Haazinu 5775 - English

By Rabbi Gustavo Kraselnik
Kol Shearith Israel - Panamá

Parashat Haazinu, the next to last portion of the Torah, contains the entire chapter 32 of the book Devarim (Deuteronomy), which deals mainly with the farewell chant Moses gives to the people.  

In it, he severely criticizes the disobedience of the children of Israel, by saying, “Is this how you repay Adonai, you foolish (Naval) ignorant (Lo Jajam) people? (v. 6) 

What does it mean to be a foolish ignorant people? Even though the duplicity of similar adjectives is a general characteristic of this type of poem –just like parallelisms abound in parashat Haazinu– the renowned rabbi Hafetz Haim (Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan, Poland 1838-1933) invites us to analyze both adjectives to try and understand specifically Moses’ reprimand to the Israelites.  

In a commentary that appears in the highly regarded collection Iturei Hatorah (by Aharon Yaakov Grinberg), the double reproach by Moses is linked to the words the prophet Jeremiah pronounces in the name of God: “… for I was abandoned and they did not abide by my laws.”  The connection proposed by Hafetz Haim is that the people were foolish because they lacked knowledge of God and ignorant for not having the wisdom that comes from the Torah.  

We could stay with that interpretation of Moses’ words and thereby assume that both foolishness, understood as lack of faith, and ignorance, seen as the lack of awareness and observance of the Torah, constitute offenses of similar importance.

However, Hafetz Haim invites us to take a step further and try to elucidate which of the two is riskier.  For this purpose, he mentions one of my favorite passages in the entire rabbinical literature:

Rabbi Jia, who lived in Tiberias at the beginning of the III Century, claims God said the following reflection, “Better for them (the children of Israel) to leave Me but to follow My laws,” and he explains, “because if they live according to My laws, they will come to Me.” (Jerusalem Talmud Hagigah 1:7) 

This simple and convincing passage reaffirms on the central concepts in Jewish tradition.  It is our Mitzvot that must give testimony of our faith.  To speak of God, beat our chest and proclaim to the four winds that we are people of deep convictions, is worthless if it is not translated into concrete actions.  If we come back to our verse, it is preferable to be foolish than to be ignorant.  

It is interesting to point out that Parashat Haazinu is always read on Shabbat Shuva, the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, or on the Shabbat following Yom Kippur.  If we bring the teachings of Hafetz Haim directly into our reality, maybe we can reach the conclusion that fasting, prayer and Teshuvah (repentance) become relevant only if they are expressed through concrete actions.  

Going through the experience of the Yamim Noraim must be a positive catalyzer that leads us to adopt, in every day life, the commitment of being better people, so that once they are through, we may implement in reality all that we expressed.  

May our actions –our family, social, and professional relationships- endorse our convictions so that we may not be foolish, or even worse, ignorant people.  

Shabbat Shalom

Gustavo