Hope

 Ha’azinu

Deut. 32:1-52

 

Précis: The parsha, the shortest in the Five Books, containing only 52 verses, begins with the “Song of Moses,” a hymn sung by Moses within sight of the Promised Land. The song contrasts God’s fidelity with the faithlessness of the People, and the need of the People to learn from their history under God’s care. Moses predicts that Israel’s enemies will be overcome. He is told to climb a mountain to see the Promised Land he will not enter, as he prepares for his death. This is the last parsha read on Shabbat in the annual cycle: the final parsha (V’zot Habracha) is read traditionally on Simchat Torah.

 

Deut. 32:49-50. “Ascend these heights of Abiram to Mount Nebo… and view the land of Canaan…. You shall die on that mountain.”

          Moses’ place in Jewish history is unique. Born to slaves, he was raised in ultimate privilege. He gave up that privilege to free a people from slavery.  His most important title was “Rabbenu" (“our Rabbi).”  Never a king, he is defined by his humanity. He feels despair, he displays anger, he loses faith, and is denied his life-long goal of entry into the Land of Israel. We do not worship him, but hold him up as a role model who is flawed, human, but endowed with moral quality.  

            On the evening before his assassination, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. recalled Moses’ own struggle. He said, God “allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.”

          Moses and King shared a vision and a hope: that despite the struggles confronting us, we can and will reach “the Promised Land” of a better future for all.

          I’ve decided that my “mantra” for the coming year will be “hope.” It is my “hope” that you can all share the belief that the future can, must, and will be better for us, for Israel, and for all of those created in God’s image. 

Shanah Tovah

Erica Brown has written about the key issues we face this Rosh Hashanah. (Weekly Jewish Wisdom, 9/28/11). The question she asks: Who’s in Control?     

During the “Unitanef Tokef” passage in the Musaf service, we humble ourselves: the coming year will bring births and deaths, poverty and wealth, restlessness and peace. We cannot know our fate, which is “to be written” in the “the Book of Life,” a talmudic metaphor attributed to Rabbi Yohanan [BT Rosh Hashanah 16b]. We all have a chance through repentance, prayer and charity to affect our outcome.

Brown suggests that the haftarah on Rosh Hashanah, describing Hannah’s struggles with infertility, and then her offering of a prayer to God for a son is similar to Unitanef Tokef: God deals in death and gives life.  

            

This year, we face a future filled with potential perils. Just as the words state in Unitanef Tokef, people are indeed dying by fire, people are dying by flood, people are dying by earthquake both in our nation and around the world. We face the other perils of an unprecedented pandemic and political divisiveness we have not witnessed in anyone’s living memory. Will God guide us to vote for leaders who will help heal the wounds we face in our society? Will He provide the intuition and courage our scientific community needs to mitigate the disease which ravages us? Can we do our own repentance, prayer and charity to help those who are afflicted by joblessness, isolation, hunger, and despair? Can He remind us of the Torah’s demands to see to the needs of the widow, the orphan, and the stranger among us? Can He imbue us with the will to maintain the communal institutions which have kept the Jewish People flourishing during our lifetimes, both here and in Israel?

          

In a Washington Post column this week, opinion writer E.J. Dionne, Jr. wrote, "What in the world happened to hope?" He reminds us: "Hope is not a feeling. It's a virtue." He was writing about politics, but it applies to all parts of our lives.

            

That is how I will try to focus my thoughts and prayers this year, albeit through social isolation and electronic media.

            

May the coming year be a better year: a year of health, of restored prosperity, a year of peace at home and abroad, and a year of renewed hope.