Haazinu: Politics

Haazinu describes the undulating fate of the nation.  The rise from oppression, conquest of the land, repeat subjugation , and re-emrgence.  It is a grand panorama, a symphony .  It is an extravaganza that involves the Israelites,  an aggressive Babylon, a Fascist Rome and a nuclear Persia. The events and the actors are so big that the involvement of any individual, the single vote, is insignificant, undetectable. These are the kinds of events that are appropriate  for Divine  intervention.

The parsha ends with a coda of  couple of sentences describing the fate of Moshe.  He will not enter the land, but see it from afar.  He, the individual,  was also guilty of the sin of not glorifying Gd to the extent demanded. 

The prophetic nature of the Haazinu poem is seen in verse 41:   אִם-שַׁנּוֹתִי בְּרַק חַרְבִּי
There it is: the name of the era: Barak   At position 95.3% in  the poem (41/43) in  the 96.2% year( (5773/6000).
Which Barak? Obama? Ehud? both.  The word also appears in the Haftorah. טו  וַיִּשְׁלַח חִצִּים, וַיְפִיצֵם; בָּרָק, ויהמם (וַיָּהֹם). Huh!

The Haftorah presents a more personal relationship with the Almighty.  But since it is King David's relationship, i have trouble identifying with the successor of Saul.

i will have my life, and Gd, data-miner that Gd is, will look at me and be my tower of strength, through the strength of my people, through our recovery.

Vayelech: the end

Vayelech comes at the turn of the year and the seasons. The old year is dying, the season of death (winter) is coming, Moshe speaks of his death. The rules apply to (even ) to Moshe.  120 years. That is it. There is a limit, and Moshe has reached it, and we learn from his actions on that day. 

He appoints the successor, Yehoshua, to complete the task of bringing the people into the land.  The task outlives the  prophet. 

Moshe writes a book and/or a poem. Haazinu of Dvorim  or the whole torah.  He documents the prophecy and (a copy of it) is entombed in the ark, next to the tablets. 

Moshe predicts the fututre of Israel.  Gd will keep  the promise, the people will settle in the land, but because of their comfort, they will lose their land, suffer in exile... and ultimately be returned.  The prophecy is stated as science.  There is a logical, undulating  sequence of events.  And the basis for the predicition,  for I know their imagination, is given. 

Now, before Yom Kippur, we do battle with our natures and hope that we can attain a lasting highpoint. 

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

take it the right way( not like he did.)

Shana tova 

Vayelech: I know their Nature (archival)

Vayelech: I know their Nature

כא וְהָיָה כִּי-תִמְצֶאןָ אֹתוֹ רָעוֹת רַבּוֹת וְצָרוֹת וְעָנְתָה הַשִּׁירָה הַזֹּאת לְפָנָיו לְעֵד כִּי לֹא תִשָּׁכַח מִפִּי זַרְעוֹ  כִּי יָדַעְתִּי אֶת-יִצְרוֹ אֲשֶׁר הוּא עֹשֶׂה הַיּוֹם בְּטֶרֶם אֲבִיאֶנּוּ אֶל-הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי.
 
21 then it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are come upon them, that this song shall testify before them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed; for I know their imagination how they do even now, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.'  (JPS)
 
I don't like the punctuation, it removes the ambiguity.  Does Gd know their imagination in that they will sin ( certainly that is part of it).  But does the verse also mean that Gd knows their nature, that they will not lose the song.
The nature of Jews - scholars, they don't lose their writings, they maintain their writings intact ( in the original language and song)  [ they are so cheap, they won't throw away a scrap of parchment]
The trope mark on yitzro is a revii, a sign that links the word to the phrase before and the phrase after.
 
There is also a shared tzadi raish between yitzro and tzaroth in this pasuk.   The nature is a product of their being drawn through the processes that created them ( Mitzraim).  That is why they won't throw away the [formative] curses.
 

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Nitzavim: confronting the self

The parsha contains the phrase:

28 The secret things belong unto the LORD our God; but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. {S}  The parsha makes me confront the difference between hidden and the revealed and the obvious;  the knowable and the  the unknowable, the unexamined and  the explored .  The revealed things, the public things, require a code of behavior, require that I and others act in a predictable manner.The secret things  are between a person and Gd, or left to Gd alone.  How could it be otherwise? What are these secret things? Some are knowledge that is not yet acquired.  Knowledge that we do not (yet) have ways to know, missing techniques. Ideas that are not yet elucidated by science. Some secret things may be unknowable ( Heisenberg uncertainty), knowledge may not apply to them . Gd knows! Some are truths that we are trying to hide. The money ,or the feelings, that we are trying to hide from others.  The feelings that we are trying to hide from ourselves. Some of the secrets are ideas  that we don't want to examine.  Gd decides on their state of revelation. We are often forced to look at these secrets by circumstances.  The pasuk says that these are ours, perhaps not Gd's. Perhaps these are the secrets that kill us ( thus the words "us and our children" have dots over them.  The dots typically mean "should be erased") The final advice of the parsha: Choose life.  Lechaim. Shanah tovah umethukah prior

Ki Thavo: appreciation confusion

Ki Thavo: appreciation confusion

The parshah contains the viydu maaser, the pronouncement of appreciation for entering the land and the declaration of obedience to the tax laws. . Most of the parsha deals with how terrible the  things preceded the redemption (the lost Aramian, Egypt)  and how terrible they would be if the land were lost[ holocaust] ( as a consequence  lack of obedience?).

Gd's love for the people is demonstrated by looking at the situation  that occurs when that love is withdrawn, or replaced by Gd's anger.  Misfortune, and the absence of misfortune , prove our special relationship with Gd.  That is the fusion of contradictory ideas, the confusion.

 This is one intense relationship.

It should be recognized that mathematically, misfortune is far more probable than good fortune.  Very few arrangements are pleasant, far more are fatal, painful, bad.  However, history selects the viable state, it is the only situation that propagates 

Ki Thavo: where am I?

Ki Thavo: where am I?

The parsha begins with instructions for the denizen of the Promised Land.  He must bring his taxes (“first fruits”) to the capital and make a declaration.  The declaration recognizes that he has arrived in the Promised Land.  That declaration is almost a warning of disappointment,  The pilgrim says: “This is it!...?...!” The failure to appreciate his blessed condition is outlined in 53 verses of curses. (Dvarim 28:47).

Where are we now? All the curses have come to pass.  There is (still) a Jewish State of Israel.  The overt persecution of Jews is at a low point.

Better appreciate it.  Failure has dire consequences.

prior years

Ki Thavo: understanding

Every year, toward the end of the parsha, we read:  

לָכֶם לֵב לָדַעַת, וְעֵינַיִם לִרְאוֹת וְאָזְנַיִם לִשְׁמֹעַ, עַד, הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה.ן

3 but the LORD hath not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.

It is strange to repeat this sentence which implies past confusion and current enlightenment on an annual basis.  What happened to last year's revelation and what will happen next year?
The parsha comes when the approach of Rosh Hashanna is palpable, visible and audible.  As Rosh Hoshanna approaches, I consider the possibility that this may be my final year of understanding, my best year, my last year.
I perceive  that I understand many  new things this year, things that were obscure last year ( not all for the good, not all for the bad).  I hope that next years understanding will be for the better and include more wonderful and pleasurable things.

Also note the reference to the the Eitz Hadaath ( tree of knowledge), how it was appealing to the eye and eating of it was a failure of the ear to hear.  The torah is a Tikun ( correction) for that trespass.

prior: reward and punushment

Ki Thavo: Reward and Punishment- Blessing and Curse

Ki Thavo: Reward and Punishment- Blessing and Curse

Is there a difference? Is a reward a blessing and a punishment a curse?
The reward and punishment are limited in scope.  Payment is a reward.  The payment is done and the reward is over.
A Blessing is ongoing,  a state of being imparted by the blesser.  Thus Bracha is related to the act of replanting the shoot of the vine so that it will become a new vine.  A bracha accumulates dividends.
Similarly a punishment is measured to fit the crime.  A curse sticks to the accursed and cannot be shed.
Punishment removes the evil ( be'arta hahara) the curse continues, it fails to expiate.
Gd tells his people to punish the wrongdoer, but Gd curses those who offend Gd.
 

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הָאִישׁ הָרַךְ בְּךָ וְהֶעָנֹג מְאֹד תֵּרַע עֵינוֹ בְאָחִיו וּבְאֵשֶׁת חֵיקוֹ וּבְיֶתֶר בָּנָיו אֲשֶׁר יוֹתִיר.  נה מִתֵּת לְאַחַד מֵהֶם מִבְּשַׂר בָּנָיו אֲשֶׁר יֹאכֵל מִבְּלִי הִשְׁאִיר-לוֹ כֹּל בְּמָצוֹר וּבְמָצוֹק אֲשֶׁר יָצִיק לְךָ אֹיִבְךָ בְּכָל-שְׁעָרֶיךָ.
 
The most tender and delicate man among you, will begrudge his own brother and the wife of his embrace and the rest of his children, whom he will leave over,

55. of giving any one of them of the flesh of his children that he is eating, because not a thing will remain for him in the siege and in the desperation which your enemies will bring upon you, in all your cities.
 
Rashi: Another explanation of הָר‏ ַבּ‏ְ : The merciful and tenderhearted will become cruel because of the intense hunger, and they will not give the flesh of their slaughtered children to their remaining children.

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The Holocaust was a manifestation of a curse, its generation was cursed- whether  a person experienced the persecution directly and/or witnessed it - because there is an eternal guilt about not doing enough- the stain of the Holocaust is indelible, the stain is a curse.

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The parsha reflects the great Jewish ethos: when you arrive at the goal, when you get what want, trouble is around the next corner. " When life looks like Easy Street there is danger at your door" ( Grateful Dead).
Hizkiahu could have been Moshiach, but he failed to sing Shirah.
 
 

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Gd's assurance is no insurance.  If the US government fails will Gd buy AIG?

Welcome to hell.