Two Minute Torah Podcast

Ha'azinu 5770 by Rabbi Ed Romm

Shalom, my name is Rabbi Ed Romm, Director of Education and Campus Programs for the

United Synagogue Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center For Conservative Judaism.

Welcome to KOACH's Two Minute Torah, a project of the

College Dept of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

I would like to share some thoughts with you about Parshat Ha'azinu, which is read on Shabbat Sheuva, the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

In the language of poetry Moshe Rabenu (Moses our teacher) begins with a summary of the history of what God has done for Israel. God is perfect and his ways are just. He provided for the needs of the people in the desert and sustained them. He selected Israel to be his treasured people.

However the people did not always live up to God's expectations. Given choices they did not always choose wisely.

Parshat Ha'azinu is a prophecy and a warning of what the future entails for Bnai Yisrael in the Land of Israel. The people of Israel will rebel against God's teachings and turn to Avodah Zarah (idolatry) and will then be punished by God.

However do not despair. Just as in the past God forgave Israel, so in the future will God forgive Israel.

At the very end of the Torah portion. God tells Moshe to ascend to Mt. Nevo, in the land of Moav overlooking the Land of Israel, the mountain upon which Moshe will die.

"You may view the land from a distance, but you shall not enter it - the land that I am giving to the Children of Israel".

Life is indeed about choices, but sometimes not of our own making. Moshe was not allowed to enter the Promised Land for which he sacrificed so much and worked so hard.

At this season of soul searching, what do we wish for ourselves today?

I want to wish all of us a Good Year, a Sweet Year and a Year of Peace.