Ha’azinu Deut. 32

 

Torah Portion: Ha’azinu Deut. 32:1-52

HafTorah: II Samuel 22:1-51

In Deut. 32:1 Moses uses two different verbs when addressing Heaven and Earth. I want us to start by looking at these verses and what it might mean to us spiritually. First, Ha’azinu means to give ear or listen closely, like when you might share something with a close friend. The other verb is a general term for listen. What can we learn from this? The rabbis say the first word signifies the closeness Moses felt to Heaven. I was thinking about this and about what it means for us. First Judaism sees life both spiritual and physical made up of a dichotomy, light and dark, days of the week, Sabbath, Heaven and earth. Given this, we live somewhat in the tension between these divisions.  We, like Moses, should have a close connection to the divine. We should be so close we only have to whisper and the world should not have the power over us that the spiritual has. We should be able to impact the physical world because of our closeness to the spiritual. We need only to whisper and G-d hears us.