Parashat Ha’azinum – 5787

A D’var Torah for Parashat Ha’azinu

By Rabbi Dr. Matthew Goldstone

Prayer fills the season of repentance and it is at this point in the calendar when we read Moses’ final prayer, the last song before his demise: Ha’azinu.

It is fitting that Ha’azinu aligns with this season as it includes praise for God, but also recognition of people’s mistakes – some of the main themes of the high holidays. One verse in particular calls out to us at this moment (Deut. 32:20): וַיֹּאמֶר אַסְתִּירָה פָנַי מֵהֶם אֶרְאֶה מָה אַחֲרִיתָם (I will hide My countenance from them, And see how they fare in the end…). Ibn Ezra points out two dramatically opposed ways of reading this verse. One way to understand this verse is that God hides God’s presence because God knows what the people will ultimately do. That is, our actions and fate are predetermined. And, because we will ultimately end up sinning, God removes God’s presence from our midst. The other way of reading this verse is that God removes God’s presence in order to see how we will act in difficult times. According to this understanding, the future is open and in our hands to decide. If we make the right choice, then perhaps God will return. Two ways of reading the verse, one deterministic and the other grounded in free will.

In the liturgy during this season may of us recite the words: “teshuvah, tefillah, and tzedakah can remove the negative aspect of that which is decreed for us” (וּתְשׁוּבָה וּתְפִלָּה וּצְדָקָה מַעֲבִירִין אֶת רֹעַ הַגְּזֵרָה). This line from ונתנה תוקף references the negative aspect of the decree (רֹעַ הַגְּזֵרָה). This wording makes it seem like the decree has already been made and already contains something negative. Is it therefore predetermined like the first reading of the verse from our parashah? Yet, teshuvah and tzedakah are actions that we engage in to better ourselves and the world, and they seem like the second reading of the verse according to which we have the power to change our fate. So this line from the high holiday liturgy perhaps embraces the tension between predetermination and free will, the tension between the two ways of reading our verse from the parashah.

Some versions of the liturgy for selihot for the eve of Rosh Hashanah allude to our verse:

:אִם־גָּבְרוּ עֲוֹנוֹת וְעָצְמוּ מִלְּסַפְּרָה. נָא כָּל־מִדָּה נְכוֹנָה, דְּחֵה אוֹתָם ה’ לְהַסְתִּירָה. דִבּוּבֵי־עֹז בְּתַחַן, לְבַטֵּל מֵהֶם כָּתוּב, אַסְתִּירָה. לָמָה ה’ תַּעֲמֹד בְּרָחוֹק, תַּעְלִים לְעִתּוֹת בַּצָּרָה

If the iniquities are grievous and too many to count, [then] by virtue of every fitting attribute cast them away, Hashem, and conceal them. Let vigorous words of supplication annul that which is written: “I will hide [my face from them] (Deut. 32:20).” Why, Hashem, do You stand far off, hiding Yourself in times of trouble?

In this selihot prayer we start by asking that even if our sins are already great – and our fate already written – then we hope that God will allow our positive qualities to cover them up, to change our fate. It then goes on to reference our verse, requesting of God to let the words of our prayers annual God’s concealment. This line of the selihot liturgy then ends with a question: why? Why does God stand and observe from afar? Especially during times of trouble. Yet the verse already gives an answer: For God to “see how they fare in the end.” Why might the liturgy invoke our verse only to question it in this way? I think perhaps because we are not content with the answer provided by the text. Whether our actions are predetermined and our fate sealed, or the future is in our hands, either way, we long for the Divine presence to be uncovered. During this high holiday season we try to change the future and our fate. Will we succeed? Who knows. But one thing that we hope for is that God will be present with us in the moment.

Our liturgy pleads with God not to be a bystander, to not let us be overcome with our own sins and perhaps also the evil around us, which is not of our own doing. But if we want God to be actively present, then we too must be present and not stand idly by.

The continuation of our verse from Deuteronomy says כִּי דוֹר תַּהְפֻּכֹת הֵמָּה. This seems to provide an additional rationale for God’s absence, because they (the people) are a generation of overturning. We may certainly feel in the present moment that we are in a generation of overturning. But the question we must ask ourselves this high holiday season is which direction are we turning ourselves and our future? May this holiday season be a time of great reflection, leading to positive action for us and those around us.