Deuteronomy 32:1-52

Changing Direction

 

This Shabbat’s Torah reading consists of Moses’ farewell song, known in Hebrew by its first word Ha’azinu (“Give ear!”). In it, Moses recounts Israel’s prior history, starting back in “days of yore,” when things were fine, but then going on to foretell the difficulties that are to follow his own demise. His listeners must certainly have known from the start that this song would be a mixture of good and bad because of what he says in the opening verses:

 

Give ear, O heavens, to what I say, and let the earth hear my words;

May my teaching come down like rain, my speech distill as the dew,

Like storm-drops on the grass, and like dew-drops on the pasture,

For I speak in the name of the Lord—give glory to our God!

 

The “rain” mentioned in the second line is intended to contrast with the “dew” that follows in the same line. Dew (tal) is always gentle in biblical Hebrew; its softness was always welcome, even if its liquid was not, on its own, enough to sustain ancient Israel’s agricultural economy. For that, rain (matar) was required. Biblical rain was not always gentle; in fact, it often came down hard. But it was essential for people’s survival.

 

This, in short, described the message that Moses sought to impart to the people of Israel before his death. His song starts off with Israel’s beginnings, “days of old” when God first adopted Israel as His own, like a great bird lifting its young on its wings to teach it to fly. Such was indeed how Israel began. But despite this good start, Israel would eventually go astray, “growing fat” and forgetting God entirely. There would ensue a period of hardship, described here by Moses in painful detail. Only toward the end of his song does he hold out the hope for a better future.

 

It may not be too late to connect all this to the great day that follows this week’s shabbat, namely, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). No need to say that this is a time of deep reflection, when people are called to consider the past year’s mistakes and sincerely to resolve not to repeat them in the year to come. Still in the midst of Covid-19, this call speaks to us with particular urgency.

 

It may not be inappropriate, however, to mention something about a key word connected to Yom Kippur: teshuvah (repentance). People often stress that this word comes from the Hebrew root meaning “return,” but that’s not altogether correct. “Return” is indeed one sense of the root shuv, but this verb does not always mean going back to a place where one has already been.  A more inclusive definition might be to “change direction.” A Jew who had led a totally secular existence and suddenly turns to God is called a ba‘al teshuvah. He’s not going back to somewhere but embarking on something entirely new. In this and other cases, the word teshuvah would best be rendered as “turn,” or “turn around,” and the like. This embodies an important message for everyone on Yom Kippur. No matter where one has been until now, it is a time to consider one’s past mistakes and change direction.

 

Shabbat Shalom!