Ha'azinu
Ha'azinu is Moses's farewell song to the Israelites, in which he talks about their status as God's chosen people and the consequences of forgetting our dependency on God. Moses emphasizes that it is through keeping God's word that the people will be able to live well in the land of Israel. Moses is told by God that he is now about to die, and that he will see the land but will not enter it.
The Last Plea - Mark Lazar
Mark Lazar is a Jewish educator currently based in Jerusalem specializing in informal education, leadership training and user-friendly Judaism.
I really would have loved to touch it...
to have put my hands to the ground and feel the soil, the land, the texture of Your creation...
to walk upon the hills and the mountains,
to feel the cool breeze flow over the greenery and to graze with the peaceful flock...
to wind my way through the narrow gullies and canyons, balancing on rocks and boulders, while breathing in the desert air.
To take a handful of sand from the beaches and count the grains, like us...
more numerous than the stars in the heavens.
And to rest atop of your mountain and gaze into those same stars...
and into Your eyes once more...
to dwell in Your presence, to behold Your beauty, to pray in Your sanctuary.
But I know.
I understand.
I accept.
But I still need You.
I need You to acknowledge me.
I need to know that this is completed, that this was the way, that this was the end and the beginning.
I need to know...
and I know the "I" is the reason for this now, between us.
You know how I've hurt.
You know my regrets.
You know my faults.
You remind me of them in Your very presence.
You are the mirror of my being, yet I am but a particle of Yours.
And You need that particle to be wiped clean from its guilt.
Where to begin?
Where to stop?
What's left is all between...
Is it for me to recognize what is needed for me to become One?
I'm broken.
I'm a shell.
I'm empty except for the memories I leave behind.
I'm Yours...I'm dust...I'm nothing...I - - - will not exist...as I.
But one last time....
I would like to feel Your presence in the here and now.
One last time I would like to gaze into Your face like before.
To encounter You as You are what You are.
Wasn't it enough not to let me stand just once upon the land?
Didn't I give my life for my cause?
Didn't I abandon my own children for Yours?
Didn't I keep You comfort when no one would listen to You?
Back to "I"...
But I am just me.
I am not a god.
I am not You.
I am just Israel...
struggling between my self and Your presence.
I am just Israel...
struggling between my childish, selfish nature and Your guided way of life.
I am just Israel...
a people on an eternal path of humanity...
seeking an eternal path of godliness.
I am just...
You...
as You search for wholeness with us and all of Your creations. I am just One.
But it would have been nice to hear You once more.
And I hit the rock...I hit the rock...I hit the rock...
Another Voice
In this parsha, Moses describes the Torah is the following way:
"My lesson will drip like rain; my word will flow like dew; like storm winds on vegetation and like raindrops on grass." (Deut. 32:2)
Rashi, the 11th century commentator, explains this verse:
My lesson will drip like rain. This is the testimony that you shall testify, that in your presence, I declare, "The Torah which I gave to Israel, which provides life to the world, is just like this rain, which provides life to the world, [i.e.,] when the heavens drip down dew and rain. - [Sifrei 32:2] ...
will flow like dew - with which everyone rejoices, [unlike] the rain [which occasionally] causes anguish to people, such as travelers, or one whose pit [into which he presses his grapes] is full of wine [which is spoiled by the rain]. - [Sifrei 32:2]
like storm winds. ... [The metaphor is explained as follows:] Just as these [stormy, rainy] winds maintain the plants and promote their growth, so too, the words of the Torah cause those who study them to grow.