Parasha Ha’azinu
SAN DIEGO — What’s with Moshe and his songs? We’re familiar with the “Song of the Sea,” יָשִֽׁיר־מֹשֶׁה֩ אָ֣ז, in Exodus where we sing of praise for the miraculous redemption following the crossing of the sea while Ha’azinu הַאֲזִינוּ — “listen” – teaches us in a dramatic artistic way something more broadly about the important role of our attitude in life.
Yes, The Mechilta of Rabbi Ishmael counts 10 songs in the Bible, but let’s focus on this week’s song. And who is listening to these songs? Rashi tells us Heaven and Earth. And as we stand spiraling through COVID19, we too are to be audience to the words of Moses to bring our actions and our values in line with each other as it says, “Then Moses recited the words of the following poem to the very end, in the hearing of the whole congregation of Israel.”
Moshe appears to offer a number of warnings to us but the one that captured my attention is about prosperity and privilege. Both carry trials, and both rest fully on the way we think about each one.
Perhaps you are familiar with the mashal of the two students who tell their rabbi that they have a desire to strengthen their ability to live with hardship. Their teacher sends them to a man who has lived with adversity his entire life – orphaned, homeless, nearly no food for nourishment. The boys never saw such poverty, and shaken, they asked the man how he could possibly live with such misfortune and suffering. The man answered simply, “I don’t know. Nothing bad ever happened to me.”
On this Shabbat of Return, between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, during these times of emotional turmoil especially, a central theme that pops out for me is that we are an optimistic people. Sure we kvetch, groan and moan, but we know we are not destined to remain stuck in our past or our present. Moses’ song urges us to look at our past, our missteps, our misguided actions, our errors, and learn from them. What came before us doesn’t have to define us. Our prologue is not necessarily our epilogue. It is, however, part of our precious legacy.
Recall last year at this time and how we prayed for so many wonderful things. One thing we’ve learned is that we have no control over attacks upon us – from plagues to wildfires. What we can take from Ha’azinu is that we can respond by always being a force for good. We can turn ourselves around if not what plague, what stoning, what beast, attacks us. How? By holding close to words of Torah, our true Tree of Life.
Moshe “sings us” a critical lesson that we can apply in our lives to begin anew this year. When we find a mindset of balance, when we remain steady and resilient amongst the many different blessings of all types we’ll face in the coming year, we’re off to a healthy new beginning. We see in Ha’azinu that the most difficult challenges we face now may be the best source of growth – if our minds and hearts are alert and receptive to see this. Setbacks are only setups for magnificent comebacks, the parasha appears to be suggesting
Ha’azinu has roots related to the Hebrew word, moznayim מֹאזְנָ֫יִם, or scales. How will you create equilibrium in your life this year between the blessings of challenge and ease, between the blessings of financial strain and abundance, between the blessings of shortage and surplus, and between the blessings of illness and health? How will you share your blessings? How will you see that everything that occurs actually happens FOR you, not TO you? That’s worth singing about.
G’mar Chatima Tova…may you be sealed for a good year.
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Michael Mantell, Ph.D., prepares a weekly d’var Torah for Young Israel of San Diego, where he and his family worship. They are also members of Adat Yeshurun Synagogue. He may be contacted via michael.mantell@sdjewishworld.com