ON THE PARSHA Parshas Ha'azinu by Dovid Lipman, Jerusalem The World Of The Supernatural (32:4) "...a trustworthy G-d, from whom there is no evil..." What is the repetition here teaching us? One famous explanation is that normally, one who executes judgement on a criminal always affects the lives of his close ones, although they do not necessarily deserve the pain. Hashem, on the other hand, with his great wisdom, comes up with a type of judgement that doesn't hurt anyone more than they deserve. Some Rabbis used this as one argument against taking out life insurance. "Imagine," one would say, "what if I really deserve death now, as the most appropriate punishment for my sins? Hashem won't kill me, because it would leave my family without support! Now, what would be if I had life insurance...?" A Time To Laugh (32:28) "For they are a people without insight..." The word "Eitzos" (insight) literally means 'advice'. This helps decide between the two explanations of this pasuk, given in Rashi here and on pasuk 43. The question is whether the 'people' mentioned is the Jews, blamed for their sins, or the conquering non-Jews, blamed for not realizing they'd be punished for what they do to the Jews. It seems, now, that the Jews cannot be meant -- how can the Jews be the 'people without advice'? A Jew is always ready to give advice! Worthy Of Note (32:42) "Moshe came and spoke all the words of this poem..." Why did Moshe have to 'come'? He was already there, as mentioned in the previous parsha! Perhaps it compares to the language used about Avraham, Sarah, and Dovid, "Ba BaYamim", which means that they 'brought their days with them'. This phrase is said about someone whose lives are full of character building, and their accomplishments are to be found in the sterling character traits they acquire over the years. So, too, Moshe "came", that is, when Moshe completed the poem of Ha'azinu, his last major accomplishment in life, the perfected Moshe had now come. This also explains why Hashem gave Moshe his command to go up to the mountain where he would die, right after Ha'azinu was read. Weren't there still the blessings of V'zos HaBracha to be given? So we can say that since the poem of Ha'azinu was Moshe's last major accomplishment, he, in terms of his own service of Hashem, was ready to die. He only needed to prepare the Jews for losing him, through the final blessings. From the Gemara (32:39) Pesachim 68a - That which Hashem kills, is only a form of illness - just as he makes sick, and nevertheless heals, so, too, those he kills, he can just as easily resurrect. (32:23) Sota 29a - This pasuk shows that the Jews will always survive - if Hashem is to 'use up his arrows' on us, the implication is that we'll still be around when the arrows are finished. (32:20) Yoma 83b - R' Meir could guess a peson's nature from his name; he guessed a man named Kidor was untrustworthy, for that name alludes to 'Ki dor tahapuchos heima', 'they are a backwards generation'. Rare And Unusual Words (32:6) "Kanecha". Rashi, in a difficult-to-read explanation, hints to three meanings of the word, each teaching something which indebts us to Hashem. 1) 'Kinyan', ownership, i.e. we should have obeyed Hashem, since He owns us. 2) 'Kan', nest, i.e. we should serve Him for He made our 'nest', meaning that He forged the very surface we live on. 3) 'Tikkun', perfecting, i.e. we should serve Him for He enables us to reach every possible form of perfection.