Haazinu Parsha Thoughts
Giving A Positive Example
Moshe was held to task for not sanctifying Hashem’s name: had he spoken to the Rock (Miriam’s well), people would reason ‘If a rock, having neither Gehennom nor Gan Eden, listens to Hashem, certainly we ought to!’ Providing others with an example to learn from is a ‘kiddush Hashem’ because then people commit to serving Hashem. His name is sanctified. He failed to do so, and was barred from entering Eretz Yisroel.
We too can serve as an example to others, showing others by our dedication that Hashem ought to be worshiped. The Torah teaches us here that this is considered a kiddush Hashem, the highest form of avodah!
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Calling To Witness
Moshe called the heavens and earth to hear his words: they bear witness. The Gemarah in Taanis exclaims ‘How great is the power of trust!’ It refers to the boy and girl who promised to marry one another, calling the well and weasel as witness. Those witnesses exacted their testimony by killing the children of the one who broke the promise. They fulfilled their trust. Certainly if someone takes Hashem as his trust, sums up the Gemarah, he will be vindicated. A witness vindicates and enforces their trust.
In fact we find this idea expressed in several places in the Torah. The stone pile and standing-stone (dolmen?) that Yaakov and Lavan set up were to be witnesses between them ‘This stone-pile is witness and this matzeva is witness…’
Question is what exactly in the nature of this witness? Do they actually proclaim their testimony, or just ensure that things are fulfilled? By which mechanism??
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Our Very Own Bubba Meises
Hashem says that the Jews have angered Him with other Gods: useless Non-Gods. Gods ‘whom your fathers did not fear’.
If their fathers had feared these Gods, would it then be OK?
Perhaps if one was taught falsehood, he may be justified in having accepted it unthinkingly. But we don’t have that excuse: our fathers did not teach us this, in fact they did not worship idols.
We had another explanation;
We carry a vast mesorah. Maybe not all of it may be Torah M’sinai. Perhaps some bubba meises mix in here and there. Yet it is still our Mesorah, for whatever it is. Even the non-truths are part of the great tissue of truth that we received. However when we make up our own foolishness, without it even being part of our “Mesorah”, then we really have no justification…
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Boomerang!
‘Sing to His Nation, all you people, for Hashem has avenged His servants!’
Why would all those people sing? Many of them felt that revenge firsthand!?
The Torah describes how the persecutors of the Jews will jeer ‘Where is the G-d you have such trust in? Let’s see Him come save you!’ When their trust is vindicated and Hashem pulls through, those jeers will turn to cheers; to a grudging admiration to the righteous who were on track all along, and who held to their truths despite all. We suspect that the louder the jeering is, the greater the cheering will be. Those who merely smirked will not consider themselves so defeated as those who laughed outright.
Next time we hear someone laugh at us we ought to encourage him ‘Go all the way, my friend, laugh yourself off your chair. Roll in the aisle, hold your sides. When the right time comes the Kiddush Hashem will be all the greater. So will be your praise to us’
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Weakening The All-Powerful
‘Tzur Yeladcha teshi’ is translated by Chazal: ‘The Rock, your Creator, you have weakened!’. You have actually weakened Hashem.
Strange thing to say about an Omnipotent G-d! Can one weaken the All-Powerful!?
One suggestion is that He appears weak. Although He is not actually weakened, since He does not act, people think Him weak.
However it goes farther than that: Hashem set things up so that our Mitzvos fuel His ability to act. Just as a powerful stereo system is weak if its batteries are worn-out, so too does Hashem weaken when we don’t fuel Him with Mitzvos.
The Pasuk points out the absurdity of it all; He is the Rock, the All-Powerful, and He even made us, and yet we are so audacious as to weaken Him!
The takeaway is that when we want Hashem to act, we need to do ours: provide the fuel. Keep that finger pointed at yourself…
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Seems Empty?
‘For the Torah is not an empty thing for you’
Chazal explain the ending ‘for you’ as a hint that he who finds the Torah’s words empty and meaningless, is empty himself. Why is this so?
The Torah is like a ruler; it is the standard by which other things are measured. Truth is measured by how the idea lines up with the Torah. Any discrepancy is not because of the ruler, it’s with the thing being measured!
The Torah is above human intellect and morality. We need to adapt to it, not adapt it to us.
Should we ever hear someone sound off about the Torah, that means that this man is crooked.
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Watch What You Water!
Onkolos explains ‘Am naval, v’lo chacham’ as ‘a nation who received the Torah, yet remained stupid’.
The idea expressed here is that not everyone learning Torah is improved by it. The Torah is like water; suppose the lawn is watered daily but is full of weeds – the weeds will grow too.
A person must first be decent. Then the Torah will improve him. Otherwise it can actually ruin him!
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Positive Isolation
The Genesis of the Jewish nation was in the desert: ‘Hashem found/formed them in the desolation of the desert, and He had set them alone, and they had no foreign Gods’.
When the Yeshiva Of Staten Island (MTJ) was planned, they sought out a location far from any other community. They did not want students going out to shiurim or other activities; the Yeshiva was all they had. This isolation is what formed them and allowed the Yeshiva to maximize its influence.
Its like a laboratory experiment: if things are allowed to mix and match, nothing will ever develop.
Isolation allows development. Engagement allows sharing that development farther. Both are absolutely essential.
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Bless him!
‘When I call out the Name of Hashem, give praise to your G-d’
Moshe told the Jews that praise is the appropriate response to hearing Hashm’s Name. (This is the direct source for Barchu and “Baruch Hu Uvaruch Shmo” we say. Perhaps that is the meaning in the phrase “HaKadosh Baruch Hu”: that we say ‘HaKadosh’ and then follow up with a bracha – Baruch Hu!)
When we hear about a good person, a tzaddik, we ought to follow up with a blessing or praise: ‘May he be well!’ and so on. Its a simple habit to form, (offer your kid a quarter for every time you forget) and a most valuable one!
©2013
kollel parshah | Tiferet Ramot 83-21, Jerusalem, Israel, 97290
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