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Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- D'varim
- Ha'azinu
The circumstances and certainly the tone of both songs are obviously different. The song of Yam Suf is a song of exultation, triumph and the relief of deliverance from a brutal foe and fate. But it is basically a poem of the past, what has already occurred and an acknowledgment of God's past goodness towards Israel.
This week, in Haazinu, the song is of much darker hue. It is visionary, prophetic and somber. It sees the great challenges of the Jewish future that lie before this people that Moshe so loved and loyally served. It is a song that will accompany the Jewish people throughout their long and tortured road of exile, persecution, survival and eventual triumph.
To our generation, standing as we do thirty-five centuries after Moshe spoke these words, this is a clear and incisive description of what has befallen us and our mission in the world. Haazinu is current events and not merely a recording of our past. Both poems of Moshe are essential to the furtherance of Jewish life and society. But they each transmit a different message.
The ability to live, so to speak, in the past and in the future at one and the same time is a particularly Jewish trait. The Jewish people have a long memory and collectively, even if not individually, we remember everything that has befallen us. Tragically for many Jews of our time this memory has failed and disappeared in our current society.
Only a minority of the Jewish world recites Moshe’s song at the Yam Suf in daily prayer services. The deliverance from Egypt and the splitting of the sea at Yam Suf are no longer even distant memories for large numbers of Jews. Forgetting the song of Yam Suf is tantamount to eventually excluding one’s self from Jewish life and society.
However, forgetting the song of Haazinu is even more damaging to the individual Jew and to the nation. Those who live only in the present and do not glimpse the greatness of the future truly cut themselves off from participation in that future. The poem of Haazinu promises us repentance and redemption, serenity and a better world.
Without such a vision and a belief that the song of Moshe here in Haazinu was accurate and true, the Jewish people could never have survived the long night of our exile and troubles. This song was "to be placed in their mouths" as the witness for all of our history and a valid proof of the just entitlements of our future. Our task is to rededicate ourselves to fulfill the goals of this great song of Haazinu in the blessed good year that is now upon us.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 9 - "Seeing is Believing" (parag. 21-30)
These paragraphs elaborate on the theme that seeing and knowing is better than any attempt to prove logically, and begins explaining the difference between Israel and gentiles.
Ein Aya Various Universal Stages of the Geula Process
Rav Kook examines the various stages of redemption, explaining how (in addition to the obvious oft-mentioned stages of ingathering the exiles, reviving the Hebrew language, army, state etc.) the messianic dream of world prosperity, the State of Israel and world unity can and are realistically and logically gradually coming true.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 8- "Answering Questions on the Kuzari's Proof from Mass Revelation
How do we know that the "claim" of mass revelation to 2,000,000 witnesses at Mt. Sinai is really true? This important class answers all of the questions skeptics ask about this claim of the Kuzari.
Ein Aya Armies Still Necessary for Balance & the War Against Wars
Rav Kook explains why the world was originally divided into the various seemingly contradicting ideologies and cultures, in order to develop each one respectively. Swords or armies symbolize how each respective ideology defends themselves, as well as deters their opposing ideologies and cultures. On the other hand, the messianic era will be one of peace, and Rav Kook explains the transition to that stage, which mankind is already undergoing.
The Land of Israel LGBT'S IN ISRAEL
The question was asked, how can one make Aliyah with the LGBT parades?
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 7 - Five Accumulative Proofs of G-d
As a preparation for the Kuzari's classic proof of G-d from the mass-revelation at Sinai, we start here with 5 other directions to strengthen our belief which also contribute to what the Kuzari will present as well.
Ein Aya Muscle & Meaning: The Dual Nature of Gevurah (Physical Strength)
Is physical strength and fitness a necessity or an ideal? Although it if often totally overlooked among topics of Judaism, Rav Kook writes that it clearly is also a necessity to deter the many enemies of Israel, but even in Y'mot HaMashiach, in the Messianic era, to a certain extent, it's ideal continues even after our enemies will have been finished off.
