The song of Ha'azinu poetically depicts what will happen to the Jewish people until the end of days. It foretells their punishment for transgressing the covenant with Hashem, and describes how, ultimately, Hashem will punish those who wronged them in exile.
"May G-d grant that everyone be aroused in true teshuvah, and that everyone's inscription [in the Book of Life] be sealed and confirmed for a good and sweet year, materially and spiritually. May it be G-d's will that everyone's provisions, both spiritual and material, be called forth unconcealed and unobscured, in the kind of good that is visible and manifest." [Proceeding Together, Volume III, p. II]
HA'AZINU
There are ten shiros, or prophetic songs, of which Ha'azinu is the fourth:
1. Adam recited the first shira in Gan Eden.
He composed "Mizmor shir leyom haShabbat / A song, a poem for the Sabbath day," in which he praised the greatness of Shabbat.
2. At the shores of the Red Sea Moshe and Bnai Yisrael sang a shira for their miraculous deliverance from Pharaoh's army.
3. Bnai Yisrael chanted a song in praise of the Well of Miriam (parshat Chukas).
4. Moshe taught the people the song of Ha'azinu on the day of his passing.
5. When Yehoshua fought the Emorites in Givon and the sun miraculously stopped its course for the sake of the conquering Jewish army, Yehoshua sang shira.
6. Devora and Barak composed a shira when G-d delivered their enemies into their hands, including the Canaanite general Sisra (Shoftim 5).
7. When Chana gave birth to Shmuel, after having been childless for many years, she praised Hashem with a prophetic song (Shmuel 2).
8. King David, at the end of his life, composed a shira of thanks to Hashem for saving him from all his enemies (Shmuel 22).
9. King Shlomo wrote Shir Hashirim.
10. The tenth and greatest song will be sung by the Jewish people when G-d redeems them from the present exile.
While the first nine songs are called shira, in the feminine gender, the tenth one is termed shir (masculine gender), as it says, "On that day shall this shir be sung in the land of Yehuda" (Yeshayahu 26:1).
After the redemptions that occasioned the first nine songs new hardships invariably followed. Each redemption is therefore likened to the plight of a woman who undergoes the pains of pregnancy, labor, and birth, only to be followed by the selfsame discomfort of another pregnancy.
The tenth song, though, will mark the end of all exiles; it will not be followed by any suffering or hardship.
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Liora Nitsan can be reached at
www.Neshamaart.com
"May G-d grant that everyone be aroused in true teshuvah, and that everyone's inscription [in the Book of Life] be sealed and confirmed for a good and sweet year, materially and spiritually. May it be G-d's will that everyone's provisions, both spiritual and material, be called forth unconcealed and unobscured, in the kind of good that is visible and manifest." [Proceeding Together, Volume III, p. II]
HA'AZINU
There are ten shiros, or prophetic songs, of which Ha'azinu is the fourth:
1. Adam recited the first shira in Gan Eden.
He composed "Mizmor shir leyom haShabbat / A song, a poem for the Sabbath day," in which he praised the greatness of Shabbat.
2. At the shores of the Red Sea Moshe and Bnai Yisrael sang a shira for their miraculous deliverance from Pharaoh's army.
3. Bnai Yisrael chanted a song in praise of the Well of Miriam (parshat Chukas).
4. Moshe taught the people the song of Ha'azinu on the day of his passing.
5. When Yehoshua fought the Emorites in Givon and the sun miraculously stopped its course for the sake of the conquering Jewish army, Yehoshua sang shira.
6. Devora and Barak composed a shira when G-d delivered their enemies into their hands, including the Canaanite general Sisra (Shoftim 5).
7. When Chana gave birth to Shmuel, after having been childless for many years, she praised Hashem with a prophetic song (Shmuel 2).
8. King David, at the end of his life, composed a shira of thanks to Hashem for saving him from all his enemies (Shmuel 22).
9. King Shlomo wrote Shir Hashirim.
10. The tenth and greatest song will be sung by the Jewish people when G-d redeems them from the present exile.
While the first nine songs are called shira, in the feminine gender, the tenth one is termed shir (masculine gender), as it says, "On that day shall this shir be sung in the land of Yehuda" (Yeshayahu 26:1).
After the redemptions that occasioned the first nine songs new hardships invariably followed. Each redemption is therefore likened to the plight of a woman who undergoes the pains of pregnancy, labor, and birth, only to be followed by the selfsame discomfort of another pregnancy.
The tenth song, though, will mark the end of all exiles; it will not be followed by any suffering or hardship.
---------------------------------------------
Liora Nitsan can be reached at
www.Neshamaart.com