex and poetic language, describes the fraught, complicated relationship between God and Israel. It opens with the praise of God, and then to God’s choosing of Israel. Despite Israel’s relationship with God, it nevertheless sinned by committing idolatry. The song then describes how God nearly destroyed Israel in punishment, but chose not to, and instead made Israel victorious over its enemies. The song might refer to the past, with Israel’s sins in worshipping the Golden Calf, or to the future and all the sins they commit later. Strikingly, Moshe does not call on Israel to repent in this song, or to choose well, although he does so on many other occasions. What saves the people from destruction here is not their repentance but God’s own decision not to destroy them, because of God’s own greatness which Moshe praises.
In our cycle of Torah readings, we read the story of the death and final prophecies of Moshe during Elul and Tishrei, as we prepare for and go through Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. The liturgy encourages us to identify with Moshe in facing the ending of our year. The Selichot liturgy, which is part of this process, retells the story of Moshe in perhaps his most dramatic moment of acting as ambassador to both earth and heaven. When God wants to punish people for the sin of the calf, Moshe begs God to forgive, not because the people have repented but because of God’s own greatness. The Selichot liturgy places us in the role of Moshe as we speak the Thirteen Divine Attributes that invoke God’s greatness as a reason for us to not be destroyed.
In the two parables about Moshe calling on heaven and earth we see two ways to approach Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. In the first, Moshe isn’t afraid. He is celebrating. He knows that God will, in the end, treat us well. Endings are a natural consequence of beginnings and not to be feared. We sin, over and over, and God gives us opportunities to return, because God is great and our relationship with God endures. Heaven and earth here are rivals but Moshe stands confidently in both, speaking to both God and the people.
In the second parable, Moshe faces the end of his life with fear and confusion. The process of accounting for our actions over the past year can be terrifying. We are responsible to both heaven and earth. Have we lived up to those responsibilities? Heaven and earth are married in this parable because, like Moshe, we are responsible to both God and to humanity.
Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, and the weeks surrounding them, are times of great celebration and also of great fear. We enjoy festive meals in celebration of our enduring relationship with God and with the created world, and we also take stock of the ways in which we may not always have lived up to that relationship. Like Moshe, we stand between heaven and earth, responsible to both, at a time of endings and beginnings.
