Click here to join the fun.
Monica is sick. We didn’t want her vomiting on the Torah so she’s not here.
This week’s Torah portion is the last one in the book of Deuteronomy — Haazinu.
“My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew.” (Deut. 32:2.)
Indictment
Moses called on heaven and earth to hear his words, and asked that his speech be like rain and dew for the grass. (Deut. 32:1–2.) Moses proclaimed that God was perfect in deed, just, faithful, true, and upright. (Deut. 32:3–4.) God’s children were unworthy, a crooked generation that played God false, ill requiting the Creator. (Deut. 32:5–6.) Moses exhorted the Israelites to remember that in ages past, God assigned the nations their homes and their due, but chose the Israelites as God’s own people. (Deut. 32:7–9.) God found the Israelites in the desert, watched over them, guarded them, like an eagle who rouses his nestlings, gliding down to his young, God spread God’s wings and took Israel, bearing Israel along on God’s pinions, God alone guided Israel. (Deut. 32:10–12.) God set the Israelites atop the highlands to feast on the yield of the earth and fed them honey, oil, curds, milk, lamb, wheat, and wine. (Deut. 32:13–14.) So Israel grew fat and kicked and forsook God, incensed God with alien things, and sacrificed to demons and no-gods. (Deut. 32:15–18.)
Punishment
God saw, was vexed, and hid God’s countenance from them, to see how they would fare. (Deut. 32:19–20.) For they were a treacherous breed, children with no loyalty, who incensed God with no-gods, vexed God with their idols; thus God would incense them with a no-folk and vex them with a nation of fools. (Deut. 32:20–21.) A fire flared in God’s wrath and burned down to the base of the hills. (Deut. 32:22.) God would sweep misfortunes on them, use God’s arrows on them — famine, plague, pestilence, and fanged beasts — and with the sword would deal death and terror to young and old alike. (Deut. 32:23–25.)
Punishment restrained
God might have reduced them to nothing, made their memory cease among men, except for fear of the taunts of their enemies, who might misjudge and conclude that their own hand had prevailed and not God’s. (Deut. 32:26–27.) For Israel’s enemies were a folk void of sense, lacking in discernment. (Deut. 32:28.) Were they wise, they would think about this, and gain insight into their future, for they would recognize that one could not have routed a thousand unless God had sold them. (Deut. 32:29–31.) They were like Sodom and Gomorrah and their wine was the venom of asps. (Deut. 32:32–33.) God stored it away to be the basis for God’s vengeance and recompense when they should trip, for their day of disaster was near. (Deut. 32:34–35.) God would vindicate God’s people and take revenge for God’s servants, when their might was gone. (Deut. 32:36.) God would ask where the enemies’ gods were — they who ate the fat of their offerings and drank their libation wine — let them rise up to help! (Deut. 32:37–38.) There was no god beside God, who dealt death and gave life, wounded and healed. (Deut. 32:39.) God swore that when God would whet God’s flashing blade, and lay hand on judgment, God would wreak vengeance on God’s foes. (Deut. 32:40–41.) God would make God’s arrows drunk with blood, as God’s sword devoured flesh, blood of the slain and the captive from the long-haired enemy chiefs. (Deut. 32:42.) God would avenge the blood of God’s servants, wreak vengeance on God’s foes, and cleanse the land of God’s people. (Deut. 32:43.)
view of the Dead Sea from Mount Nebo
Parting words
Moses came, together with Joshua, and recited all this poem to the people. (Deut. 32:44.) And when Moses finished reciting, he told them to take his warnings to heart and enjoin them upon their children, for it was not a trifling thing but their very life at stake. (Deut. 32:45–47.) That day God told Moses to ascend Mount Nebo and view the land of Canaan, for he was to die on the mountain, as his brother Aaron had died on Mount Hor, for they both broke faith with God when they struck the rock to produce water in the wilderness of Zin, failing to uphold God’s sanctity among the Israelite people. (Deut. 32:48–52.)
In rabbinic interpretation
The Gemara instructs that when writing a Torah scroll, a scribe needs to write the song of Deuteronomy 32:1–43 in a special two-column form, with extra spaces. If a scribe writes the song as plain text, then the scroll is invalid. (Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 103b.)
Rabbi Samuel ben Nahman asked why Moses called upon both the heavens and the earth in Deuteronomy 32:1. Rabbi Samuel compared Moses to a general who held office in two provinces and was about to hold a feast. He needed to invite people from both provinces, so that neither would fell offended for having been overlooked. Moses was born on earth, but became great in heaven. (Deuteronomy Rabbah 10:4.) Rashi interpreted Moses to warn Israel that the heavens and earth would be witnesses in this matter. Rashi explained that Moses called upon heaven and earth to serve as witnesses in case Israel denied accepting the covenant, because Moses knew that he was mortal and would soon die, but heaven and earth will endure forever. Furthermore, if Israel acted meritoriously, then the witnesses would be able to reward them, as the earth would yield its produce and the heavens would give its dew. (Zech. 8:12.) And if Israel acted sinfully, then the hand of the witnesses would be the first to inflict punishment (Deut. 17:7), as God would close off heaven’s rain, and the soil would not yield its produce. (Deut. 11:17.) (Rashi to Deut. 32:1.)
Rav Judah and Rava inferred from Deuteronomy 32:2 the great value of rain. (Babylonian Talmud Taanit 7a.) Rava also inferred from the comparison in Deuteronomy 32:2 of Torah to both rain and dew that Torah can affect a worthy scholar as beneficially as dew, and an unworthy one like a crushing rainstorm. (Babylonian Talmud Taanit 7a.) Rashi interpreted Deuteronomy 32:2 to refer to Torah, which, like rain, provides life to the world. Rashi interpreted the request of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:2 for his speech to rain down “as the dew,” “as the rain,” to mean that it should come in small droplets. Rashi interpreted that Moses wanted to teach the children of Israel slowly, the knowledge "raining" down on the people in small portions, for if they were to be subject to all knowledge coming down at once, they would be overwhelmed and thus wiped out. (Rashi to Deut. 32:2.)
Rabbi Abbahu cited Deuteronomy 32:3 to support the proposition of Mishnah Berakhot 7:1 that three who have eaten together publicly should say the Grace after Meals (Birkat Hamazon) together as well. In Deuteronomy 32:3, Moses says, “When I (who am one) proclaim the name of the Lord, you (in the plural, who are thus at least two more) ascribe greatness to our God.” Thus by using the plural to for “you,” Moses implies that at least three are present, and should ascribe greatness to God. (Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 45a.)
Rabbi Hanina bar Papa taught that to enjoy this world without reciting a blessing is tantamount to robbing God, as Proverbs 28:24 says, “Whoever robs his father or his mother and says, ‘It is no transgression,’ is the companion of a destroyer,” and Deuteronomy 32:6 says of God, “Is not He your father Who has gotten you?” (Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 35b.)
A midrash interpreted the report of Deuteronomy 32:8 that God "fixed the boundaries of peoples in relation to Israel’s number" (l’mispar b’nei Yisrael) to teach that before the days of Abraham, God dealt harshly with the world: The sins of Noah‘s generation resulted in the flood; the generation that built the Tower of Babel was dispersed throughout the globe, prompting the proliferation of languages; the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were answered with fire and brimstone. According to the midrash, when Abraham came into the world, God ceased the cataclysmic punishments and set the punishments of other peoples in relationship to Israel’s presence in the world. This midrash conveys that the Israelites’ presence somehow lessened God’s anger, bringing greater stability to the world. The midrash teaches that Jews, then, have a unique ability and responsibility to bring peace and stability to the world. (myjewishlearing.com)
The Gemara read the word “Rock” in Deuteronomy 32:18 to refer to God, and the Gemara employed that interpretation with others to support Abba Benjamin’s assertion that when two people enter a synagogue to pray, and one of them finishes first and leaves without waiting for the other, God disregards the prayer of the one who left. (Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 5b.)
The Gemara read the word reshef (“fiery bolt”) in Deuteronomy 32:24 to refer to demons, and the Gemara employed that interpretation with others to support Rabbi Isaac’s assertion that reciting the Shema in bed keeps demons away. (Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 5a.)
Nahama Leibowitz noted that Deuteronomy 32:27 contains a “very daring anthropomorphism indeed, attributing to God the sentiment of fear.” (Studies in Devarim: Deuteronomy, 328.)
Rav Hisda taught that one walking in a dirty alleyway should not recite the Shema, and one reciting the Shema who comes upon a dirty alleyway should stop reciting. Of one who would not stop reciting, Rav Adda bar Ahavah quoted Numbers 15:31 to say: “he has despised the word of the Lord.” And of one who does stop reciting, Rabbi Abbahu taught that Deuteronomy 32:47 says: “through this word you shall prolong your days.” (Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 24b.)
Commandments
Maimonides cites the parshah for one negative commandment:
- Not to drink wine of libation to idolatry (Deut. 32:38.)
(Maimonides. Mishneh Torah, Negative Commandment 194. Cairo, Egypt, 1170–1180. Reprinted in Maimonides. The Commandments: Sefer Ha-Mitzvoth of Maimonides. Translated by Charles B. Chavel, 2:189–91. London: Soncino Press, 1967. ISBN 0-900689-71-4.)
According to Sefer ha-Chinuch, however, there are no commandments in the parshah. (Sefer HaHinnuch: The Book of [Mitzvah] Education. Translated by Charles Wengrov, 5:443. Jerusalem: Feldheim Pub., 1988. ISBN 0-87306-497-6.)
And according to others, the parshah contains a commandment to listen, hear, and learn one’s ancestral history, as Deuteronomy 32:7–9 instructs one to "ask your father and he will tell you."
David between Wisdom and Prophecy (illustration from the Paris Psalter)
Haftarah
The haftarah for the parshah is the song of David, 2 Samuel 22:1–51. Both the parshah and the haftarah set out the song of a great leader. Both the parshah (in Deuteronomy 32:4 and 18) and the haftarah (in 2Samuel 22:1 and 2) refer to God as a Rock.
In the liturgy
Moses’ characterization of God as “the Rock” in Deuteronomy 32:4 is reflected in Psalm 95:1, which is in turn the first of the six Psalms recited at the beginning of the Kabbalat Shabbat prayer service. (Reuven Hammer. Or Hadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat and Festivals, 15. New York: The Rabbinical Assembly, 2003. ISBN 0-916219-20-8.)
