Moses wants to stir hearts as he recites poetry that reminds the Children of Israel that God is forever just and the source of moral authority in our lives. God is forever your touchstone and torch he tells Israel. Transgress and be burned, follow the Lord and be led to life full of blessing. He uses metaphors of the land and nature to make his points.
Israeli poet Leah Goldberg writes of beauty amid ache, where land and life braid together: “Perhaps only migrating birds know—suspended between earth and sky—the heartache of two homelands.” Her lines suggest that place can reopen the soul, even when it holds tension and trial. To soar into new horizons we must remember our place is both earthly and heavenly.
Moses, too, turns to the elements: “הַאֲזִינוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם וַאֲדַבֵּרָה, וְתִשְׁמַע הָאָרֶץ אִמְרֵי־פִי”—“Give ear, O heavens…let the earth hear the words of my mouth.” And then the gentlest image: “יַעֲרֹף כַּמָּטָר לִקְחִי, תִּזַּל כַּטַּל אִמְרָתִי”—Torah as rain and dew, seeping into us (Deut. 32:1–2). Ha’azinu names God “הַצּוּר תָּמִים פָּעֳלוֹ… כִּי כָל דְּרָכָיו מִשְׁפָּט”—“The Rock, perfect is His work… all His ways are justice” (32:4). The land’s stones and the open heavens become a bridge from terrain to spirit—rocks that steady us, skies that soften us—so Torah can reach the soil of the soul.
We just stood in that place of potential growth at Ne’ilah, pleading: “פְּתַח לָנוּ שַׁעַר בְּעֵת נְעִילַת שַׁעַר, כִּי פָנָה יוֹם.” Open for us the gate! The final hour of the day is drawing near. We leaned on the poetry of “אֵל מֶלֶךְ יוֹשֵׁב עַל כִּסֵּא רַחֲמִים,” invoking the One enthroned on mercy even as judgment loomed.
Our High Holy Day prayers hold justice and compassion together: וּנְתַנֶּה תֹּקֶף U’netaneh Tokef confronts us with consequence and recognizes God is the Master of Creation, Giver of life and death, yet the poet answers with hope—“וּתְשׁוּבָה וּתְפִלָּה וּצְדָקָה מַעֲבִירִין אֶת רֹעַ הַגְּזֵרָה.” T’shuvah, Tefillah and Tzedakah make life profoundly meaningful.
Milton, in Paradise Lost, imagines a juridical God and still concedes, “But Mercy first and last shall brightest shine.” Moses goes further: the Rock is righteous and tender.
So let our prayer be for God to move from the seat of judgment to the throne of mercy. This is why we use the metaphors of a parent and a royal leader, together during the Yamim Noraim – Avinu Malkeinu אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ, Parent-Sovereign. It is God who compassionately helps guide our life missions and warns of consequence when we stray without תשובה t’shuvah.
May we open ourselves to the “טַל הַשָּׁמַיִם,” “dew of heaven” that Moses mentioned. May that lead to hearing a word of God that “תִּזַּל כַּטַּל”—falls as gentle dew upon our souls. And may our songs and prayers this Shabbat and every Sabbath this year of 5786 draw out compassion from Heaven and from us to launch us ever higher into the heavens of our existence, the blessed pathways of our lives.
Shabbat Shalom & Shanah Tovah,
Rabbi Bolton