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Shem Mishmuel describes Ha’azinu as;
A poem which Moshe Rabbeinu recited to Klal Yisrael… It discusses the uniqueness of Klal Yisrael, their future, how they should conduct themselves, how they will stray, and how Hashem will treat them mercifully. (Shem Mishmuel, Rabbi Shmuel Bornstein, Parsha Ha’azinu, pge 433)
He further indicates that there has been connection, since the Mabul — “the great Flood” between the original 70 souls of B’nai Yisrael and the 70 primary nations which emerged after the Mabul to where the B’nai Yisrael, were they to achieve individual and collective full spiritual potential and righteousness, would impact for good upon the nations to which they were connected.
Rabbi Artscroll (Sefer Devarim, Perek 32, p’sukim 7-9) cites S’forno recalling from history that Hashem created the world so that all of the nations would join together in achieving Hashem’s goal of righteousness, but when they failed, He chose B’nai Yisrael as the paradigm of that goal. Hashem gave them a Land where they could serve Him according to Torah’s laws with simcha, success and prosperity. But when the B’nai Yisrael rebelled, forgot and forsook Hashem for other counsel and avodah zora, they deserved destruction, but to avoid Chillul Hashem — desecration of His Name, Hashem, in His mercy, only exiled them in order that they be redeemed in times of Moshiach and the Ge’ula Shlaima.
The Ha’azinu poem asks (Sefer Devarim, Perek 32, posuk 30) regarding Israel’s conquest by its enemies;
“For how could one pursue a thousand, and two cause a myriad to flee?”
But L’lmod U’Lamed, (L’lmod U’Lamed, Rabbi Mordechai Katz, Parsha Ha’azinu, p. 189-190) notes by this posuk, that;
Moshe reminds B’nai Yisrael how when they find themselves capable of defeating a vastly superior army, it was Hashem Who is responsible for their victory.
L’lmod U’Lamed continues by describing contemporary instances where Hashem protected Israel, in the Six Day War; the paratrooper why parachuted into Yerushalayim and was hit by snipers and emerged uninjured — a bullet lodged in his Tefillin bag, and in the Yom Kippur War when a tank crew recited Tehillim and then confronted what it thought was enemy tanks and it’s cannon jammed when attempting to fire. Turned out that these “enemy tanks” were actually manned by the fellow Jews who had captured them in battle and were now returning to their base.
How far we have fallen, how much the B’nai Yisrael has rebelled such that it’s military was incapable, in the Lebanon conflict, of defeating a lesser foe? In fact, can it be said that Israel lost the conflict in that the nation is now left in an even more vulnerable position than before with so-called “UN peacekeepers” impinging on Israeli sovereignty and freedom of military action — that Hashem on a collective level denied them his favor? Has the national governance not been an evolvement of forsaking Hashem, our roots, our heitage for other counsels and avodah zora?
And do we see the same playing out in Gaza, in the government’s total preoccupation with abandoning and handing over Jewish Lands, including Jerusalem, to avowed Arab enemies implaccably bent upon our destruction? Do we see all of this playing out as a result of the complacency and preoccupation of the masses with their own individual issues and Matzavim while Israel’s governance plots, based on principles of divide and conquer, the eradication of all vestiges Torah and Yiddishkiet from its population?
May we, the B’nai Yisrael be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently settled and be made totally whole, that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard, captive Gilad Shalit and the other MIAs be liberated alive returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem and that we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nai Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Yom Hashem V’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bim hay v’yameinu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
Good Shabbos! L’Shana Tova — may all who read this be inscribed and sealed for a healthy, happy and prosperous 5769 and every year thereafter to at least 120!!
Moshe Burt is an Oleh, writer and commentator on news and events in Eretz Yisrael. He is the founder and director of The Sefer Torah Recycling Network.