“Haazinu” translates to “give year,” from the Hebrew ozen/oznayim; anthropomorphizing all of creation itself as Moses calls it to bear witness. “Give ear, O Heavens, let me speak; Let the earth hear the words I utter. May my discourse come down as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, Like showers on young growth, like droplets on the grass…” (Deuteronomy 32: 1-2). Moses, the greatest prophet of our tradition, Moshe Rabbeinu, Moses, our Rabbi, has never spoken to us in verse before. Moses, in his final moments, is a poet.
We read this parsha on the heels of Yom Kippur; the day that is meant to humble us in recognition of our own mortality. A day likened to death. How have you emerged from these High Holy Days changed? Have you let the weight of your human limitations settle upon your