Divrei Ha'azinu
A Song of Ascents
Near its end, the Song of
Ha'azinu declares, “See now, that I, I am He, and no god is with Me. I put to
death and I bring life, I struck down and I will heal, and there is no rescuer
from My hand.” (32:39) The commentators learn many foundations of Yiddishkeit
from this posuk. For example, the Gemara in Pesachim (65a) notes that the latter
part of the posuk brings a clear Torah proof of techiyas ha’meisim, The Revival
of the Dead: Just as Hashem heals the wounded, so also will He revive the dead.
Furthermore, the gemara there also learns some details of techiyas ha’meisim.
Those people who were unwell at their death (e.g. the blind and the deaf) who
rise up, will be revived with their handicaps, which Hashem will then heal.
HaRav Avraham Kramer zt”l (also known as Avraham Ragoler) author of Maalos HaTorah and the brother of the Vilna Gaon, takes another approach, based on kaballah. He notes that at first glance, this posuk does not seem to have any relation to the previous thirty-eight in the Song of Ha'azinu, which give a panorama of Jewish history. Furthermore, the wording of the posuk raises its own questions. What does “now” tell us, and why does Moshe Rabeinu double the word “I” when referring to Hashem?
R’ Avraham brings a deep kabalistic concept from the sefer Migaleh Amukos, which states that there are 955 levels of universes, one above the other. The lower 900 are populated by malachim, angels; from there on up, these celestial beings cannot enter. (Granted that we don’t understand what this means, but conceptually we can relate to places which are off limits and those which may be entered.)
Moshe Rabeinu, in his life-long journey of perfecting himself to become “Moshe Avdi”, the quisessential Eved Hashem, broke through the upper echelons of the 955 universes; he was able to experience and record the goings-on in the highest levels of shamayim. How did he accomplish this incredible feat? He utilized the 955 posukim of Sefer Devorim. With every posuk that Moshe uttered, he rose to yet another level, witnessing worlds filled with the chayos, seraphim, and ophanim of the Maseh Merkava. On a deep level, each posuk of Devorim contains Moshe’s record of his ascent in its corresponding spiritual exosphere.
This posuk in Haazinu is the 901st in Sefer Devorim. At this point, Moshe suddenly found himself above all the worlds of the malachim, alone with Hashem. He could ecstatically experience Hashem Echad with all his senses, see how Hashem, only Hashem, powers and controls every facet of His creation, lovingly guiding the world to its ultimate grand purpose.
Now the posuk shines with a different light. Moshe Rabeinu, our great teacher, is excitedly sending down to us an eyewitness report: “See now!”: All of humanity, wherever and whenever you are, realize that Hashem does run the world! All generations must know that I, Moshe ben Amram, flesh and blood, have seen with my own eyes and experienced with all my other senses “That I (referring to Hashem), I am He!”: Hashem is the Source of everything, pleasurable or painfuI; not only is it for the best, but it is the very best itself!
We, who must temporarily sojourn in this lowest world, cannot even estimate what Moshe actually saw. But perhaps we can conceptually grasp that Moshe reached the maximum level of understanding that is humanly possible. May we all be zochim to see that great day, when we can all reach the level of clarity which Moshe Rabeinu experienced.