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HAAZINU
In reality, the first word of this week's prophetic song/parsha in encompasses the entire message of this Torah portion. Haazinu connotes paying attention, concentrating, listening attentively and absorbing words and messages that are being spoken. As one's hearing acumen begins to lessen and wane with the passage of time, background noise becomes a problem when attempting to hear what someone else is saying to you. In the clutter of traffic, conversations, and the hum of everyday urban life, we have become accustomed to not hearing what is being said to us by others and perhaps, even more importantly, by life's events.
We are severely limited in our options in life and behavior by the fact that we cannot hear clearly and thus cannot discern what we should know and remember and what is to be discarded and forgotten. The metaphor for this is the example of going to a restaurant and attempting to hear the waiter announce the menu and choices. If we somehow did not hear or understand what the waiter said we will never be able to make the choices that we wish from the restaurant's menu.
Well, in the broadest sense, this is true of every aspect of life. We always have many choices but most of the time we cannot hear them being annunciated to us.
Moshe demands that somehow we pay attention and hear the message that he is imparting. Good hearing will eventually lead to good choices and a productive life. It is no wonder that the Talmud includes those who cannot hear in the list of people who cannot really be held responsible for their actions and behavior.
This week's parsha encompasses all of Jewish history, past, present and future. It details for us the triumphs and failures as well throughout the ages. It points out the bad choices that were made when we did not hear or pay attention to the consequences that would undoubtedly stem from those missed ques.
One of the ideas that Midrash teaches us is that the sound of the shofar heard at Mount Sinai 4700 years ago still reverberates and sounds throughout all of the ages. The only problem is that not many people concentrate enough to be able to truly hear and discern it. The enormous background noise of life interferes with our ability to hear that shofar echo of Sinai.
What results is that there are many positive choices and options in our lives that we are simply unaware of because we did not hear them announced to us. Though there are many new technological gadgets that are available to block out background noise, it is a shame that we have not yet devised such a gadget for our spiritual and intellectual hearing faculties as well.
The season of the year when Haazinu is read in the synagogue coincides with the great goals of repentance, positive living and spiritual renewal. Therefore the command of Moshe to listen carefully and attentively to the words of the Torah and to the choices presented before us is most timely and relevant to our life and the world around us.
Shabbat shalom
Rabbi Berel Wein
