By Dan Weiss

Shabbat Shalom Habonim Dror! I am writing this from my room on Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek, located in the holy land known as Eretz Yisroel. I’m doing ulpan, so who knows, maybe next time I write a dvar, I’ll be reading from the Hebrew and not the English (fingers crossed). The Parasha this week is Ha’azinu, meaning listen. It is the shortest Parasha in the Torah and one of the last. In it, Moses sings the Israelite people a song. It is a song of blessing and of warning. Of the past and of the future. of destruction and of responsibility. And at the end of it, G-d commands Moses to climb up Mount Nebo, where he will die as he watches his people enter the Promised Land.

For the purpose of this dvar I want to focus on two parts of Moses’ final song. The first couple of lyrics of the song have some pretty dope imagery. Moses begins by asking the skies and the earth to hear what he says. He sings, “Let my teaching come down like showers; let my saying emerge like dew, like raindrops on plants and like rainfalls on herbs” (Deut. 32:2). He wants his teaching to be eternal like the water that keeps cycling through the heavens. He wants us all to grow from what he brings to us. When I read this, I can’t help but think back to Exodus when Moses was “not a man of words… heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue” (Exodus 4:10). Now he is singing beautiful songs and passing down powerful teachings. It’s crazy what 40 years of practice will do! But, for real, I think we can look at Moses’ growth as a dugma for how we want to develop as people.

In the beginning, Moses was a pampered, privileged Egyptian not wanting to take responsibility for his actions. He doesn’t want to lead the Israelites and he feels as if he can’t talk to Pharaoh, although that is what needs to be done. But through a process of lehadriching the people of Israel, seeking advice from people more experienced than he, and even quarreling with G-d, Moses developed his skills as the dopest madrich the Jewish people ever had (sort of). He was able to step out of his comfort zone while also recognizing his limits and that helped him push himself to be the best he could be.

The second part of Ha’azinu that I want to focus on comes later on and is famously referred to as the eclipse of G-d. Moses tells the people that G-d will no longer show his face to the Israelite community. The days of G-d’s miracles are over. Looking at this and the lines of scorn for the Israelites that come before and follow it, this could be seen as a sort of rejection of the Israelites. You were not faithful, so I’m leaving you behind. That is why I think it is so important to look at the next line: “I’ll see what their future will be” (Deut. 32:20). G-d is not abandoning us. G-d is also a madrich. G-d has realized that the Israelites are no longer in Amelim or even Chotrim. It is time for the madrich to take a step back and let their chanichim start facilitating their own process.

It is not a rebuke, but a call to responsibility, as former Chief Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks calls it. G-d sees his overly cautious and strict hadracha style is backfiring and the people are straying from the path of justice and righteousness. G-d knows, however, that there are strong leaders in this people and that G-d’s job is to give humans the tools to create their own world. And now it’s time! No G-d will do it for you. No higher being will tell you what to do. It is your choice to take the responsibility to fill G-d’s shoes and to create and to lehadrich the people that G-d left for you. Shabbat Shalom.