Friday 25 September 2020

Shabbos Tzetl: Haazinu & Shuva

CANDLE LIGHTING 
6:01pm - Candle Lighting, Friday.
6:59pm - Havdalah, Saturday.
These times are for Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Eruv Status: KOSHER
Shabbat Shalom! 

The Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is called Shabbat Shuvah, "Shabbat of Return." The name derives from the Haftarah (reading from the prophets) for this Shabbat, which opens with the words (Hosea 14:2), "Return O Israel unto the L-rd your G-d..." Occurring in the "Ten Days of Repentance" (see "Laws & Customs" for Tishrei 3), it is a most auspicious time to rectify the failings and missed opportunities of the past and positively influence the coming year.



YESHIVA SHULE TIMES

Please click here to view the Yeshivah Shule Tzetel for Parshas Ha'azinu.

Please click here to view the PDFs of the Weekly Publications previously distributed in Shule each Shabbos.

Halacha Guides for your reference:
Tishrei 5781 and Lockdown: http://bit.ly/TishreiVic

Yom Kippur Guide: http://bit.ly/YomKipp
Including for Erev and Motzei Yom Kippur.

Sukkos Guide: http://bit.ly/LCSukkos
Including the leadup to Sukkos, first days of Sukkos and Chol Hamoed.




PARSHAH IN A NUTSHELL
Deuteronomy 32:1–52
The greater part of the Torah reading of Haazinu ("Listen In") consists of a 70-line "song" delivered by Moses to the people of Israel on the last day of his earthly life.

Calling heaven and earth as witnesses, Moses exhorts the people, "Remember the days of old / Consider the years of many generations / Ask your father, and he will recount it to you / Your elders, and they will tell you" how G‑d "found them in a desert land," made them a people, chose them as His own, and bequeathed them a bountiful land. The song also warns against the pitfalls of plenty—"Yeshurun grew fat and kicked / You have grown fat, thick and rotund / He forsook G‑d who made him / And spurned the Rock of his salvation"—and the terrible calamities that would result, which Moses describes as G‑d "hiding His face." Yet in the end, he promises, G‑d will avenge the blood of His servants, and be reconciled with His people and land.

The Parshah concludes with G‑d's instruction to Moses to ascend the summit of Mount Nebo, from which he will behold the Promised Land before dying on the mountain. "For you shall see the land opposite you; but you shall not go there, into the land which I give to the children of Israel."



HAFTORAH IN A NUTSHELL
Hosea 14:2-10; Micah 7:18-20.

The Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is known as Shabbat Shuva or "Shabbat of Return (Repentance)." The name is a reference to the opening words of the week's haftorah, "Shuva Israel — Return O Israel." This haftorah is read in honor of the Ten Days of Repentance, the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

The prophet Hosea exhorts the Jewish people to "Return, O Israel, to the L-rd your G‑d," encouraging them to repent sincerely and ask for G‑d's forgiveness. Hosea urges the Jews to put their trust in G‑d, not in Assyria, powerful horses or idols. At that point, G‑d promises to remove His anger from Israel, "I will be like dew to Israel, they shall blossom like a rose." The prophet then goes on to foretell the return of the exiles and the cessation of idol-worship amongst the people.

The haftorah concludes with a  brief portion from the Book of Micah, which describes G‑d's kindness in forgiving the sins of His people. "He does not maintain His anger forever, for He is a lover of kindness. He will have mercy on us, He will grasp our iniquities and cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." Micah concludes with an enjoinder to G‑d to remember the pacts He made with the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.



SAGES ON THE PARSHAH
Listen, O heavens: that I am warning Israel, and you shall be witnesses in this matter, for I have already told Israel that you will be witnesses. And so is [the clause] "And let the earth hear" [to be similarly understood]. Now why did [Moses] call upon heaven and earth to be witnesses [for warning Israel]? Moses said: "I am [just] flesh and blood. Tomorrow I will die. If Israel says, 'We never accepted the covenant,' who will come and refute them?" Therefore, he called upon heaven and earth as witnesses for Israel-witnesses that endure forever. Furthermore, if they [Israel] act meritoriously, the witnesses will come and reward them: "The vine will give its fruit, the earth will yield its produce, and the heavens will give their dew" (Zech. 8:12). And if [Israel] acts sinfully, the hand of the witnesses will be upon them first [to inflict punishment upon them]: "And He will close off the heaven that there will be no rain, and the soil will not give its produce" (Deut. 11:17), and then [the verse continues]: "and you will perish quickly"-through [the attacks of] the nations. — [Sifrei 32:1]
Rashi



THIS WEEK IN HISTORY





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