HA’AZINU_DEUTERONOMY XXXII:1-XXII:52
These chapters appear in verse form in the Tora, which makes an exception for this song, written in 2 narrow columns, which occupy the space normally allocated to a column. Since it is one of Moshe’s last pronouncements, this poem takes on greater importance. Our text begins with Ha’azinu hashamayim… vetishma ha’arets…: “Listen to heavens… and let the earth listen…”. Similar words are found in the book of Yeshayahu, in which the prophet exclaims Shim’í shamayim veha’azin erets: “Listen to heaven, and let the earth hear.”
In the original Hebrew it can be noted that, in each case, there are 2 different words to signal listening: leha’azin and lishmo’a. Rashi points out that leha’azin refers to listening up close, while lishmo’a means hearing a distant sound. Moshe, who was of higher spiritual status than prophet Yeshayahu, was closer to heaven; that is why the word leha’azin is used when pointing to a sound that must be heard in the heavens, while that word is used by Yeshayahu with reference to his closeness to the earth when compared to Moshe.
With this distinction in mind, we point out that among the biblical episodes that are difficult to comprehend like the case of Yitzchak’s binding on an altar. It is incomprehensible that the father, Avraham, was willing to place him to be sacrificed. How can a father contemplate such a sacrifice? When God instructed him to deliver his son as a burnt offering, Avraham’s response should have been, “I am personally willing to offer my life if that is what is demanded, but I cannot offer my son”. Avraham would have shown absolute courage, a fact that very few people would be willing to do, and thereby demonstrate his deep faith.
Our amazement at Avraham’s attitude rests on our inability to take the place of the patriarch. If we consider that Avraham revolutionized the world of ideas and spirit with his proposal of the existence of One God who governs the destiny of each being, we must assume that we are in the presence of a singular personality, unparalleled. Usual measurements or evaluation cannot be applied to Avraham whose faith in God was total, without hesitation. Avraham “knew in his mind” and “felt in his heart,” without a shadow of a doubt, that God was just and would never lead anyone to immorality.
According to Jewish tradition, Moshe was on a higher spiritual level than the patriarchs: he was a singular individual. He was a giant of the spirit. The Bible testifies that God spoke to Moshe “face to face” and not in a dream or in a nocturnal apparition. Bechol be’ití ne’eman hu, “In my entire house, he is the person of trust,” is the expression that Torah attributes to God with reference to Moshe.
The Divine sentence that prevented Moshe from setting foot in the Promised Land provoked the plea and petition, Vaetchanan, and Moshe implored. The aforementioned Rashi comments that Moshe’s request was not based on any merit, because God knows all, including the thoughts and feelings that have not been expressed in words. Moshe implored by appealing to Divine Mercy, which this time had to give way to the pattern of Absolute Justice.
Therefore, Moshe’s life is a kind of unfinished spiritual symphony: he extracts the enslaved people of Egypt and leads them to Sinai, where God reveals His Will and specifies a set of norms that will lead to spiritual and social realization for Humanity. Just as Moshe’s life was an unfinished symphony, mortality starkly reminds us that no person can finish his mission on earth.
Future generations will be in charge of building on what was built previously, expanding the accumulation of knowledge based on the memories of other generations. The symphony will have a conclusion in some messianic era, which probably depends on solidarity with the disadvantaged, on personal conduct that follows those Ten Instructions that were engraved on the stone at Sinai and that no tyrant has been able to erase.
