A song that awaits a melody
“Now therefore write this song for you and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the Children of Israel.” [Deuteronomy 31:19]
On Moses’ last day of life, G-d presented His servant with a challenge: The prophet king was ordered to write a song that the Jews would remember for eternity. Moses came up with — or he took down divine dictation — a 70-line composition that reviewed the history of the world and his people while castigating their behavior and finally bringing them to the end game. Moses’ witnesses were the heaven and earth, which would never die or grow old. How Moses managed to write all this in one day can be chalked up to another wonder. In 1924, it took George Gershwin five weeks to sketch out “Rhapsody in Blue”
“Listen, heaven, and I will speak; let the earth hear the words of my mouth.” [Deuteronomy 32:1]
Notice, G-d does not tell Moses to write a poem. There is nothing in our weekly Torah portion Haazinu that resembles an iambic pentameter. This is no sonnet; the words don’t rhyme. If anything, Moses’ work was meant to be sung to a tune, the key of which we still don’t know.
The Jewish people have never been allowed to forget their past as slaves. Throughout history, slaves usually composed messages disguised as songs. For some 300 years, it was illegal to teach blacks in America how to read or write. Spirituals became the leading form of communication. Harriet Tubman, born Araminta Ross in Dorchester County, Maryland in 1822, went one step further: Often called Moses, she taught slaves a simple tune called “Wade in the Water,” actually a primer on how to escape their white masters and throw bloodhounds off their trail.
Who’s that band all dressed in red?
Wade in the water
Looks like the band that Moses led
G-d’s a-going to trouble the water
Other slaves used song to warn of their master’s approach. Sometimes, one of the slaves would compose a ditty that satirized the plantation owners or just whites in general. Frederick Douglass, another abolitionist, said slave owners wanted to know at all times where their blacks were. In his words, “A silent slave is not liked by masters or overseers.”
Moses’ song had nothing to do with escape, satire or shirking. Instead, Haazinu is a song that relates honesty — examining the foibles of a people who had everything except faith. They saw little and remembered even less. The lessons of Enoch and Noach were irrelevant. The prophets who warned of the future were ludicrous. G-d became antiquated; AI was crowned the new divinity. The present was hailed as everything.
“Corruption is theirs, not His. The flaw is of His children — a crooked and perverse generation. Is this how you repay G-d?” [Deuteronomy 32:5-6]
Regardless of what comes first, it is clear that arrogance and stupidity walk hand in hand. The arrogant are confident they can spin anything to their liking while the stupid walk with their heads to the ground. The arrogant deny divine assistance, claiming success and power as their own. The stupid are taught to reject thought, rather absorb whatever lie is fed to them.
So, what remains for the arrogant and stupid is repetition. Deuteronomy, including Haazinu, reiterates the same theme: G-d, not some greasy politician, established the Jewish nation. The successes are miracles from G-d rather than Western technology. The failures are reminders for the Jews to shape up. Repentance is not an elective rather the only means of survival.
Fact: There is no other nation on this planet that experienced miracles such as Israel. Can you point to any people attacked by five armies that emerged victorious? Can you find an air force that achieved a kill ratio of more than 60-0? Can you name a country that killed most of the enemy’s leadership more than 1,000 miles away within days?
And yet the State of Israel refuses to mention G-d, not even in its anthem. Why? Is it arrogance, stupidity or both?
“You are a foolish people and unwise. Is He not your father, who acquired you as His chosen people, settled you in your land, and equipped you with all that you need?” [Deuteronomy 32:5-6]
Shlomo Yitzhaki, or Rashi, adds that Moses himself is amazed at G-d’s beneficence. The Almighty ensured that Israel would not depend on any stranger. Israel would not need to import Chinese, Indians, Turks, rather the Jews would serve as a source of everything from priests to prophets. In Rashi’s words, Israel would become a “self-sufficient metropolis.”
And yet the loop continues: Arrogance that leads to idolatry that leads to exile that leads to pogroms, genocide and total passivity. But Moses’ song prophesied that G-d will not play this game much longer. He will exhibit a trait that no human can do when betrayed repeatedly. He will show mercy to His children. The Jews, all of them, will be brought to understanding and repentance. G-d will lead His people. Their oppressors will be brought to justice.
“After G-d will have chastised His people, He will relent toward His servants. When He sees that the [enemy’s] strength grows and that no one [among his people] is being saved by a ruler or by one who strengthens them.” [Deuteronomy 32:36]
Haazinu is not a song of despair and tragedy. It is not an executioner’s song, rather one of hope and redemption. When we come to the final stanza, G-d will be sure to slip us the tune.
