The song as a testimony

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  1. Torah and Song, Heaven and Earth

    Rabbi Amnon Bazak

    What is the Torah which Moshe is commanded to write? Is it the entire Torah, or only part of the Torah? What is the "song"? Why does God command Moshe to appoint both Torah and Song as witnesses for Bnei Yisrael? Why is one or the other insufficient? And why does Moshe add two additional witnesses - heaven and earth?

  2. Torah and Song, and the Redemption of Am Yisrael

    Prof. Jonathan Grossman

    Both the song and the Torah are referred to as "witnesses" that attest to God's covenant with Am Yisrael. Why is a witness in addition to the Torah required? In fact, the Torah itself, in Parashat Nitzavim, spells out the exact same process of punishment and redemption, making the need for this Song superfluous! This article explains the necessity of two different types of testimonials.

  3. Parshat Haazinu - God's Children

    Rabbi Alex Israel | 36 minutes

    The Song of Haazinu is to serve as a witness for future generations. It tells a historical tale of Bnei Yisrael. But what story does Haazinu tell? This shiur sets out to follow through the story line and point out some interesting features, and then make some philosophical comments and spiritual insights.

    Many of the classical commentaries seem to present the Song of Haazinu as the ultimate story of the Jewish people- a story of exile and redemption, outlining the future of Jewish History. But is this indeed so? Rabbi Dr. Yoel Bin Nun and Rav Elhanan Samet point out that the song makes no reference to exile or to leaving the land. 

     If this is not a prediction of future exile and redemption, then what is this song, and why is this song needed? Why must it be so readily available for people to remember throughout the ages?  Is it another exile and redemption cycle? Or does the Song of Haazinu present a different paradigm – one entirely within the Land of Israel?

  4. The Cycle of Haazinu

    Rabbi Alex Israel

  5. The Key to Tanach: Haazinu and its Hidden Messages

    Rabbi Yitzchak Twersky

    תאריך פרסום: 5777 | | Hour and 10 minutes

    In this shiur, we explore what Haazinu is indirectly talking about, and how it impacts on the rest of Tanakh. Biblical poetry leaves much of the depth of meaning between the lines, and Haazinu is no different. We identify three dimensions of Haazinu, and the relationship among them is the main focus of the shiur.

    Though the surface level of the poem - the peshat - obviously relates to sin and the consequences thereof - questions of how God runs the world, wordplay and allusions seem to point to various key moments of the Torah - the very beginning (the Garden of Eden) and the "middle" - the Sin of the Spies and Moshe and the rock.   As we analyze the hints deriving from the word choice within Haazinu and look at the other texts inside, we gain a deeper perspective of the issues of sin and consequence within the relationship between God and Israel, while gaining insights about Moshe along the way.

  6. The Testimony of the Song

    Rabbi Dr. Yoel Bin Nun

    The song of Haazinu (Devarim 32:1-43) should be as familiar and habitual to us as is the recitation of Shema.[1] It is meant to serve as a witness – but what it is that this song testifies to? The song is a unique prophetic testimony given to Moshe to teach the people during the final days of his life, and it describes the history that will unfold after his death.

    Does the concept of exile exist in Haazinu? The model of “destruction, exile, and redemption” stands at the heart of the covenant of the curses (Devarim 28-30), but Haazinu is built on a different model: that of distress and salvation.

  7. The Song of Haazinu

    Rabbi Chanoch Waxman

    the identity of the Song of Ha'azinu as a "witness" raises a series of interrelated questions. First and foremost we may duly wonder regarding the content and purpose of the testimony. To what does Shirat Ha'azinu testify, and for what purpose? Second, in an unexpected twist, the witness identity of the poem imparts a new flavor to the written text of the Torah. It defines a new identity, or additional identity, to the Torah itself. In both the textual-technical and essential-philosophical senses, without Ha'azinu and its unique identity, the Torah is partial and unfinished. But in what sense do the Song of Ha'azinu and its witness function complete the Torah? In what sense does it bring the Torah and its teaching "ad tumam – until their end"? Through a close analysis of the theme of testimony throughout Sefer Devarim and the song of Haazinu, we understand the ultimate purpose of the "eidut," the testimony or testament of Shirat Ha'azinu. Placed alongside the ark it testifies to the eternal covenantal relationship between God and Israel, one originating in the distant past and destined to continue on forever. On some level, without the message of Shirat Ha'azinu, the Torah is not yet complete. Shirat Ha'azinu reminds us that in fact, on some level, the entire Torah is but the story of the covenantal relationship of God and Israel, originating in the past and destined to continue on until the end of days.