According to many commentaries the song of Ha’azinu alludes to the history of the world from its very inception, the history of mankind, and specifically the Jewish people until its final redemption in the land of Israel.
The first three verses in the portion allude directly to the creation of the world and through close investigation one can see a clear parallel between these three verses and the first three days of creation.
The first sentence of the Torah describing the creation of heaven and earth contains seven words: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” In the first sentence of Ha’azinu, which also contains seven words, the heavens and the earth are brought as “witnesses” to the prophecy of Moshe: “Give ear heavens and I will speak, and may the earth hear the words of my mouth” (Deuteronomy 32:1). Rashi explains that the heavens and earth are called as witnesses as they will exist in every generation, and in addition they will serve as the agents of the blessing or curse which will be accorded the Jewish people according to their actions.
The second day of creation describes the creation of the firmament in the midst of the waters and the ultimate separation between the upper and lower waters. The second sentence of Ha’azinu has Moshe comparing his words to different types of precipitation which come from above and dew which comes from below. Rashi explains that just as rain awakens life on the earth, the words of Torah give life to man.
In the story of creation the earth’s vegetation was created on the third day. Yet, later it describes how despite their creation on the third day nothing grew “for God had not caused it to rain on the earth and there was no man to work the soil” (Genesis 2:5). When Adam realized, as Rashi explains, that nothing would grow without the rains he began to pray for rain, which then came in response to his prayer and caused everything to grow.
Even before the creation of man though the Torah states: “and a mist rose up from the earth and watered the face of the land.” According to Rashi, the mist spoken about created clouds which moistened the earth creating the right atmosphere in which man could be created from the dust of the earth and the mist, much like one adds water to flour in order to knead it into dough.
The third sentence of Ha’azinu proclaims: “when I call upon the name of the Lord; give greatness to our God.” This calling on God’s name is what brings the life giving rains, which are symbolic of all spiritual and physical bounty.
The second paragraph of the Shema describes how our reward for doing God’s will are the rains that will come in their season. The power of the rains to release the earth’s ability to sustain vegetation can be compared to prayer’s ability to awaken our dormant potential and bring it to actualization.
A beautiful allusion to the connection between the power of creation and the power of prayer can be seen in the similarities between the word ed( spelled ayin-dalet), which means witness, as in the heaven and earth being called as witnesses, and ed(spelled alef-dalet), which is the mist that arose and was needed for the creation of man. Although they are written with different first letters, both words are pronounced the same way in Hebrew.
Kabbalah and Chassidut discuss at length two types of arousal or initial points of spiritual awakening: arousal from above and arousal from below. Rain represents arousal from above, and dew or mist the arousal from below. These two concepts are further represented by heaven and earth, which are called upon as witnesses to Moshe’s prophecy. Just as in creation, where the rising of the mist and Adam’s prayer preceded God’s answer of rain, so too man should strive to draw close to God through his or her own arousal from below. We pray for God’s “response” from above to below. Prayer is one of the most potent ways to facilitate this two way flow between God and man. Many times though, when we are unable to awaken ourselves, we receive God’s grace through the awakening coming from above first. At the deepest level even the original awakening from below comes secretly from above.
For a Jew, the ultimate task is to be a constant witness to the world that there is one God. This is our way of giving “greatness to our God”. The most important statement of this belief, contained in the morning and evening prayers is “Hear O Israel the Lord our God the Lord is One”. When written in the Torah, the letters ayin of Shema and the dalet of Echad are enlarged, spelling the word Ed, witness.
Another beautiful connection between the power of creation and the power of prayer appears in the following sentence: “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth in their creation, on that day God made the earth and the heavens.”(Breishit 2.4) There are two orders here; first heaven and earth and then earth and heaven. The Talmud teaches that the word behebaram, “in their creation,” contains the same letters as Abraham. Until Avraham came to be a witness to the reality of One God, the sustenance of the world came almost exclusively from above. Abraham introduced the idea of man becoming partners in the creation through his arousal from below to be close to God.
The arousal we are referring to is summed up best by the words: “with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.” This phrase is found in the first paragraph of the Shema. The word meodecha, “with all your might,” could also be read as m’-ed-cha, “from your ed,” “your mist;” your awakening from below. This teaches us that concentration and devotion in prayer has the ability to facilitate a true arousal from below, where we can harness all our innate and hidden soul powers to emulate the Divine powers of creation.
This aroused aspect of prayer is perhaps most revealed in Neila, the last of the five prayers of Yom Kippur. These five prayers can be related to the word ed, “mist,” whose numerical value is also five. No matter how tired we are by the day long fast of Yom Kippur, with the approaching of Neila, (which means the closing of the gates,) each person musters all of their energy to ensure that the gates of heaven and his or her soul is actually open the widest. This is truly a quintessential moment of “with all your might.” Like true witnesses we forcefully arouse ourselves from below to proclaim at the end of Neila:
“Hear O Israel the Lord our God the Lord is One”.
“Blessed is His Kingdom forever and ever”
“God He is the Lord”
The final shofar blast uplifts all the prayers to the height of heaven, even those which are beyond words. May we all merit to experience God “raining down” His grace upon us.
