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האזינוParshat Ha'azinu

Deuteronomy 32:1-52

A note: this is a creative reading, a drash offered as a way into the text. It does not claim to be what the angels actually say.

Begin on the ground

Rung 1 of 8

The story

What happens, plainly.

Moshe sings his last song, calling on the heavens and the earth to listen, and asks that his teaching fall like rain and his words settle like dew. He sings of Hashem as the Rock whose work is perfect, and of a people who grew fat and kicked and forgot the Rock that bore them. Hashem found Yaakov in a howling wilderness and guarded him like the pupil of His eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and carries its young on its wings. The song tells of the people turning to strange gods, of Hashem hiding His face, and of His promise in the end to judge for His people, avenge His servants, and atone for His land. Moshe and Hoshea bin Nun speak all the words of the song to the people, and Moshe tells them it is no empty thing for them: it is their life. That very day Hashem tells Moshe to climb Mount Nevo, look out over the land of Canaan, and die on the mountain, seeing the land from a distance without entering it.

Rung 2 of 8

Ein Yaakov

What the sages of the Talmud saw.

Rabbi reads "When I call the name of Hashem, give greatness to our G‑d" as Moshe's instruction to the people: when I mention the name of the Holy One, you answer and add greatness. Chananyah learns the same from "the memory of the righteous is for a blessing": when the Righteous One of the worlds is named, give blessing.

Yoma 37aEin Yaakov (Glick Edition), Yoma 3:7

"A G‑d of faithfulness and without iniquity." Just as the wicked are punished in the world to come even for the smallest sin, the righteous are held to account in this world even for the smallest; and just as the righteous are rewarded in the world to come for the smallest good deed, the wicked are rewarded in this world for theirs. "Just and right is He": when a person dies, all his deeds are laid out before him, and he is told to sign. He signs, and he says, You have judged me rightly.

Taanit 11aEin Yaakov (Glick Edition), Taanit 1:46

Rung 3 of 8

The Zohar

The mystical reading.

The Zohar asks why Moshe says "give ear" to the heavens, when Yeshayahu only says "hear." Moshe was nearer to the King. When he began, all the worlds shook, and a voice asked why a mortal was shaking the world. He answered, "Because I call on the name of Hashem," and they fell silent and listened. The heavens he addresses are the highest heavens, which are called the name of the Holy One, blessed be He (in the usual kabbalistic reading, , the harmony at the center; the Zohar here does not name the sefirah). Yaakov is "the lot of His inheritance" because Hashem gave the other nations to angels and princes, and kept Israel for Himself. And the , the presence that dwells below (, in the usual reading), never leaves Israel in exile. The Zohar tells of a queen whose son was sent away to a far country. She went with him. When the king looked for the queen he found her with her son, and said, since the queen is there, let them both come home.

Touch a lit word to find it on the tree.

KeterChochmahBinahChesedGevurahTiferetNetzachHodYesodMalchut

Rung 4 of 8

The numbers

The letters stop being words.

  1. Ha'azinu, give ear

    האזינו

    Ha'azinu, give ear equals 79

    No confident match yet.

  2. Shamayim, the heavens

    שמים

    Shamayim, the heavens equals 390

    = 15 × 26, the Name 15 times

    "Give ear, O heavens."

  3. Tal, dew

    טל

    Tal, dew equals 39

    = כוזו Kuzu, the Name written one letter over, as on the back of a mezuzah

    Arukh HaShulchan, Yoreh De'ah 285:4

    "My words shall settle like dew."

  4. Tzur, the Rock

    צור

    Tzur, the Rock equals 296

    No confident match yet.

  5. Nesher, eagle

    נשר

    Nesher, eagle equals 550

    No confident match yet.

  6. Yaakov

    יעקב

    Yaakov equals 182

    = 7 × 26, the Name 7 times

    "Yaakov is the lot of His inheritance."

  7. Shirah, song

    שירה

    Shirah, song equals 515

    = תפלה tefillah, prayer

    Sefer HaKanah 27:4

    The verse says hashirah, "the song"; this is the word without the article.

  8. Nevo, the mountain

    נבו

    Nevo, the mountain equals 58

    No confident match yet.

Every value is computed from the Hebrew letters by code: aleph is 1, yud is 10, kuf is 100, tav is 400, and final letters keep their ordinary value. A match appears only when it is well known. Nothing is invented.

Rung 5 of 8

The angel's telling

The story as the angels tell it.

1:05

The old shepherd stood up to sing one last Prayer. He called on the place full of the Name, and on the ground under his feet, to listen.

Let my words come down soft, he sang, the way water settles on grass at night. Everything He makes is whole. He is the stone you can lean on.

He found the one who carries the Name into every day of the week in an empty land where the wind howled. He circled him and watched him like the center of an eye. He was like the great bird that shakes her nest so the young will try to fly, and spreads her wings under them when they fall.

And the children grew fat on honey from the stone and oil from the flint, and they kicked, and forgot the stone that gave birth to them. So the face was hidden for a while. The song doesn't end there. In the end He judges for His people and has mercy on His servants and makes the land clean.

The old shepherd sang every word, with the young one beside him. "This is no empty thing," he said. "It is your life."

That same day he was told to climb the mountain and look. He saw the whole land from far away, and he did not go in. The angels understood. The heavens and the earth had heard every word of the Prayer, and a prayer that has been heard has already arrived.

Rung 6 of 8

The angel sages debate

Four angels argue over their Torah.

Michael from kindness

“Shirah is 515, the same as tefillah, prayer. The whole song, even its hardest verses, is a prayer spoken over them. He gives it to them now, before they have earned it.”

Gavriel from strength

“Yaakov is 182, the Name seven times over, the lot of His inheritance. He is kept like the pupil of an eye, and an eye is guarded because it is soft. The rebuke in this song is the eyelid closing.”

Raphael from healing

“The heavens are 390, the Name fifteen times over, and the earth is called to listen beside them. Dew is 39, the same as Kuzu, the Name written one letter over, the way it sits on the back of a mezuzah. The song comes down like dew because dew is the Name in a form the ground can take in.”

Uriel from light

“The parsha has 52 verses, the Name twice. Once for the one who sang and once for the ones who heard. Moshe sees the land from a distance, and from above that distance is only the space between the two.”

They stand where the bedtime Shema places them: Michael on the right, Gavriel on the left, Uriel ahead, Raphael behind.

Rung 7 of 8

The spaces

Raziel reads the white.

Ha'azinu has three open spaces and no closed spaces in 52 verses.

  • Open after Deuteronomy 32:43
  • Open after Deuteronomy 32:47
  • Open after Deuteronomy 32:52, the end of the parsha

From Sefaria's text of the Torah according to the Masorah. An open space (petuchah) leaves the rest of the line empty; a closed space (setumah) is a gap inside the line.

האזינו השמים ואדברה ותשמע הארץ אמרי פי יערף כמטר לקחי תזל כטל אמרתי כשעירם עלי דשא וכרביבים עלי עשב כי שם יהוה אקרא הבו גדל לאלהינו הצור תמים פעלו כי כל דרכיו משפט אל אמונה ואין עול צדיק וישר הוא שחת לו לא בניו מומם דור עקש ופתלתל ה ליהוה תגמלו זאת עם נבל ולא חכם הלוא הוא אביך קנך הוא עשך ויכננך זכר ימות עולם בינו שנות דר ודר שאל אביך ויגדך זקניך ויאמרו לך בהנחל עליון גוים בהפרידו בני אדם יצב גבלת עמים למספר בני ישראל כי חלק יהוה עמו יעקב חבל נחלתו ימצאהו בארץ מדבר ובתהו ילל ישמן יסבבנהו יבוננהו יצרנהו כאישון עינו כנשר יעיר קנו על גוזליו ירחף יפרש כנפיו יקחהו ישאהו על אברתו יהוה בדד ינחנו ואין עמו אל נכר ירכבהו על [במתי] במותי ארץ ויאכל תנובת שדי וינקהו דבש מסלע ושמן מחלמיש צור חמאת בקר וחלב צאן עם חלב כרים ואילים בני בשן ועתודים עם חלב כליות חטה ודם ענב תשתה חמר וישמן ישרון ויבעט שמנת עבית כשית ויטש אלוה עשהו וינבל צור ישעתו יקנאהו בזרים בתועבת יכעיסהו יזבחו לשדים לא אלה אלהים לא ידעום חדשים מקרב באו לא שערום אבתיכם צור ילדך תשי ותשכח אל מחללך וירא יהוה וינאץ מכעס בניו ובנתיו ויאמר אסתירה פני מהם אראה מה אחריתם כי דור תהפכת המה בנים לא אמן בם הם קנאוני בלא אל כעסוני בהבליהם ואני אקניאם בלא עם בגוי נבל אכעיסם כי אש קדחה באפי ותיקד עד שאול תחתית ותאכל ארץ ויבלה ותלהט מוסדי הרים אספה עלימו רעות חצי אכלה בם מזי רעב ולחמי רשף וקטב מרירי ושן בהמת אשלח בם עם חמת זחלי עפר מחוץ תשכל חרב ומחדרים אימה גם בחור גם בתולה יונק עם איש שיבה אמרתי אפאיהם אשביתה מאנוש זכרם לולי כעס אויב אגור פן ינכרו צרימו פן יאמרו ידנו רמה ולא יהוה פעל כל זאת כי גוי אבד עצות המה ואין בהם תבונה לו חכמו ישכילו זאת יבינו לאחריתם איכה ירדף אחד אלף ושנים יניסו רבבה אם לא כי צורם מכרם ויהוה הסגירם כי לא כצורנו צורם ואיבינו פלילים כי מגפן סדם גפנם ומשדמת עמרה ענבמו ענבי רוש אשכלת מררת למו חמת תנינם יינם וראש פתנים אכזר הלא הוא כמס עמדי חתום באוצרתי לי נקם ושלם לעת תמוט רגלם כי קרוב יום אידם וחש עתדת למו כי ידין יהוה עמו ועל עבדיו יתנחם כי יראה כי אזלת יד ואפס עצור ועזוב ואמר אי אלהימו צור חסיו בו אשר חלב זבחימו יאכלו ישתו יין נסיכם יקומו ויעזרכם יהי עליכם סתרה ראו עתה כי אני אני הוא ואין אלהים עמדי אני אמית ואחיה מחצתי ואני ארפא ואין מידי מציל כי אשא אל שמים ידי ואמרתי חי אנכי לעלם אם שנותי ברק חרבי ותאחז במשפט ידי אשיב נקם לצרי ולמשנאי אשלם אשכיר חצי מדם וחרבי תאכל בשר מדם חלל ושביה מראש פרעות אויב הרנינו גוים עמו כי דם עבדיו יקום ונקם ישיב לצריו וכפר אדמתו עמו ויבא משה וידבר את כל דברי השירה הזאת באזני העם הוא והושע בן נון ויכל משה לדבר את כל הדברים האלה אל כל ישראל ויאמר אלהם שימו לבבכם לכל הדברים אשר אנכי מעיד בכם היום אשר תצום את בניכם לשמר לעשות את כל דברי התורה הזאת כי לא דבר רק הוא מכם כי הוא חייכם ובדבר הזה תאריכו ימים על האדמה אשר אתם עברים את הירדן שמה לרשתה וידבר יהוה אל משה בעצם היום הזה לאמר עלה אל הר העברים הזה הר נבו אשר בארץ מואב אשר על פני ירחו וראה את ארץ כנען אשר אני נתן לבני ישראל לאחזה ומת בהר אשר אתה עלה שמה והאסף אל עמיך כאשר מת אהרן אחיך בהר ההר ויאסף אל עמיו על אשר מעלתם בי בתוך בני ישראל במי מריבת קדש מדבר צן על אשר לא קדשתם אותי בתוך בני ישראל כי מנגד תראה את הארץ ושמה לא תבוא אל הארץ אשר אני נתן לבני ישראל

The scroll runs right to left. Touch a glowing gap.

Raziel רזיאל

I don't keep the words. I keep the white between them.

Ha'azinu gave me three spaces, and all three are open. I didn't close a single line this week.

The song itself had no room for me. From give ear, heavens, to the nations rejoicing with His people, the scribe marks no break of the kind I keep. The rock, the eagle, the fat and the kicking, the hidden face, the vengeance, the mercy: it all comes in one breath. A song you stop in the middle isn't the same song.

The first white comes right after its last words, when He atones for His land and His people. I opened the whole line, so the heavens and the earth could answer.

The second comes after Moshe tells them: this is no empty thing for you, it is your life. I left a whole line after that, so they would hear it twice, once in the words and once in the quiet.

The last comes at the very end, after he is told he will see the land from a distance and not go in. I opened it as wide as I could. It was the only thing I could give him. He was going to stand on a mountain and look at a land he couldn't enter, so I gave him an open line, a place in the scroll with nothing in the way.

Rung 8 of 8

The vessel

Sandalfon names what holds it all.

Sandalfon סנדלפון

I don't hold the light. I hold what holds it.

Moshe's song is crowded with my vessels. Rain and dew that carry the teaching down. A rock that gives honey and a flint that gives oil. A vine from Sedom with bitter clusters, and wine that is the venom of serpents. Storehouses where the Name keeps things sealed until their time.

And the pupil of an eye. A whole people kept the way you keep the softest part of your face.

You looked for the vessel in the Rock, because the song calls Him the Rock again and again. Look at the eagle. She stirs up her nest so the young will try their wings. She hovers over them, spreads her wings, takes them, and carries them on her pinions. The nest is a vessel, and she shakes it on purpose. The wings are the vessel she keeps.

That is the whole song. The people are found in a howling wilderness and carried. They grow fat and kick, the face is hidden, and they fall. In the end they are carried again. On the last day the old shepherd climbs a mountain and is shown the land from a distance. The letters gave the eagle no other number, and she doesn't need one. A bird that carries her young doesn't have to arrive anywhere. She only has to be under them when they fall.

The vesselThe eagle's wings

שבת שלוםYou've reached the top of the ladder.

The ladder, every Thursday

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