36 | OCTOBER 10 • 2019
“L
et the skies hear as I
speak; let the Earth
listen to the words of
my mouth. May my message
descend as the rain; may my
speech distill as the dew.
”
These are Moses’
last
remarks as he calls upon the
heavens and the Earth to wit-
ness his final testament to the
Israelites. He probably
asks for their witness
not only because they
are eternal but also
because they are a
daily part of the lives
of the Israelites. What
might Moses call upon
to attest to his words
today? Our cell phones
set to record?
The children of Israel
were very tied to the
land. They counted
their wellbeing in sheep
and goats, and they consid-
ered themselves blessed when
the rains fell at the appointed
times. Many teachings in the
Tanach are based on, refer-
enced or explained in terms of
the flora and fauna of the land.
We, unlike our ancestors,
are largely divorced from
nature unless we make a
special effort to connect. For
instance, how many degrees of
separation are there between
the produce we buy in the
grocery store and the seeds
that originally created them?
Our points of reference are
very different from those of
our ancestors. When we think
about weighty matters, our
preference is often to intellec-
tualize, cogitate and consider at
an abstract level. Our thoughts
are often lofty, not on or related
to what is on or in the ground.
The holy days of Rosh
Hashanah, which have just
passed, are similarly largely
intellectual pursuits. On Rosh
Hashanah, we are asked to
think about God’
s grandeur.
The only tangible mitzvah of
these days is the ram’
s horn.
Hearing the sound of the sho-
far, not the horn itself, is the
essence of the commandment.
On Yom Kippur, we are
warned to repent, an
intellectual act, and con-
sider our own mortality. It
is largely a day of import-
ant words and ideas.
Sukkot, conversely, is
all about the land and its
produce. We are com-
manded to live in and
build sukkot, the roofs
of which must be made
of natural materials. We
collect, hold, shake and
march with four natural
species, all of which have an
intimate connection with water.
On the final day of Sukkot,
on Hoshana Rabba, we bend
down, willows in hand, and
beat them on the ground
watching as the leaves fall
to the ground, perhaps to
encourage the rains of autumn
and winter.
This year, Haazinu, which
we read on the Shabbat
between Yom Kippur and
Sukkot, marks the transition
between the worlds of the
mind and of nature. This little
parshah, one of the shortest
of the year, helps us renew the
connection between what we
think of as the higher faculties
with the land upon which our
survival depends.
Rabbi Mitch Parker is the rabbi
at B’
nai Israel Synagogue in
West Bloomfield.
Parshat
Haazinu:
Deuteronomy
32:1-52;
II Samuel
22:1-51.
Rabbi Mitch
Parker
Spirit
torah portion
Facts On The Ground
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