Parashat: Ha’azinu

Parashat: Ha’azinu
Torah Reading: Deuteronomy 32:1–32:52

“Give ear, O heavens, let me speak; Let the earth hear the words I utter”

— Deuteronomy 32:1

Moses’s last words to the Israelites come in the form of a poem exhorting them to follow the commandments, reminding them of their humble origins, and prophesying the future fate of Israel. The poem is not particularly optimistic about the people’s ability to fulfill the covenant, and warns of the evils that will follow this failure. As the reading that comes each year either immediately before or after Yom Kippur, it is a stark reminder that our task on that day does not end with Ne’ilah, the concluding service, but that we must take to heart the lessons of the day and carry them with us. That is how we control the story of what happens to us. The ancient Israelites failed to do so and the terrible prophecies came to be, but we can be like the people of Nineveh in the story of Jonah, giving heed to the words of the Torah and thereby changing the story that has been written for us.

— Rabbi Daniel Plotkin