The Heavens and the Earth
Adapted from Rabbi Braun’s sermon in 5777
When I was in high school, I always dreaded the poetry section of the English lit classes. There were eight ways to explain what the poet meant with this line and that allusion. And at the end of the poem, despite the teacher’s best efforts, you had the feeling that you actually had no clue what the poem really meant. There was a lack of clarity that was unsettling, and it did not speak to many of us.
At the end of last week’s torah portion we find that Moshe is going to teach the Jews a song, or a poem, to help keep them connected to God and to help them return to God should they stray. This week is that song and it opens poetically –
דברים פרק לב
א) הַאֲזִ֥ינוּ הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וַאֲדַבֵּ֑רָה וְתִשְׁמַ֥ע הָאָ֖רֶץ אִמְרֵי־פִֽי
ב) יַעֲרֹ֤ף כַּמָּטָר֙ לִקְחִ֔י תִּזַּ֥ל כַּטַּ֖ל אִמְרָתִ֑י כִּשְׂעִירִ֣ם עֲלֵי־דֶ֔שֶׁא וְכִרְבִיבִ֖ים עֲלֵי־עֵֽשֶׂב
1. Give ear, O your heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
- My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass;
After an initial scan of the commentaries I kind of felt like I was back in high school. Why does Moshe choose to address the heavens and the earth? What is he alluding to? What is his message? His doctrine is like rain, showers upon the grass?! There were so many different options and explanations that I felt lost – how could I know what Moshe really meant?
After further examination and thought – I have a newfound respect for poets.
Why does Moshe address the heavens and earth when he is in reality talking to the Jews in the desert?
The Tur, Rabbi Yaakov Ben Asher, writes that the heavens are the large cities and the earth is the smaller villages.
The obvious difficulty in this interpretation is that there are no cities and villages in the desert; there is just a large camp of Jews in the Sinai!
The Tur, a smart person, knows this and must believe that this is included for future generations.
Nevertheless, a difficult approach and he is the only one to adopt it.
Rav Saadia Gaon, quoted by the Eben Ezra, also tries to somehow read this as Moshe instructing the people to listen – explains that the heavens refer to the angels and the earth to the people upon it. Moshe begins entreating the angels and people to listen to his speech.
Here the obvious difficulty is – why do the angels have to listen?
Rashbam suggests the heaven and earth are actually the barometer by which we know if we need to repent – as we read in Shema – if we are good then we get rain and if not, not. This approach is bolstered by the second verse and might explain why Moshe uses the rain and dew analogies.
Rashi and Eben Ezra suggest that the heavens and earth are our eternal witnesses. It is as if Moshe begins with – with the heavens and earth as my witness!
The obvious difficulty here is – why not swear by God?
My favorite answer is offered by the Chizkuni – why the heavens? Because Moshe descended from the heavens with the Torah. Why the earth? Because we stood on the earth as we accepted the Torah. Moshe begins the poem with a reminder of the divinity of the Torah and our acceptance of it!
A hint of a line in the Eben Ezra and a nicely fleshed out piece in the Kli Yakar add one more level. They both write that the heavens represent the spiritual and the earth represents the physical. Man stands between them (EE) and is the one being that contains both elements within one being, a body and soul, a fusion of heaven and earth. Our charge is that through the Torah we let the spiritual inform the physical and not the other way around.
When I was in college, I actually contemplated a minor in Literature because I really enjoyed it. One of the many things that I learned was that at times a poet will be intentionally vague in order to capture many different possible meanings, some or all of which he or she intended and allowing for the reader to add their own!
It seems to me that this is what God and Moshe are doing in the opening of Haazinu. The imagery can suggest many possibilities and they all might be correct.
Allow me to extrapolate some of the lessons – many of which are core values that you Josh grew up on.
The Tur – Moshe is speaking to large cities and small villages. Every Jew and every person is of equal value. It doesn’t matter if you have a large house in the city or a shack in the village- Moshe is addressing everyone because everyone is of equal value.
“Testifying by the heaven and earth which are eternal.” The Torah and its values and messages are eternal and are testified to by the most eternal items on the planet.
We are a fusion of the material and spiritual, we must operate in both realms and hopefully let the spirit inform the material.
