בס”ד

Integrating Torah into one’s life through reflection and conversation can be an incredibly fun and engaging experience. It’s a journey of discovery, where ancient wisdom and timeless teachings come to life in our daily experiences. Through reflection, we have the opportunity to dive deep into the rich tapestry of Torah, extracting profound insights and lessons that resonate with our modern lives. The joy lies in the ‘aha’ moments, those instances when a Torah verse or story suddenly connects with our personal challenges, aspirations, and values. And when we engage in conversations about Torah with others, it becomes an interactive exploration, where diverse perspectives and interpretations enhance our understanding. These dialogues often spark excitement and intellectual curiosity, making the learning process both enjoyable and fulfilling. Torah becomes a vibrant and dynamic part of our lives, offering not just guidance but also a source of endless fascination, connection, and growth.

NOTE: Don’t feel obligated to go through every source or answer all the questions—unless you want to. Even one source, or one question will give you plenty of material for discussion and meditation. Enjoy this!

Some thoughts about Parshat Ha’azinu

“See now that I, I am He, and there is no G-d with Me. I put to death and I bring to life; I have wounded and I will heal, and there is none who can deliver from My hand.” (Deuteronomy 32:39)

One of the most fundamental principles of the Noahide faith is belief in the one G-d. But believing that there is only one G-d means more than getting the number of G-ds right. It means recognizing that nothing else possesses power independently of Him.

Near the end of the Song of Ha’azinu, Moses describes Israel coming to recognize this truth painfully. The things in which they have placed their confidence prove unable to provide the security they seek. The foreign powers and G-ds to which they turn for protection cannot save them. Think of the world today, at the time of this writing. It is at precisely that moment that G-d says:

“See now that I, I am He, and there is no G-d with Me.”

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch zt”l explains the doubled expression, “I, I am He,” as a declaration that G-d alone is absolute. He depends upon nothing, while everything else depends upon Him. Everything that existed in the past ultimately came from Him, and therefore, when every other source of confidence has disappeared, the future can still come from Him.

This is what makes the next words so powerful:

“I put to death and I bring to life; I have wounded and I will heal.”

There is not one power responsible for life and another responsible for death; one source of blessing and another to whom we must turn when life becomes painful. The G-d who rules when things are going well has not ceased to rule when they are not. The One who permitted the wound remains the source from which healing can come.

This does not mean that we understand why every painful event occurs. Ha’azinu is speaking about Israel’s history within a prophetic account in which the causes of its suffering have been revealed. We cannot simply look at another person’s misfortune—or even our own—and announce why G-d allowed it to happen.

But we can know something about what suffering does not mean. It does not mean that some independent power has taken control of G-d’s world. It does not mean that G-d has ceased to be G-d. And it does not mean that because one path to the future has disappeared, there can be no future.

This is where monotheism becomes more than theology.

Human beings naturally depend upon created things. We need food, money, medicine, employment, governments, communities, family, and other people. There is nothing wrong with that. G-d created a world in which we accomplish things through ordinary means, and we are expected to use them responsibly.

The danger begins when we confuse the means with the source.

A job may be the means through which I receive my livelihood, but it is not the ultimate source of my future. A doctor may be the means through which healing comes, but the doctor is not the source of life itself. Another person may provide help, opportunity, security, or love, but no human being possesses an independent power upon which existence itself depends.

We can therefore believe intellectually in one G-d while constructing a practical world filled with smaller powers upon which we imagine everything depends. If I lose this, I am finished. If this person cannot help me, there is no solution. If this plan fails, there is nowhere else for my future to come from.

Ha’azinu challenges that assumption.

Rabbi Hirsch explains the final words of the verse—

“there is none who can deliver from My hand”—

in light of Israel’s attempt to seek protection elsewhere. Israel imagined that by turning to other powers it could somehow remove itself from G-d’s mastery and guidance. Eventually it would discover that there is nowhere outside His sovereignty to go.

For a Noahide, this is one of the deepest implications of recognizing the one G-d. We should make plans, work hard, seek competent help, build relationships, save money, use medicine, and employ every legitimate means available to us. But none of those things should be asked to bear the weight that belongs to G-d alone.

Created things can fail precisely because they are created things.

G-d does not.

That distinction becomes especially important when something upon which we depended is suddenly taken away. The loss may be genuinely painful. It may change our lives profoundly. Faith does not require pretending otherwise. But the thing we lost was never the ultimate source of what came through it.

When everything else fails, Ha’azinu asks us to remember what was true all along:

There is no other independent source of our existence, our healing, or our future.

Now, reflect on the following questions:

  1. What is the difference between believing that there is only one G-d and actually living as though only G-d possesses independent power?
  2. What legitimate means of security—money, work, another person, an institution, or something else—are you most tempted to mistake for the source of your security?
  3. Why is it important to distinguish between trusting G-d and refusing to use the ordinary means He has placed in the world?
  4. When an important plan or source of support fails, do you tend to experience it as the loss of one possible path or as the loss of your future itself?
  5. How can the words “I have wounded and I will heal” strengthen faith without leading us to claim that we know why particular people suffer?
  6. What would change in your life if you treated the things upon which you depend as instruments rather than ultimate sources?

Shabbat Shalom!

By Rabbi Tani Burton

More shiurim of Rabbi Tani Burton

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