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Parshat Ha’azinu- The Weekly Lesson in Faith

By: SFW Students & Alumna
Leora Bernstein, SFW ’04-‘05

Parshat Ha’azinu- The Weekly Lesson in Faith

(Based on Ner Uziel)

 
Devarim 32:4 “Everything that Tzur (Hashem) does is perfect, for all His ways are just. He is a G-d of faith, for there is nothing unjust in him; He is righteous and straight.”

Upon first inspection, the above pasuk is seemingly simple. However, upon further inspection a few questions come to mind.

Why is it that Moshe chooses to refer to Hashem by the name Tzur- rock? Second, why does he call Hashem a G-d of faith? Finally- why does he call Hashem yashar- straight?

Perhaps we can answer our questions by looking at the shir shel yom of Shabbos, since it has an almost identical pasuk- “lehagid ki yashar Hashem tzuri velo alvata bo.- to declare that G-d is straight, my Rock and there is no injustice in anything He does.” Note that our three key words: straight, rock, and justice all appear in this pasuk. Obviously David Hamelech was showing us his interpretation of this pasuk. Let us examine this mizmor Tehillim and then come to a better understanding of the pasuk in our parasha.

This mizmor is said on Shabbat since it begins with the title “mizmor shir leyom HaShabbat.” However, surprisingly besides the title, there is not a single reference to Shabat in the entire mizmor Tehillim! Rather, the entire chapter is describing the qualities of Hashem. The Sefat Emet explains that the tranquility of Shabbat is the feeling that everything that we have worked on during the week has been completed. On Shabbat, our activities come full circle, we must never feel on Shabbat that we are in the middle of a project. After Shabbat we will begin the cycle again, but on Shabbat we are complete. This relates to the idea that Shabbat is me’ein olam haba- since in olam haba we will understand the world, and all of the anomalies of history will finally make sense. Everything will be complete- full circle. Shabbat as we mentioned is mein olam haba- 1/60th of the world to come. (Why specifically 1/60th? Since that is the minimum Halachic amount considered to have a detectable taste.) Since Shabbat is a little bit like olam Haba, it is also a time when we slightly understand Hashem’s justice. In the day to day life we do not understand how the world operates. One only needs to open a newspaper or turn on the radio or television and see that the age old question of “tzaddik vera lo” still applies to this modern day. That is why Hashem has blessed us with the gift of Shabbat- a day where we utilize faith to get closer to attaining a level where we can perceive Hashem’s justice in the world.
At the end of the Tehillim we stress the fact that Hashem is yashar- straight. Even though we don’t understand how Hashem’s justice works we know that Hashem is yashar. Just like a line is the shortest path between two points, so too Hashem takes the shortest and most painless route to further humanity. Even though we may not always see it, we rely on our Rock, our tzur to give us faith in the dark times. Thus Shabbat is a day that trains us to look beyond what may seem like an unjust reality, and see yad Hashem guiding history.

Now we can understand our pasuk in Haazinu. Life as we know it, may not seem “fair”. Yet when we lose faith we must remember this pasuk. Even though we may not see the perfection in all of what Hashem does, we must have faith that it is 100% just.

So to answer our questions: Hashem is a G-d of Faith since He demands us to have faith in Him that he is completely just. He is not only a tzaddik but He is also yashar- taking the shortest route to guide us along His ways.

May this new year be one where we perceive yad Hashem in our day to day lives, and may He answer all of our prayers l’tova for am Yisrael and for each individual.

Shana Tova and Shabbat Shalom!