Skip to main content

Thought for the Day: Ha'azinu

Since I've started doing shtayim mikra v'echad targum (reading the parsha twice, followed by reading targum Onkelos), I always start out by checking out how many p'sukim I have this week.  It's like my own little s'gula.  Parshas Ha'azinu only has 52 p'sukim, so the first time through I thought, "Whew... this will be a snap!"  Once I started, of course, I found that it is comprised almost entirely of words that were even too hard for the Navi'im.  Oh yes, and it's poetry, so even reading any of the various English translations doesn't help much.  Then there is are teacher, Rashi.  Rashi in uncharacteristically expansive; another indication that you are in for quite a ride.  And then... then... as you near the end of the parsha, you see way more Rashi than can possibly be "p'shat" in the remaining p'sukim.  As it turns out, that is correct.  Rashi springs on you that even the tanaim had issues with Ha'azinu; leaving us with unresolved pair complementary explanations, one from R' Yehuda, one from R' Nechemya.  Not wanting to take sides, it turns out that all that Rashi at the end of the parsha is too much for just the remaining p'sukim.  Rashi has been explaining it all along according to R' Yehuda, now he goes back and explains it according to R' Nechemya.  Besides all that, the aliyos of the parsha are very precisely positioned to match with the poetic intent. Will the fun never end?

It turns out, explains, the S'porno, that Moshe Rabeinu wants to explain that HaShem is all good and wants nothing other than the closest possible relationship with His magnum opus -- the Jewish people.  The S'porno helps by giving us a brief overview of each section to we can see the progression.
  1. HaShem tried to get all of humanity involved, but on Klal Yisrael stood up to accept the relationship and merited thereby the entire focus of HaShem's attention.
  2. HaShem provided a home, Eretz Yisrael, for His beloved nation to be able to live in joy and excitement, benefiting from HaShem's overwhelming kindness.
  3. It was only our own sins (read: lack of appreciation) that has caused us to fall into the traps of the umos ha'olam again and again.
  4. Moshe Rabeinu then explains that there will be a redemption and why HaShem still wants us.
  5. Finally, how to achieve that final redemption and making known to us that HaShem will extract vengeance on our enemies; which are also His enemies.
I find that poetry, once understood, brings an added dimension of deep emotional stirrings that cannot be expressed nor felt any other way.  It takes work, but the benefit are well worth the struggle.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thought for the Day: Pizza, Uncrustables, and Stuff -- What Bracha?

Many years ago (in fact, more than two decades ago), I called R' Fuerst from my desk at work as I sat down to lunch.  I had a piece of (quite delicious) homemade pizza for lunch.  I nearly always eat at my desk as I am working (or writing TftD...), so my lunch at work cannot in any way be considered as sitting down to a formal meal; aka קביעת סעודה.  That being the case, I wasn't sure whether to wash, say ha'motzi, and bentch; or was the pizza downgraded to a m'zonos.  He told if it was a snack, then it's m'zonos; if a meal the ha'motzi.  Which what I have always done since then.  I recently found out how/why that works. The Shulchan Aruch, 168:17 discusses פשטיד''א, which is describes as a baked dough with meat or fish or cheese.  In other words: pizza.  Note: while the dough doesn't not need to be baked together with the meat/fish/cheese, it is  required that they dough was baked with the intention of making this concoction. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thought for the Day: What Category of Muktzeh are Our Candles?

As discussed in a recent TftD , a p'sak halacha quite surprising to many, that one may -- even לכתחילה -- decorate a birthday cake with (unlit, obviously) birthday candles on Shabbos. That p'sak is predicated on another p'sak halacha; namely, that our candles are muktzeh because they are a כלי שמלאכתו לאיסור and not  מוקצה מחמת גופו/intrinsically set aside from any use on Shabbos. They point there was that using the candle as a decoration qualifies as a need that allows one to utilize a כלי שמלאכתו לאיסור. Today we will discuss the issue of concluding that our candles are , in fact, a כלי שמלאכתו לאיסור and not מוקצה מחמת גופו. Along the way we'll also (again) how important it is to have personal relationship with your rav/posek, the importance of precision in vocabulary, and how to interpret the Mishna Brura.  Buckle up. After reviewing siman 308 and the Mishna Brura there, I concluded that it should be permissible to use birthday candles to decorate a cake on Sha...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thought for the Day: Why Halacha Has "b'di'avad"

There was this Jew who knew every "b'di'avad" (aka, "Biddy Eved", the old spinster librarian) in the book.  When ever he was called on something, his reply was invariably, "biddy eved, it's fine".  When he finally left this world and was welcomed to Olam Haba, he was shown to a little, damp closet with a bare 40W bulb hanging from the ceiling.  He couldn't believe his eyes and said in astonishment, "This is Olam Haba!?!"  "Yes, Reb Biddy Eved,  for you this is Olam Haba." b'di'avad gets used like that; f you don't feel like doing something the best way, do it the next (or less) best way.  But Chazal tell us that "kol ha'omer HaShem vatran, m'vater al chayav" -- anyone who thinks HaShem gives partial credit is fooling himself to death (free translation.  Ok, really, really free translation; but its still true).  HaShem created us and this entire reality for one and only one purpose: for use...
Post a Comment
Read more