PARASHAT HA’AZINU
Saturday 19th September 2026 Shabbat Shuvah 8th Tishrei 5787
PARASHAT HA’AZINU
by Sandra Aviv, Israel Bible Center
Devarim 32:1-52, Hosea 14:2-10; Joel 2:15-27, Matthew 18:21-35
The Torah portion that will be read this coming Shabbat is Ha’azinu (Deuteronomy 32:1–52), the great poetic Song of Moses.
This Shabbat is also Shabbat Shuvah, the special Sabbath between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur commences on Sunday evening and it is the most holy fast day in the entire Jewish calendar.
It is a fitting setting for a song concerned with some of Deuteronomy’s deepest themes: hearing and remembering, forgetting and returning, human unfaithfulness and the enduring faithfulness of God.
The song opens with an extraordinary summons:הַאֲזִינוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם וַאֲדַבֵּרָה וְתִשְׁמַע הָאָרֶץ אִמְרֵי־פִיHa’azinu hashamayim va’adabberah, vetishma ha’aretz imrei fi."Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; let the earth hear the words of my mouth." (Deut. 32:1)
The name Ha’azinu (הַאֲזִינוּ) comes from the verb ’azan (אזן), "to give ear, to listen attentively." In the second half of the verse, however, Moses uses another familiar Hebrew verb: שמע (shama), "to hear, listen."
Before Moses addresses Israel, he calls heaven and earth themselves to listen.
This takes us directly back to the words we encountered last week. In Deuteronomy 30:19 Moses declared, "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today." Now, in the Song of Moses, those witnesses are summoned once again. Israel’s covenant choices are placed within a story larger than one person or even one generation. Heaven and earth will remain when Moses is gone, and they are called to hear what Israel must remember.
What Moses asks heaven and earth to hear is not introduced as harsh or lifeless instruction. Instead, he gives us one of the most beautiful images for teaching in the Hebrew Bible.
יַעֲרֹף כַּמָּטָר לִקְחִי תִּזַּל כַּטַּל אִמְרָתִי.
Ya’arof kamatar liqchi, tizzal katal imrati
"May my teaching drop like rain, my speech distill like dew." (Deut. 32:2)
The Hebrew word לֶקַח (leqach) means teaching or instruction, something received and learned. Moses compares it first to rain and dew, and then to gentle showers falling upon grass. Torah instruction is pictured here as something that descends and gives what is necessary for life and growth.
The image is especially striking because the song itself will not always be gentle. Ha’azinu will confront Israel with failure, idolatry, judgment, and the danger of forgetting God. Yet Moses begins by comparing his teaching to water falling upon the earth. Words that challenge us can also be words that give life.
Very soon another image begins to dominate the song:
הַצּוּר תָּמִים פָּעֳלו כִּי כָל־דְּרָכָיו מִשְׁפָּט
ֹHa-Tzur tamim po’olo, ki khol-derakhav mishpat.
"The Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice." (Deut. 32:4)
Tzur - "rock," becomes one of Ha’azinu’s characteristic names for God. The image appears repeatedly throughout the song, creating a contrast between the steadfastness of God and the instability of His people. He is called צוּר יְשֻׁעָתוֹ (tzur yeshu’ato), "the Rock of his salvation" (32:15), and later Moses asks Israel, "You neglected the Rock who begot you" (32:18).
This repetition matters. Israel’s circumstances will change and generations will come and go. The people themselves will sometimes remember their God and sometimes forget Him. Against all of this movement stands הַצּוּר (Ha-Tzur) -the Rock, described as faithful, just, and upright. Ha’azinu does not hide Israel’s unfaithfulness, but neither does it allow Israel’s failure to become the measure of God’s character. The song begins by establishing who God is before recounting what His people will do.
If God’s faithfulness is one side of Ha’azinu, Israel’s memory is the other. Moses commands:
Zekhor yemot olam, binu shenot dor-vador.
"Remember the days of old; consider the years of generation after generation." (Deut. 32:7)
The imperative זְכֹר (zekhor) -"remember!" comes from the Hebrew root זכר (z-k-r). Moses is not asking Israel merely to feel nostalgic about its past. He tells them to consider what God has done and, remarkably, to ask others: "Ask your father, and he will tell you; your elders, and they will say to you."
Biblical memory is therefore communal and intergenerational. A generation that did not personally experience earlier events can still receive their meaning through testimony, teaching, and Scripture. Israel must remember because forgetting its story eventually means forgetting the God at the center of that story.
This is also why Ha’azinu was given as a song. In the previous chapter, God commands Moses to write הַשִּׁירָה הַזֹּאת (hashirah hazzot), "this song," so that it may serve as a witness among the people (Deut. 31:19). Poetry can be repeated, taught, and carried in memory. Moses is approaching the end of his life, but the song is designed to continue speaking when its first singer is gone.
Making your listening count
Give ear. Approach Scripture not only to read words, but to hear what they demand of you.
Remember. Let zekhor remind you that biblical faith is rooted in the memory of what God has done.
Know your Rock. Circumstances and generations change, but Ha’azinu repeatedly directs Israel back to Ha-Tzur, the faithful God.
Return. Let remembering become movement.
Teshuvah - turning away from missing the mark (i.e. sin
) - begins when recognition leads us to turn again toward God.
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