Haazinu (Deuteronomy 32:1–52)
This Week’s Torah Portion: Haazinu – הַאֲזִינוּ (Deuteronomy 32:1–52)
Who is this Moses?
This week’s Torah Portion, Haazinu, presents “The Song of Moses”, a poem of incredible beauty and power, delivered by Moses to the Children of Israel as his final instructions before they set forth into the Promised Land. So striking are its poetic tones that it is written uniquely in the Torah scroll, separated into two small columns of text which flow down the page like the running rhythms of the song.
Who is this Moses?
Wasn’t it Moses who said, when God first called him to lead the People of Israel on this 40 year journey from slavery to freedom: “I have never been a man of words… I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” Surely, the Song of Moses cannot have been written by the same man who needed the help of his brother Aaron to even speak God’s words. Unless, of course, Moses has grown immensely over the course of these forty years, learning and growing from the experience of raising a new generation of Israel, now ready to enter the Promised Land.
Who are we?
What a wonderful lesson this would be, as we emerge from these High Holy Days. This is the same Moses, he has just grown over time and through experience… and so can we. Now, the question is no longer “Who is this Moses?” but “Who are we?” And who can we yet become?
May these High Holy Days inspire us to become the better self which resides within us all.