Torah Portion
The Jewish People's Destiny:
To Return To God And Torah
nation: "I know that after my death, you
will certainly corrupt yourselves and
turn away from the way that I have
commanded you, and evil will befall you
... because you have done evil in the eyes
of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 31:29).
Basically, it seems that the whole
thrust of the shirah and its accompany-
ing verses are an acknowledgment of
Moses' (and, in fact, God's) failure, and
the certainty that the Jewish people will
he bulk of this week's Torah
abandon its covenant with God and will
portion is a shirah, a song or
fail to fulfill its potential as God's nation.
a poem.
Why would God cause Moses so
This poem is Moses' last
much anguish before his death by reveal-
exhortation to the Jewish people before
ing this? Why, indeed, would
his death and, as such, must
the Torah itself paint such a
be of great significance. In
bleak future for the Jewish
addition, God commands
nation? And why would God
Moses (Deuteronomy 31:19-
insist that the people inter-
21): "And now write this shi-
nalize this catastrophic vision
rah and teach it to the Jewish
by learning the shirah?
people; put it into their
I believe, in spite of the
mouths in order that it will be
verses I've quoted above, that
a witness for the Jewish people
this is not the main point of
... and it will be that when
the shirah. As Rashi, the great
many tragedies and troubles
Torah commentator (1040-
RABBI
befall them, this shirah will
1105) points out on the verse
answer before them as a wit-
ELIEZER
quoted
above (Deuteronomy
ness, for it will not be forgot-
COHEN
31:21), "`... for it will not be
ten from the mouths of their
Special to the
forgotten from the mouths of
descendants ..."
Jewish News
their descendants ...': Behold
What is this witness and
this is a promise to Israel that
why is it so important?
Torah
will
not
be completely forgotten
Initially, one would say that the shi-
from its descendants."
rah and surrounding verses offer a very
According to Rashi, the message of
pessimistic and dire warning. The basic
the shirah is that in spite of all the per-
theme of the shirah is that God is just
(Deuteronomy 32:4: "The Rock, His acts versity and the waywardness of the peo-
ple, in spite of the nation's sin and idola-
are perfect because all His ways are jus-
try, it will still remember the Torah —
tice ...") and that the Jewish people are
however faintly and minimally — and,
perverse (Deuteronomy 32:5-6: "A
ironically, the prophecy of its own faith-
crooked and perverse generation ... a
lessness.
foolish nation and not wise ...") and
Ultimately, the individual Jew and
have forsaken God (Deuteronomy 32:15:
the remnant of the nation will return to
,"... and they forsook God, who made
its destiny, will return to God and His
them ...") and, therefore, deserve to be
Torah.
punished and destroyed (Deuteronomy
32:23: "I will heap upon them troubles;
I will exhaust my arrows against them
Shabbat Shuvah
('arshat Haazinu):
Deuteronomy 32:1-52;
Hosea 14:2-10; Micah
7: 18-20; Joel 2;15-27 .
T
❑
Similarly, in the verses preceding the
shirah, God tells Moses, who has spent
the last 40 years of his life caring for,
nurturing and teaching the nation that,
"... you will die and this nation will rise
up and go astray after foreign gods ...
and forsake Me and break My covenant
..." (Deuteronomy 31:16).
Likewise, Moses, himself accuses the
Eliezer Cohen is rabbi of Congregation
Or Chadash.
Conversations
Was Moses' mission ultimately a
success or a failure? After 3,500
years, why have we still not ful-
filled our destiny as God's people?
After 3,500 years, why have we
still survived as the Jewish people?
What role do Rosh Hashanah and
Yom Kippur play in enabling us to
achieve our potential?
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