Parshat Haazinu
The tenth section of the Book of Deuteronomy is composed almost entirely of the Poem of Testimony that G d taught Moses and instructed him to teach the Jewish people. In it, G d bids the Jewish people to hearken (Ha’azinu, in Hebrew) to His words as He reviews their history and informs them of the consequences of their future conduct, whether good or bad.
The midrash lists the ten songs in Tenach (Tenach stands for Torah Neviim-prophets- and Ketuvim- writings) which include famously the song at the sea, the song of David (this weeks Haftorah), the song of Devorh and this week’s parsha Ha’azinu.
Ha’azinu differs from the song at the sea of reeds as follows: The song at the sea was sung spontaneously by Moses and then the people in response to God’s miracle. In contrast the song of Ha’azinu is taught to Moses by God as the verse states
“And now, write for yourselves this song, and teach it to the Children of Israel. Place it into their mouths, in order that this song will be for Me as a witness for the children of Israel.”
In other words this is not a song in response to a miracle but a song for the future.
We also taught that Ha’azinu contains within it allusions to all the Torah. So it is a very deep song indeed.
Let us examine just one verse
“For it is not an empty thing for you, for it is your life, and through this thing, you will lengthen your days upon the land to which you are crossing over the Jordan, to possess it.”
Rashi (1040-1105 Troyes, France) – the greatest of our classic commentators writes on this verse:
“You do not labour over it in vain, for a great reward is contingent upon it, for “it is your life” [that is, the reward is life itself]. Another explanation: There is not one empty [i.e., superfluous] word in the Torah which, if properly expounded upon, will not have a reward attached to it.”
Two powerful points are being made by Rashi that are just as relevant today.
1) Learning Torah and observing the commandments is what makes a Jews life truly meaningful. All material pleasures are finite and eventually wither away. Only the Torah connects us to Eternal life because the Torah and Hashem and One.
2) However irrelevant a Torah passage or phrase may seem to us, it nevertheless contains infinite wisdom since it comes from God. The premise of true study is based on this as if we erroneously believe the Torah to be a human construct then why look back at an ancient text. If we have faith that every letter has significance then we have made the first step towards discovering the holy nuggets of wisdom contained in the Torah.
Coming back to the Midrash that lists ten songs. The tenth song is one yet to be sung when Moshiach comes. It will be the ultimate song of all humanity in harmony. May that day come very soon!
PS for those interested in seeing the list of the ten songs see here https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/8689?lang=bi for a good summary.
Shabbat Shalom and Shanna Tova & Chag Sameach!