Haazinu: The Purpose of Exile: Converts

In an expanding universe, time is on the side of the outcast. Those who once inhabited the suburbs of human contempt find that without changing their address they eventually live in the metropolis. -Quentin Crisp

The famed Song of Haazinu, Moses’ prophetic, poetic, final words to the nation of Israel, foretells, in cryptic verse, the future of the Jewish people. Among other events, it predicts both the rebellion of the Jewish people against God as well as our eventual exile from the land of Israel.

The Berdichever wonders as to why Haazinu is called a “song” (the Hebrew term “Shira” means a joyous song) if it contains such dire prophecies. What happiness, what joy can be found in our millennia-old exile? What is there to joyously sing about drifting, rootless, through the four corners of the planet for thousands of years? Of never having the safety of a homeland? Of being constantly persecuted? Of expulsions, inquisitions, ghettos, pogroms and a Holocaust?

The Berdichever states that there is not only a silver lining to our Exile, but that there is a deeper, fundamental reason why the nation of Israel needed to wander the globe all these centuries. It was to attract converts. Judaism is not a proselytizing religion. In fact, we discourage and make it challenging for non-Jews to undertake conversion to Judaism. Nonetheless, the Berdichever explains that the underlying purpose of our exile has been to gather converts. It is to collect holy sparks, divine souls from among all the nations of the world and bring them into the fold of our people.

That is why the prophecy of Haazinu that foretells our exile is called a “joyous song.” The gathering and elevation of the divine sparks from among the nations of the world are part of our historic mission. It can only be accomplished through the long, globetrotting exile of our people.

May we complete the mission of gathering the sparks and come back home already.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To the Bar-Mitzvah of Uriel Williams. Mazal Tov!