DEUTERONOMY XXXII
THE HAKHEL CEREMONY
The last verse of the previous chapter reads: “Moses spoke to the ears of the entire congregation (Kahal) of Israel the words of this song to its conclusion.” The song referred to is the text of our chapters: Ha’azinu. According to the previous chapter, this song had to be read every 7 years during the festival of Sukkot in an assembly of all the people, a mass gathering called Hakhel, a word related to the word Kahal.
Gathered the men, women, children, and foreigners who resided with the people of Israel, the public reading was intended that (women) could listen, (men) could learn and get additional merit for bringing the very young. The presence of all the people served to relive the experience at Mount Sinai and became a kind of renewal of the covenant, the Brit, between God and people: the people will serve the one God and God will protect His people. This Divine revelation is also designated as Yom HaKahal, the day of the assembly and hence also the designation of Hakhel.
Yehuda Zoldan, of theMidrasha (Academy) for Women of Bar Ilan University, recalls that the Talmud mentions suchacelebration during the period of the First Beit HaMikdash during the reign of Rechovoham, and another celebration at the time of the Second Beit HaMikdash led by King Agrippas. After the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash this celebration fell into disuse and for some reason, the Chachamim did not order it to be celebrated as a reminder of the previous practice. It is possible that after the establishment of the weekly Torah reading, this convocation every 7 years lacked the initial urgency.
We read the book of Kohelet during Shabbat Chol HaMoed Sukkot because, according to the Talmud, this book was readduring the Hakhel ceremony that took place during the holiday of Sukkot. The nomenclature Kohelet is related to the word Hakhel. It is suggested that the reading of Kohelet during this ceremony is of great significance, because in addition to its ethical content, it served to underpin its spiritual character and justify its inclusion in the Tanach (Bible) canon.
Ha’azinu’s verses begin by invoking heaven and earth as eternal witnesses to the relationship of man and God, elements reminiscent of the first verses of Bereshit describing the creation of heaven and earth. They manifest Moses’ closeness to both elements which in turn synthesizes a basic teaching of Judaism that is reflected in Yaakov’s famous dream of the ladder linking earth to heaven.
While Judaism is of a spiritual nature, it does not deny the value of what is earthly, in turn symbolized by the carnal and spiritual ingredient of the human being. The Chachamim find the origin of blessing God, thanking Him for the many kindnesses He provides, in one of the verses, while a second emphasizes that God always acts with justice. The text makes a relationship between the different generations and emphasizes the role of teacher of the father and the elder. But above all there is Divine protection, such as an eagle that guards its nest and carries its chicks on its wings.
Abundance, the text points out, leads to rebellion and leads to the worship of strange gods that, each generation, probably substitutes for the temptations of their time. The result is the concealment of God, who disappears from the stage of History and allows wickedness and evil to arise. In our day, a prominent Israeli spiritual leader suggested that the Holocaust is probably a consequence of the faults committed by the people of that time. This statement produced a strong reaction of protest, especially if one considers the religious fervor of the vast majority of those who were vilely tortured and annihilated.
Toward the end, the text continues, Ani amit vachaye, machatsti va’ani erpa, “It is (I) God who sends death and who grants life, who wounds and who heals”, an affirmation that is wrapped in the mystery of Divine justice, often incomprehensible to the individual.
The Hakhel ceremony served to renew the experience at Mount Sinai and at the same time to remind us of the foundations on which the faith rests and the way of life that Judaism preaches.
