Parshas Haazinu is a difficult parsha about which to write. It is one perak (chapter) of 52 verses, almost all of which are written as a poetic song, a song that contains much of the same theme of punishment and redemption for the nation that has been described in the last few parshios. This song is written and taught to Bnei Yisrael as Hashem commanded Moshe at the end of Vayelech. "And now write for yourselves this song and teach it to Bnei Yisrael. Place it in their mouth in order that this song will be for Me as a witness for Bnei Yisrael" (Devarim 31:19).
Many great Torah scholars comment that "this song" refers to the whole Torah, while others say it is a reference to Haazinu only. This is not a conflict. Haazinu is the Torah's finale, to borrow a term from Broadway. It is the final song meant to bring everything before it to a fulfilling conclusion and, hopefully, to remain as a tune in one's head. Obviously, this is a lehavdil connection, a droll way of making a point. For Bnei Yisrael to learn Haazinu, to be taught this specific shira by Moshe, was a way for him to emphasize to them the significance of the whole Torah.
As Moshe finishes teaching Haazinu to the people, he says to them: "Set your hearts to all of the words which I bear witness for you this day, so that you may instruct your children to observe to do all the words of this Torah. For it is not an empty thing for you, for it is your life, and through this thing, you will lengthen your days upon the land to which you are crossing over the Jordan to possess it" (32:46 - 47). Coming so close after the shira of Haazinu, these verses are easy to overlook, but they hold a message of great importance. You cannot memorize the entire Torah, so let this final song echo in your minds and remind you constantly of the Torah, to do all of its words - for none of this is meaningless to you.
In one part of his commentary on verse 32:47, Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch notes an important concept that is the foundation of Jewish life and Torah scholarship: "In the whole Torah there is no word in which you, i.e. your whole existence and your purposes, is not included in it. No single word of the Torah is indifferent to you. In every one you can find important truths which have a bearing on your whole life." And so we study it, year after year. In just two weeks, on Simchas Torah, we will start the Torah reading cycle all over again, and we will continue to find revelations in it that we just did not see last year, or ideas and guidance that had never been needed before.
Necham Leibowitz, in her Studies in Devarim: Haazinu 5, explains a beautiful thought by the Netziv (Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin):
The Netziv points here to the essential quality of poetry as it condensation and compressed nature and its allusiveness. This 19th century Talmudist, steeped in Rabbinic law, expresses, in his own language, the distinctions between prose and verse that have been defined for us, today, in technical terminology by modern literary critics and students of semantics. Poetry is essentially symbolic, and requires constant reading over, in order to taste its full significance. It has many levels of meaning.
From a writing point of view, the Torah has an incredible array of styles - flowing narrative, sketched prose, terse commandments, and, of course, direct poetry and songs. Each of these "styles" may speak more to one person or another, but, as Ms. Leibowitz continues:
The lesson contained in these concluding verses of the Torah is the importance of each detail. There is nothing superfluous in the Torah and no sliding scale of values between its different portions. This seemingly most insignificant and prosaic detail hidden in the folds of a story is of equal importance to its philosophy and fundamental laws. All goes under the name of "Torah." If we can find no significance in a particular detail, if it is "a vain thing," then the fault is ours and due to our lack of understanding, our failure to labour to discover its meaning.
Even the transitions of the sections of the Torah have meaning and significance. In fact, it interesting to note that after the powerful words of verse 32:47, the parsha concludes with Hashem instructing Moshe to ascend to Mount Nebo to see the land and then finish his life "because you betrayed me in the midst of Bnei Yisrael at the waters of meribah" (32:51). At the waters of meribah, Moshe heard Hashem's instructions to talk to the rock but struck it instead; Moshe chose not to listen to the specific words, but to act from his own instinct. He wants his people not to make the same mistakes. In verse 32:47, this is what he is warning Bnei Yisrael against. This song, this Torah, the words of Hashem, are not empty - they are everything. They are what will entitle you to this land.
They say that the Bible is the most read books in the world (although Harry Potter may be catching up - just kidding!). A person who has no faith may not understand why that is, but for Jews of every time, these words connect. Even when we do not understand their meaning, they resonate in our neshamos, our souls. This brings to mind Rabbi Shimshon Rephael Hirsch's other explanations of verse 32:47, in which we see a powerful encapsulation of the significance of Torah to ourselves in all times: "This testifying exhortation for you to understand and keep the Torah is not a speech which does not concern your whole existence and purposes, it contains your whole existence."
We are in a period between the Day of Judgement and the Day of Atonement, the Shabbas on which we are meant to be focused on teshuva, repentance. Think about Moshe’s words, about his warning that none of this should be “empty” to you. The basic understanding that Torah is life needs to be the driving force of our actions. At the very least, we should be challenging ourselves to reach for that as a goal. When we do proper teshuva we are acknowledging that we understand exactly how critical Torah is to our lives.
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