Parshat Ha’azinu-A ‘gorgeous’ interpretation.(dedicated to the memory of Ari Fuld zal who was murdered this week ‘al Kiddush Hashem’).

In our introduction to sefer Devarim(5776) we highlighted the great debate as to the authorship of sefer Devarim and specifically the view of the Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh on this matter. In consonance with the majority view of total authorship by God of sefer Devarim and being conveyed to Moshe(derech grono-as a conduit), as with the other 4 books of the Bible, there is an interesting footnote from the Haamak Davar(Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehudah Berlin,d.1896.Lithuania) found at the end of parshat Vayelech, but with reference to our parsha of Ha’azinu. Moshe is told to write ‘for yourself’ the words of the ‘shira’ of Haazinu. What is the significance of this special command?

ועתה כתבו לכם. לפי הפשט מזהיר למשה שיכתוב את השירה הזאת בס״ת וילמדה את ב״י. דלא ככל פרשיות שבתורה שמתחלה דבר משה בע״פ לישראל כמו ששמע מפי הקב״ה. ואח״כ כתב אבל שירת האזינו הזהירו ה׳ שיכתוב ויגמור התורה וללמד את ב״י מתוך הכתב. כדין תורה שבכתב בזה״ז. וכן עשה משה כמבואר להלן כ״ב ויכתוב משה וגו׳ ואח״כ וילמדה וגו׳. ומש״ה נהג בה משה כדין שאנו עושים לברך עה״ת כשמלמדים מתוך הכתב וברבים כדאי׳ בירושלמי ברכות פ״ז מה תורה ברבים טעון ברכה. וכך עשה משה כדכתיב כי שם ה׳ אקרא וגו׳. וכדאי׳ בברכות דכ״ג. והרי לא נהג משה הכי עד כה. והטעם היינו משום שעד כה היה באופן שהשכינה מדברת מתוך גרונו. והוא דרך נסי שאין טעון ברכה וכמו לענין פרנסה לא התפלל במדבר מחמת שהיה הכל בדרך נס כמש״כ בספר במדבר כ׳ י״ג. כך לא ברך עה״ת בשעה שהיתה דרך נס. משא״כ שירת האזינו היה טעון ברכה. והיינו דכתיב להלן ל״ב מ״ד ויבא משה וידבר את כל דברי השירה הזאת באזני העם הוא והושע ב״נ. ולכאורה קשה היכן נצטוה יהושע בכך. אלא ודאי לא נצטוה אלא משה. ורק מחמת שלא היה הולך עוד קולו על כל ישראל. משום שלא היה בדרך נס. היה נצרך יהושע לסייעו בדבר. ומש״ה כתיב כאן הושע באשר לא היה קורא מדעת עצמו והמצוה מפי ה׳ אלא בשליחות משה. וכמו שהיה אז תלמידו והיה נקרא הושע. כ״ז הגיע למשה רבינו בשירת האזינו. והוא משום שהחל אורו לכהות. עד שהגיע לפני מותו ממש. התגבר האור ואמר פ׳ וזאת הברכה בע״פ. באותו כח שהיה תמיד. כדרך נר הכבה שמתלקח בשעת הכבוי באותו זוהר שהיה תחלה.

‘All the other parshiot of the Torah were said by God to Moshe and conveyed by him in an oral fashion to the children of Israel. Parshat Haazinu however is different. Moshe is commanded to write it down and then ‘say it over’ to the Jewish people from the written parchment, as we do with our ‘laining’ to this very day. This is exactly what Moshe did, and  this is the meaning of the command ‘to write it down’ as expressed here. This explains a phenomenon which we find in the beginning of Parshat Haazinu. It says:

ג  כִּי שֵׁם יְהוָה, אֶקְרָא:  {ס}  הָבוּ גֹדֶל, לֵאלֹהֵינוּ.  {ר}

3 For I will proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe ye greatness unto our God

and the Talmud(TB Berachot 23a) explains that this pasuk gives us the command to make a blessing on learning Torah(‘bircat Hatorah’). The question is obvious; why wait until now to give us this command, which surely applies to the whole of Torah and should have appeared much earlier in the Torah? The Netziv answers with a ‘gorgeous ‘interpretation(to quote Rabbi Isaac Bernstein zal who was well known for his Irish hyperbole).He says that until now the Torah was conveyed miraculously via the ‘throat’ of Moshe, which is the case up to the parsha of Haazinu. The Netziv already explained in parshat Chukat(20:13) that when anything is received from God in a miraculous way, such as the sustenance in the desert, it does not require a blessing, and so too with the Torah which was transmitted in this special way until now. However ‘Haazinu’ is different and it became a ‘normal’ transmission of Torah from a parchment, as Moshe was near to death and his voice no longer carried to the whole of the Jewish people. Consequently the law of ‘bircat Hatorah’ had to be established for the ‘new’ Torah to be studied in the non miraculous way as it was in parshat Haazinu. (The Netziv adds that) Vezot Habracha is   again said ‘orally’ as this was literally said in Moshe’s last moments and this is like a candle about to go out , when the last flame shines brightly for one final moment before extinguishing for good. So too with Moshe, who was able to say over to the Jewish people the last parsha in his miraculous way (as a conduit from God) and then he died. This also explains why Yehoshua is present for parshat Haazinu , as Moshe now needs help to convey this special message to the people, and Yehoshua has to help him perform this task.’

Apart from the Netziv’s interpretation ,Rabbi Bernstein found a similar idea in the sefer Kedushat Levi of the Berditchever, who expresses the idea in terms of ‘asplakaria hameirah’(clear vision-as found in all the transmissions from God to Moshe) and ‘asplekariah she’aina meirah(vision with less clarity) which is represented by parshat Ha’azinu, to reflect the waning of the holiness of Moshe before he died.

When I first heard this interpretation in London over 25 years ago it made a great impression on me, in terms of Moshe being prepared to give of his last breath for the sake of the Jewish people. This epitomizes the person we are all mourning this week, Ari Fuld zal(Hashem Yinkom Damo) who also gave of his last breath for the Jewish people. He was a great lover of Israel and my daughter and son in law had the pleasure of meeting him when he came to Houston and have told me what a remarkable man he was. May Hashem comfort all of us by making this the final sacrifice before evil is truly eradicated from the world, as we prayed for during the Yamim Noraim and may his memory be for a blessing.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach              Cherry Hill NJ/SCW     Tishrei 5779