Parashat Ha’azinu-Listen-4 October 2025 / 12 Tishrei 5786

Mr. Murthy Gaddi
Oct 1
6 min read

GADDI’s Notes from the Sages Writings:

“Ha’azinu: The Song of Witness, Israel’s Failings, and Moses’ Final Ascent”

“HA’AZINU: THE ETERNAL SONG OF COVENANT, WARNING, AND REDEMPTION”

1. The Song as Covenant and Witness

Rashi (Deut. 32:1): Explains that Moses calls heaven and earth as witnesses because they are eternal and impartial; if Israel fulfills the covenant, they reward (rain, crops), and if not, they punish (drought, famine).
Midrash Tanchuma: Adds that the heavens and earth were present from Creation and remain until the end—living testimony across generations.
Chassidic Insight (Sefat Emet): Heaven = spiritual inspiration, Earth = material reality. Ha’azinu binds both, teaching that Torah must penetrate life both above and below.

2. “Remember the Days of Old ”

Midrash Rabbah (Devarim 8:3): This verse instructs Israel to learn from history— God’s justice unfolds across generations; nothing is random.
Ramban: “Ask your father” refers to the patriarchs; “your elders” to the prophets. Moses is urging Israel to anchor faith in collective memory and tradition.
Ohr HaChaim: Remembering history prevents arrogance— prosperity without memory leads to rebellion.

3. God’s Care in the Wilderness

Rashi (32:10): Like an eagle carrying its young, God shielded Israel with His wings, never letting an enemy strike from below.
Midrash (Shir HaShirim Rabbah 2:14): Israel in the desert was like a dove in a cleft of rock—helpless but utterly cherished.
Zohar: The desert symbolizes spiritual emptiness; God’s presence turned desolation into a place of revelation.

4. The Danger of Abundance: “Yeshurun Grew Fat and Kicked”

Sifri: Israel is most vulnerable not in suffering but in comfort; prosperity breeds forgetfulness.
Ramban: The verse warns that material success is the root of idolatry, as pride blinds the heart.
Chassidut (Baal Shem Tov): Physical abundance is not evil, but it must be spiritualized—wealth without gratitude becomes poison.
Zohar (III:305a): Forgetting “the Rock” means cutting off from the divine source of life, leading to exile.

5. Calamity and Hester Panim (God’s Hidden Face)

Talmud (Chagigah 5b): When God hides His face, even the righteous suffer— but this concealment is temporary.
Rashi: Hester Panim is not abandonment but concealment, a chance for Israel to awaken.
Midrash: Like a father hiding to awaken his child’s longing, God’s hiddenness is itself an act of love.
Zohar: Even in concealment, divine light flows in hidden channels; the Shekhinah never fully departs.

6. God’s Vengeance and Final Reconciliation

Verse (32:43): “For He will avenge the blood of His servants, and be reconciled with His people and land.”

Midrash Rabbah: Just as God scattered Israel, He promises to gather them; exile contains the seed of redemption.
Rambam (Hilchot Melachim 12:2): Redemption is inevitable—it is embedded in the covenant.
Ohr HaChaim: Even when Israel is undeserving, divine mercy ensures reconciliation.
Chassidut: Redemption is likened to a symphony—where past dissonance resolves into harmony.

7. The Song as Eternal Torah

Talmud (Sanhedrin 21b): Ha’azinu was to be memorized by all; it is the Torah’s testimony across history.
Rashi (32:47): “For it is not an empty thing for you; it is your life”— Torah is not abstract philosophy but the very breath of Israel’s existence.
Zohar: Ha’azinu is more than poetry—it is a spiritual map of history from Creation to Redemption.
Shem Mishmuel: The song’s structure mirrors the soul’s inner music— Torah resonates as melody within the Jewish heart.

Essence According to the Sages

Parshat Ha’azinu is not merely Moses’ farewell—it is a prophetic song, weaving history, morality, rebuke, exile, and redemption into one eternal melody. The sages reveal it as the covenantal soundtrack of Israel’s destiny: a reminder that prosperity demands humility, suffering conceals divine love, and history always resolves in God’s ultimate reconciliation with His people.

“HEAVEN AND EARTH AS ETERNAL WITNESSES: RASHI, IBN EZRA, AND RAMBAN ON HA’AZINU”

“GIVE EAR, O HEAVENS” – THE WITNESSES OF HEAVEN AND EARTH

1. Rashi – Eternal Witnesses of Reward and Punishment (Peshat / Drash)

Moshe, being mortal, knows his words must endure beyond his life. He therefore calls upon the heavens andearth—permanent, enduring entities—to bear testimony to the covenant.

They are active witnesses:

If Israel is faithful → heavens give dew, earth yields crops.
If Israel sins → heavens withhold rain, earth denies produce, nations attack.

Ethical Insight: Rashi teaches that Torah is not abstract; it lives in the natural order. The very cycles of nature reflect Israel’s covenantal behavior.

2. Ibn Ezra – Permanence and Symbolism (Remez / Philosophical)

Sa'adya Gaon's view: “ Heavens ” = angels; “ Earth ” = people.
Alternate Ibn Ezra view: The testimony comes from rain (heaven) and crops (earth), visible reminders of covenant blessings or curses.
Deeper Insight: For Ibn Ezra, the key is permanence. Heaven and earth, like mountains or Joshua’s stone (Josh. 24:27), represent unchanging witnesses.
Philosophical Layer: The human soul bridges heaven and earth—it elevates the physical and lowers the spiritual to its level of understanding. Thus, calling heaven and earth mirrors the human condition itself, balancing body and soul underGod.

3. Ramban – Mystical Dimension (Sod)

On the peshat level,Ramban agrees withIbn Ezra:heaven and earth = enduring elements of creation, similar to Micah’s “Hear, O mountains.”

On the Kabbalistic (Derech HaEmet) level, however, Ramban reads the verse cosmically:

The heavens and earth here are the primordial heaven and earth from Bereishit (Gen. 1:1).
These primal forces are drawn into a covenant with Israel.
Moshe is not merely addressing physical heaven and earth, but cosmic foundations of reality—higher heavens and earth that sustain all creation.

Mystical Insight: The covenant binds not only Israel but the entire structure of creation itself; the upper and lower realms are witnesses to, and participants in, the destiny of the Jewish people.

Unified Teaching from the Sages

Rashi grounds us: Heaven and earth testify in practical, tangible ways— rain, crops, drought, famine.
Ibn Ezra elevates it: Heaven and earth symbolize permanence, human soul mediation, and the bridge between spiritual and physical.
Ramban expands it: Heaven and earth here are cosmic archetypes, the very building blocks of existence, joined in covenant with Israel.

Essence

The opening cry of Ha’azinu—“Give ear, O heavens… let the earth hear”— is not just poetic flourish. The sages reveal it as a cosmic covenantal moment:

Witnesses of nature (Rashi).
Symbols of permanence and human duality (Ibn Ezra).
Mystical archetypes of creation itself (Ramban).

Moshe, at the threshold of death, engraves Israel’s covenant not only into history, but into the very fabric of heaven and earth.

Haazinu - Listen

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