As we near the end of Deuteronomy, prepare to begin the yearly Torah cycle anew, and celebrate the end of the fall holidays, we are poised for a remarkable spiritual climax. This week’s Torah portion, Haazinu, includes Moses’ dramatic theological poem—a powerful cry of the heart because he wants to ensure that the community understands the core principles of what it means to be an Israelite. At this climactic moment, with multiple orations at the finale of Moses’ life and leadership, this section expresses his own theology, which has broad implications. While much of Deuteronomy is an interpretive rendering of aspects of the Israelite civilization we already know, this oration entails a paradigm shift on five levels: Moses, the people of Israel, God, the universe, and ultimately us—contemporary readers. A dramatic shift begins at each level.
After repetitions of history and law; the details of setting up a priestly cult, courts, and judges; the renewing of the covenant; and much discussion of reward and punishment; suddenly the tone and the layout of the text shift—even the portrayal of God shifts paradigms. Moses desires an audience greater than the community of Israel or even God: he calls upon the heavens and the earth to hear his elegy and affirm the truths he has learned.
While for most of the book, God has been portrayed as the mighty redeemer, the supreme warrior who leads Israel into battle, and the One who reveals Torah with thundering skies and threats of a conditional covenant, Moses now employs a variety of powerful but gentle images to describe God’s words:
“May my discourse come down as the rain,
My speech distill as the dew,
Like showers on young growth,
Like droplets on the grass …” (Deut. 32:2)
The well-known medieval commentator Rashi teaches that these expressions are a poetic description of Torah as the source of life. Just as the grass needs the rain and the dew so do we need the words of Torah. God’s words nurture us and sustain us. The holiday of Sukkot emphasizes a similar theme: we are ultimately dependent on forces beyond our control. The warm houses and incredible technology many of us are fortunate to have may give us a sense of security and power and make us feel that we have infinite access to knowledge, but in fact we all are ultimately vulnerable. We live in total exposure and are in need of a more transcendent kind of protection and guidance.
At this critical juncture in the narrative, the Deuteronomist ascribes to God many new names and characteristics that become important in the later books of the Bible, such as the Book of Psalms, and in the liturgy and in the prayer books that emerged in the following centuries. God as the rock, the source of justice. Any imperfections or problems in the world are because of human imperfection and human error—not because of God (Deut. 32 4-5). God is the father, the creator, the nurturer, like an eagle caring for its youngest eaglets in their nests and carrying them on its back.
By definition, these images of God ascribe complementary characteristics to the Israelites. If God is the saving eagle, the Israelites are the eaglets in a desert wasteland. If God is a wise and perfect and nurturing father, we are imperfect, naïve, and unenlightened children in need of the moral and communal direction of the Torah and a new generation of leadership. Without this theological widening it might not be possible for Joshua to be accepted and for the community to move forward.
These verses also emphasize a core feature of Judaism; it is not only a religion, culture, and civilization unto itself, but also the story of the Israelite people, which has metaphysical significance. Moses’ oration also confirms Judaism’s connection not only to religious and legal doctrines, but also to a God that is part of a metaphysical reality extending from Creation to all of eternity. By calling on the heaven and the earth to hear him, Moses returns with pathos to many of the themes of the Creation at the beginning of Genesis. Moses calls upon the heavens and the earth to witness his theophany concept. And through this powerful sermon he returns the people of Israel to the foundational elements of Creation—to the first days when heaven and earth are first distinguished by God, before humanity was even created. This is essential for the consciousness that must remain with the Israelites even after Moses is gone. God undergirds all of existence. Remember that is not just God the giver of the law, the judge, the warrior who will continue to accompany the Israelites, but also God the Creator and the devoted, protecting parent who will remain with us forever. This knowledge is a central goal of this season, to reach the spiritual climax in which we shift our existence toward all the goodness and hope that the universe holds in store for us.
In this next-to-last portion in the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses eloquently pleads with his community: Haazinu, “Listen.” He urges them to hear his sage counsel one last time before they make their way to the Promised Land without him. But why use four different descriptions of rainfall to describe how he wants his departing words to be heard? We read in Deuteronomy 32:2:
"May my discourse come down as the rain,
My speech distill as the dew,
Like showers on young growth,
Like droplets on the grass." (Deut. 32:2)
Perhaps Moses uses rain to symbolically suggest that his teachings are as life-sustaining to the Israelites, as water is to the earth. Rashi certainly agrees, noting that water here is symbolic of Torah. He notes, just as water is life to the world, Torah is life to the Israelites (Rashi on Deut. 32.2). But more significant than the use of water as the source is the way in which water is experienced. Moses speaks about rain, dew, showers, and droplets—all important, but very divergent means for delivering much needed water to the Land. Why then, does Moses use water as a metaphor for instruction? Moses is often referred to as Moshe Rabbeinu, our greatest teacher, and in this moment he earns that title, reflecting the wisdom and patience of a seasoned educator, and the foresight of an educational prophet!
Carol Ann Tomlinson is considered the foremost expert on differentiated instruction, having written more than two hundred articles and authored books on the differentiated classroom. In an interview, Tomlinson shared that differentiated instruction is an attempt by the teacher to address students’ readiness needs, particular interests, and preferred ways of learning. But at its core, differentiated instruction means addressing ways in which students vary as learners (see Anthony Rebora, “Making a Difference,” Education Week, September 2008). Was the comparison of rain to the delivery of content simply poetry or was Moses actually ahead of his time, making him the first differentiated instructor?
A skilled teacher ensures he or she delivers content in various forms, cognizant at all times of the vast and diverse ways people learn. We work to provide access to our material for the tactile learners that need to explore learning with their fingertips, for the visual learners that must see the learning in living color, and for the auditory processors that can listen intently but thrive when discussing the content with their peers. More importantly, like Moses, a good teacher will strive to know and understand her students intimately, work to nurture a community of learners who support and trust the educator. Only then can the educator ensure the learning will nurture and promote growth, just like the rain inspires vegetation to blanket the earth.
But there’s more. Some of our students need a relentless downpour of information, like a torrential rainstorm. In this case the educator works tirelessly to capture the imagination and intellectual appetite of the learner to satisfy her thirst for knowledge. For others the educator must tread lightly: with gentle words we urge the introvert to find his voice and to feel confident as master of the content. Moses knew his community well. After years of pushing and prodding, learning and living with the Israelites he knew the delivery of his message would need to be as varied as the learner. He knew after years of teaching this community that he must confer blessing and impart wisdom in as many diverse ways as water that falls from the heavens. All ways inspire growth, and all ways ensure that all have heard.
Haazinu, Deuteronomy 32:1–52
The Torah: A Modern Commentary, pp. 1,555–1,566; Revised Edition, pp. 1,398–1,412
The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, pp. 1,251–1,270
Haftarah, II Samuel 22:1-51
The Torah: A Modern Commentary, pp. 1,626–1,630; Revised Edition, pp. 1413–1,417
