2020/5781

The Parashah of Ha’azinu is one long song. It describes how Hashem does good things to us, we do bad to Him, He punishes us, and in the end, He punishes the other nations also. It is not only a long song, but an important song, too. As the end of the Parashah states, the purpose of the song is to make sure we keep the Torah. This brings up a question: what about this song makes sure that we actually keep it?

On the surface, the song would seem to do the opposite. The song declares that we are going to do bad things, and that because of it, we are going to be punished, and very nearly wiped out. The only happy ending at the end of the song is that the other nations will be punished too. The song is saying that our failure is inevitable. It does not even hint at a possibility for Teshuvah! If our failure is inevitable, why try to succeed? How does this encourage us to keep the Torah?

Moshe Rabbeinu knows that the Jews will not keep the Torah. In the previous Parashah he said so outright: Bnei Yisrael had been rebelling against Hashem when Moshe was alive - how much more so after his death? Moshe cannot say that we can keep the Torah for all of time, because he knows that it is a lie; we will always fail at one point or another. Instead, Moshe gives us a different gift: the ability to get back up again.

Ha’azinu states that Bnei Yisrael will inevitably fail in its mission. It will get fat and forget Hashem, replacing Him with worthless pursuits. As such, Midah KeNeged Midah, Hashem will treat us as worthless and punish us accordingly. We would think that Hashem would forget us in the same way we forgot Him. Moshe is telling us that that is not true. Hashem may hide from us, but he will never abandon us, no matter what we have done. He will always come back for us. This creates the foundation of Teshuvah: the idea that sinning does not make us worthless. True, we may have sinned, but sinning was inevitable. As such, Hashem has not forgotten us, and as such, we still have the chance to improve.

This explains how Ha’azinu encourages us to keep the Torah. Being perfect is impossible. We will inevitably fail, and denying that is denying reality. Perfection was never the point. Therefore, Ha’azinu teaches us that while we may have failed terribly, and Hashem may have punished us terribly, He has not abandoned us. And since he has not abandoned us, we can still improve, and keep the Torah properly.