page_title: Haazinu
section_title: In classical rabbinic interpretation
hierarchical_section_title: Haazinu / In classical rabbinic interpretation
context_page_description: Haazinu, Ha'azinu, or Ha'Azinu is the 53rd weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the 10th in the Book of Deuteronomy. It constitutes Deuteronomy 32:1–52. The parashah sets out the Song of Moses — an indictment of the Israelites' sins, a prophecy of their punishment, and a promise of God's ultimate redemption of them.
  The parashah is made up of 2,326 Hebrew letters, 614 Hebrew words, 52 verses, and 92 lines in a Torah Scroll. Jews read it on a Sabbath between the holy days of Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot, generally in September or October. The bulk of the parashah, the song of Deuteronomy 32:1–43, appears in the Torah scroll in a distinctive two-column format, reflecting the poetic structure of the text, where in each line, an opening colon is matched by a second, parallel thought unit.
context_section_description: The parashah is discussed in these rabbinic sources from the era of the Mishnah and the Talmud:
  The Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael counted 10 songs in the Hebrew Bible: 
  the song that the Israelites recited at the first Passover in Egypt, as Isaiah 30:29 says, "You shall have a song as in the night when a feast is hallowed";
  the Song of the Sea in Exodus 15
  the song that the Israelites sang at the well in the wilderness, as Numbers 21:17 reports, "Then sang Israel this song: 'Spring up, O well'";
  the song that Moses spoke in his last days, as Deuteronomy 31:30 reports, "Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song";
  the song that Joshua recited, as Joshua 10:12 reports, "Then spoke Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites";
  the song that Deborah and Barak sang, as Judges 5:1 reports, "Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam";
  the song that David spoke, as 2 Samuel 22:1 reports, "David spoke to the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul";
  the song that Solomon recited, as Psalm 30:1 reports, "a song at the Dedication of the House of David";
  the song that Jehoshaphat recited, as 2 Chronicles 20:21 reports: "when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed them that should sing to the Lord, and praise in the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and say, 'Give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy endures forever'"; and
  the song that will be sung in the time to come, as Isaiah 42:10 says, "Sing to the Lord a new song, and His praise from the end of the earth," and Psalm 149:1 says, "Sing to the Lord a new song, and His praise in the assembly of the saints."
  The Gemara instructs that when writing a Torah scroll, a scribe needs to write the song of Deuteronomy 32:1–43 in a special two-column form, with extra spaces. (See the image at the top of this article.) If a scribe writes the song as plain text, then the scroll is invalid.
  Rabbi Samuel ben Nahman asked why Moses called upon both the heavens and the earth in Deuteronomy 32:1. Rabbi Samuel compared Moses to a general who held office in two provinces and was about to hold a feast. He needed to invite people from both provinces, so that neither would feel offended for having been overlooked. Moses was born on earth, but became great in heaven.
  Rabbi Jeremiah ben Eleazar taught that after Moses called upon the heavens to "give ear" in Deuteronomy 32:1, the heavens silenced according to God's decree. Rabbi Joḥanan taught that God made a stipulation with the sea that it should divide before the Israelites in Exodus 14:21; thus Exodus 14:27 says, "And the sea returned (לְאֵיתָנוֹ, le-etano)," that is, in accordance with its agreement (לתנאו, li-tenao). Rabbi Jeremiah ben Eleazar taught that God made such a stipulation with everything that was created in the six days of creation, as Isaiah 45:12 says, "I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded." God thus commanded the sea to divide in Exodus 14:21, the heavens to be silent before Moses in Deuteronomy 32:1, the sun and the moon to stand still before Joshua in Joshua 10:12, the ravens to feed Elijah in 1 Kings 17:6, the fire to do no harm to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah in Daniel 3, the lions not to harm Daniel in Daniel 6, the heavens to open before Ezekiel in Ezekiel 1:1; and the fish to vomit forth Jonah in Jonah 2:11.
  Similarly, a Midrash taught that God said that if you incline your ear to the Torah, then when you begin speaking the Words of the Torah, all will remain silent before you and listen. The Midrash taught that we learn this from Moses, for because he inclined his ear to the Torah, when he came to begin speaking the words of the Torah, both the heavenly and the earthly beings remained silent and listened.  And the Midrash taught that we know this from the words of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:1, "Give ear, you heavens, and I will speak."
  The Sifre taught that Israel would come before God and acknowledge t
caption: Sea Eagle's Nest (1907 painting by Bruno Liljefors)
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