Rosh Hashanah in HaAzinu

 L'Shanah Tovah! This Year May We Know Abundance and Peace!


Rosh Hashanah in HaAzinu

Singing the Song

by Chava Lion

This year Rosh Hashanah falls during the week of HaAzinu. 

HaAzinu is mostly a song. The question is why. Why is HaAzinu written in song or poetic form? What are we the Israelites being asked to do differently than if it was narration?

If we reach to define poetry we can see in The Poetics (Aristotle) that it’s when form (structure) and content (images) merge. Of course Aristotle came on the scene centuries after Torah and he wasn’t exactly Jewish but history proves he got the picture when it comes to poetry. In other words, for poetry to be poetry there needs to be a message that links the imagery (vivid imagery) to the way the words and lines are organized.

For example, think of the line by Dylan Thomas in Fern Hill: and the Sabbath rang slowly in the pebbles of the holy streams. Is the Sabbath really ringing? Can it ring slowly? Can it ring in pebbles? Or, think of that poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. It’s not really about two paths in the woods now is it? Yes, and more. 

Torah certainly agrees. Metaphor is important and we need format for that unique “song”. Look at Jacob’s blessings for his sons. The imagery in his blessings is explosive (he washes his clothes in wine, his cloak is the blood of grapes…Bereshit 49-12). So then (we might logically think) why aren’t they a song? To take this further, if a song or a poem has…for its purpose…to give us a surreal or holy or expansive experience through metaphor and symbol…then one would think that all of our sacred writings would be in poetic form. But they aren’t.

So this is what I think. While Torah itself is filled with symbol and metaphor it’s so easy to take Torah literally. Many of us attempt to follow the 613 mitvot…literally. The aggressive nature of our conquests is followed by many of us….literally. Once we have poetic form it’s as if we’re being told: All right. Go to metaphor. Go directly to metaphor. Don’t look back. Don’t look down. Don’t be frightened. Don’t even begin at the literal. You will find foundation in the symbol itself.

While this means we might have to think harder, I don’t think it’s all that bad a thing. Metaphor is the place of connection from denomination to denomination and even (as I’ve shown) between the Jewish and the non-Jewish and/or between the Religious and the Secular . Whatever we believe in, for example, if we are told to see an eagle as symbol we are at least all visualizing something mighty, holy and amazing, something-beyond even the eagle.

Let’s look at Shir HaShirim. What looks like a maiden looking for her man, is (according to Rabbi Akiva) the holy of holies itself, the reflection of an erotic mythology in which the Shekhinah and the god-head are merged as one (Green, The Song of Songs in Early Jewish Mysticism). According to Ariel and Hana Bloch, this erotic search is also between human partners. The yearning is solid. And we wouldn’t get it with the same power and mutual comprehension if someone just said casually to all of us: Wow, we all really yearn for each other, don’t we?

Thank God for Shir HaShirim. Thank God for HaAzinu.

HaAzinu reflects the same power of metaphor. The focus though is on teshuva. Even the beginning of the Haftorah section (Hosea) reveals the idea of return. Therefore HaAzinu can easily be seen as the blueprint of the ultimate return…the viddui for Moshe (who is about to die) and therefore for the Israelite people.

Moshe certainly merges with the Israelites in HaAzinu. Simply calling heaven and earth as witnesses (32-1) brings Moshe and the Israelites together. They are all after all being witnessed by the same natural forces.

In terms of form, HaAzinu creates a central pillar between the two columns of letters. This can easily be seen as the pillar that (according to kabbalists) aligns the Shekhinah with tiferet (balance) and then with keter (absolute holiness). So the seeming separation in human eyes within the lines is actually white space that represents the motion of rising and merging in the eyes of God.

How is this a viddui? The words of Moshe, so vivid, can be seen as a spoken confession of the Israelite people and therefore of himself. We begin with the recognition of the sins (is this the way you repay God, you ungrateful nation?) then we continue with remorse when Moshe describes the beauty of God (like an eagle arousing its nest, hovering over its young, He spread His wings…). Finally, and this is the larger part of the poem, we witness and experience the verbal recognition of the sins of the Israelites. Then, we experience the punishments and finally (according to some commentary) we and Moshe are granted ultimate redemption.

In the words of Micah who is a God like You who passes over sin and forgives the transgressions of the remnant of His heritage?

The remnant includes Moshe. It includes the Israelites. It is all of us and here in this poem we are given the opportunity to metaphorically and structurally move through, to allow God to pass over our sins. Therefore, there isn’t any reason to be frightened of symbol or structure. Even if we don’t understand at first we may be wise to accept that there’s beauty and safety in the Eden beyond metaphor. It’s a wide open door. It’s a beautiful gift.

This Rosh Hashanah we will all re-experience the awareness of this gift. That's what Rosh Hashanah is about. It takes self inspection and even self re-creation. Once we move into this place of light though we have the inner strength to transform the world. How do we do it?

Well, looking at HaAzinu we accept that we as well can be seen as poetry. A human being is a poem of God.  As poetry, we can move beyond taking ourselves literally and know that we are all vessels filled with light. If we move through life that way, with that knowledge, we will naturally act within the mitzvoth. Just as with HaAzinu, we want to go directly to self-metaphor. We don't look down, don't look back. We find our very foundation in the divine metaphor of who we are.  Easy? No. A sacrifice? Yes. A sacrifice that God will actually sacrifice back to us? Yes. Therefore there's nothing to fear.

May we all have the faith and the inner-light to see the Divine Symbol that is us. This year, may we all say yes to the holy re-creation of self. May we see and be images of God.