Venue: Young Israel of Oceanside Young Israel of Oceanside

Parsha:

Haazinu 

Collections: R' Jonathan Muskat Drashot

Description

The Torah’s final mitzvah, to write down a “shira,” teaches us that Torah itself is a song—layered like poetry, harmonious like dialogue, and transformative like music. Shirat HaYam expresses joy, while Shirat Ha’azinu voices warning and struggle, yet both are called shira because Judaism commands us to keep singing through triumph and through hardship. Elie Wiesel’s encounter with the Lubavitcher Rebbe highlights this: faith is not only crying in struggle but singing through it. On Sukkot, we leave secure homes for fragile sukkot, reminding us that true joy is not security but the ability to sing in vulnerability. Just as in Ha’azinu, in the sukkah, and in our own lives, faith and joy are found in the courage to keep singing through it all.