Parshas Haazinu - surviving through the Torah

In פרק ל״ב פסוק ג׳ the passuk says

כִּי שֵׁם ה' אֶקְרָא הָבוּ גֹדֶל לֵאלֹקֵינוּ

“When I call in the name of Hashem, render greatness to our G-d.”

The gemara says in ברכות (כא א)

מנין לברכת התורה לפניה מן התורה שנאמר (דברים לב, ג) כי שם ה' אקרא הבו גדל לאלהינו

“How do you know that we make a beracha before we learn Torah, as the passuk says כי שם ה' אקרא הבו גדל לאלהינו.”

Rashi explains

כי שם ה' אקרא - כשבא משה לפתוח בדברי שירה אמר להם לישראל אני אברך תחלה ואתם ענו אחרי אמן, כי שם ה' אקרא בברכה אתם הבו גודל לאלקינו באמן הכי מפרשי לה במסכת יומא (דף ל"ז.)

When Moshe came to say words of שירה, he said to the benei yisrael, “First of all I will make a beracha on the Torah and you will say amen.” So we read the passuk as follows, “When I call in the name of Hashem – by making a berachah – then you render greatness to our G-d by saying amen.”

• Why did Moshe only teach the benei yisrael to say a beracha on learning Torah when he came to say the שירה of Haazinu?

The Pri Tzadik explains as follows:

The gemara says in Bava Basra (בבא בתרא ח' א')

רבי פתח אוצרות בשני בצורת אמר יכנסו בעלי מקרא בעלי משנה בעלי גמרא בעלי הלכה בעלי הגדה אבל עמי הארץ אל יכנסו דחק רבי יונתן בן עמרם ונכנס אמר לו רבי פרנסני אמר לו בני קרית אמר לו לאו שנית א"ל לאו אם כן במה אפרנסך [א"ל] פרנסני ככלב וכעורב פרנסיה בתר דנפק תיתיב רבי וקא מצטער ואמר אוי לי שנתתי פתי לעם הארץ אמר לפניו ר' שמעון בר רבי שמא יונתן בן עמרם תלמידך הוא שאינו רוצה ליהנות מכבוד תורה מימיו בדקו ואשכח אמר רבי יכנסו הכל

Rebbi opened the granaries during a famine, he said, “Let people who know chumash, mishnayos, gemara, halachah and aggadah enter, but amei ha’aretz may not enter.”

Rabbi Yonasan ben Amram pushed in and entered, he said, “Rebbi, feed me.”

Rebbi said to him, “My son, have you learnt chumash?”

He said, “No.”

“Have you learnt mishnayos?”

He said, “No.”

“If so, how can I feed you?”

Rabbi Yonasan ben Amram said, “Feed me like a dog and like a raven.”

Rebbi gave him food.

After Rabbi Yonasan ben Amram left, Rebbi sat down and was upset, he said, “Woe that I have given my food to an am ha’aretz.”

Rabbi Shimon bar Rebbi said to him, “Maybe it was Yonasan ben Amram your talmid, who never benefitted from the honour due to him because of his learning.”

They checked and found that it was Rabbi Yonasan ben Amram.

As a result of which, Rebbi said, “Let everyone enter.”

• Why did Rabbi Yonasan ben Amram specify that Rebbi should give him food like a dog and a raven?

The gemara says in Sotah 3b

א"ר שמואל בר נחמני א"ר יונתן, כל העושה מצוה אחת בעוה"ז מקדמתו והולכת לפניו לעוה"ב... וכל העובר עבירה אחת בעוה"ז... קשורה בו ככלב, שנאמר (בראשית ל"ט י') [ויהי כדברה אל יוסף יום יום] ולא שמע אליה לשכב אצלה להיות עמה, לשכב אצלה בעולם הזה, להיות עמה לעולם הבא

Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmeini said in the name of Rabbi Yonasan, if someone does a mitzva in olam hazeh then the mitzvah will go before him to olam habah. If someone transgresses an aveirah in olam hazeh then the aveirah will cleave to him like a dog, as the passuk says, “And it was when she spoke to him each day, and he did not listen to her to lie next to her to be with her.” To lie next to her – this means, in olam hazeh. To be with her – this means, in olam habah.

• Why does the gemara compare an aveirah to a dog that accompanies a person?

The Pri Tzadik explains that due to its lowly stature, a dog cannot have a direct relationship with Hashem. Subsequently dogs fraternise with people, because through its master, a dog can achieve an indirect relationship to Hashem. Similarly, if someone does an aveirah, then this creates a bad malach which is fed, rightfully, from the person who created the malach, instead of being provided for directly by Hashem. This bad malach would have accompanied Yosef to olam habah had he sinned.

The reason Rabbi Yonasan ben Amram told Rebbi that he should feed him like a dog, is because he meant to say, “Even if I do not have a direct relationship with Hashem, because I have not learnt Torah, I still have a relationship with you, who I consider my rebbe. Just as a dog has an indirect relationship with Hashem through its master, so too I can have an indirect relationship with Hashem through you, and in that merit, I should be provided for.”

Rebbi agreed to feed Rabbi Yonasan ben Amram, but was unhappy with this conclusion, because he felt that every Jew should have a direct relationship with Hashem, and not rely on a tzaddik to make him meritorious.

In this vein, we can understand that the reason why Moshe started Haazinu by saying the birchas ha’torah with the benei yisrael, is because the nature of the bris of Haazinu is that the benei yisrael agreed only to be provided for when they would merit a direct connection with Hashem through learning the Torah. So that if Hashem would hide His face from the benei yisrael, they would suffer galus and deprivation, and they would be unable to merit existence in the mundane way of the other nations.

In this way, the benei yisrael would be forced to remember always that they are the am ha’nivchar, and so will ultimately merit the geulah ha’asidah.