D'Var Torah: "Ha'azinu" – “Listen” • Deuteronomy 32 • DAY 1,077
Updated: Sep 18
LISTEN - WHILE THERE IS STILL TIME
Ha'azinu – “Listen” • Deuteronomy 32 • DAY 1,077
LISTEN - WHILE THERE IS STILL TIME
הַאֲזִינוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם וַאֲדַבֵּרָה
“Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak.” - Deuteronomy 32:1
OPENING
As we welcome Shabbas, it is Day 1,077 since the atrocities of October 7. This is Shabbat Shuvah - שַׁבָּת שׁוּבָה - the Shabbat of Return, the final Shabbas before Yom Kippur, in the heart of the Ten Days of Repentance.
And we read Ha’azinu
Ha’azinu - Listen.
Moshe has reached the end of his life. After forty years of leading the Jewish people, he prepares them for a future he will not enter.
His time is running out.
So perhaps there has never been a more appropriate Shabbas to:
Listen. Remember. Return.
THIS WEEK AT A GLANCE
KABUKI THEATER, PHONY PEACE… CONTINUES…
As world leaders gather again at the United Nations, the familiar language has returned: peace, recognition, negotiations and the “two-state solution.” Britain, France and Canada are advancing new measures in support of that vision, while the UN General Assembly has voted to allow Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to address next week’s gathering by video after the United States again denied him a visa.
Kabuki Theater, Phony Peace, continues
Declarations are easy.
Peace is harder.
And amid all the diplomatic choreography, the fundamental questions remain:
What has actually changed?
What prevents another October 7?
What does “peace” mean if the conditions necessary to sustain it do not exist?
This week, Moshe offers an instruction:
הַאֲזִינוּ - Listen
But listening means more than hearing words.
It means remembering actions.
BRIDGE TO THE TORAH
Moshe says:
זְכֹר יְמוֹת עוֹלָם
“Remember the days of old; consider the years of generation after generation” Deuteronomy 32:7
And then comes his warning:
וַיִּשְׁמַן יְשֻׁרוּן וַיִּבְעָט
“Yeshurun grew fat and kicked.” - Deuteronomy 32:15
Moshe is not only worried about how Israel will respond to hardship.
He is worried about how Israel will respond to success.
What happens when hunger becomes abundance?
When uncertainty becomes security?
When extraordinary blessings begin to feel ordinary?
It is a deliberately jarring image:
Prosperity itself can become a danger.
Sometimes adversity makes us remember what matters.
Prosperity can make us forget.
TORAH LESSONS FOR TODAY
1. LISTEN
הַאֲזִינוּ - HA’AZINU
Listening is more than hearing.
Moshe knows there will not always be another speech.
Another warning.
Another opportunity.
Neither do we.
The first demand of the Days of Awe may therefore be the simplest:
Stop long enough to hear what we have spent the year avoiding.
2. REMEMBER
זְכֹר - ZACHOR
Judaism is built upon memory.
We remember Egypt.
We remember Jerusalem.
We remember the Holocaust.
We remember October 7.
But Jewish memory is not merely about preserving history.
Memory is supposed to change behavior.
And Moshe warns what happens when we forget:
וַיִּשְׁמַן יְשֻׁרוּן וַיִּבְעָט
“Yeshurun grew fat and kicked.”
Adversity tests our strength.
Prosperity tests our character.
Freedom. Family. Community. America. Israel. Jewish sovereignty after two thousand years.
These are extraordinary blessings.
Never become so accustomed to the blessing that you forget it is a blessing.
3. RETURN
שׁוּבָה - SHUVAH – RETURN
The Haftarah begins:
שׁוּבָה יִשְׂרָאֵל עַד ה׳ אֱלֹקֶיךָ
“Return, O Israel, to Hashem your God.” - Hosea 14:2
This is the verse that gives Shabbat Shuvah - the Shabbat of Return, its name.
And it is the final Shabbas before Yom Kippur.
Teshuvah is commonly translated as repentance.
Its literal meaning is return.
Return to our values.
Return to our responsibilities.
Return to one another.
Return to Hashem.
As long as we are here, there is still time to apologize, forgive, repair and change direction.
There is still time to return.
STEWARDSHIP INSIGHT MEMORY REQUIRES RESPONSIBILITY
We inherit memories we did not personally experience.
We inherit traditions, institutions, communities, a Jewish homeland and a Jewish future.
Someone remembered before us.
Someone sacrificed before us.
Someone protected these things before they were ours.
Now they have been entrusted to us.
That is stewardship.
Memory without responsibility becomes nostalgia.
Listen to those who came before us.
Remember what they built.
Protect what has been entrusted to us.
And hand something stronger to those who come next.
FINAL TAKEAWAY
Moshe stands at the end of his journey and says:
הַאֲזִינוּ - Listen
Then:
זְכֹר - Remember
And Shabbat Shuvah calls us:
שׁוּבָה - Return
On Day 1,077 after October 7, we remember those who were murdered, those who fought and those who sacrificed.
But during these Days of Awe, memory must also turn inward.
What do I need to hear?
What do I need to remember?
Where do I need to return?
Moshe had reached his final day.
This is our last Shabbas before Yom Kippur.
Listen. Remember. Return.
Moshe could no longer change his tomorrow.
We still can.
May Hashem protect the people of Israel and guard the courageous men and women of the IDF and the United States Military.
May He bring healing to the wounded, comfort to those who mourn, and protection to our families and communities.
May He grant us the humility to recognize our mistakes, the courage to repair them, and the wisdom never to take our blessings for granted.
And may we and our families be sealed in the Book of Life for a year of health, peace, blessing and purpose.
גְּמַר חֲתִימָה טוֹבָה G’mar Chatimah Tovah. Shabbas Shalom. Am Yisrael Chai! 💙🇮🇱💙
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