Parashat Ha'azinuפָּרָשַׁת הַאֲזִינוּ

In Ha’azinu (“Listen”), Moses recites a poem praising God and criticizing the sins of the Israelites. He describes the misfortunes that the Israelites will face and the damage God will ultimately wreak on their oppressors. The portion ends as God commands Moses to ascend Mount Nebo, where he is to die. Ha'azinu is essentially one long poem: the Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32:1-43), a roughly 70-line prophetic summary of the entire covenant relationship between God and Israel. Its great theme is divine justice and patience set against human disloyalty: God is repeatedly called "the Rock" (Tzur), faithful and perfect in His ways, while Israel is warned that once settled and prosperous it will grow complacent and rebel ("Jeshurun grew fat and kicked"). The poem moves through ingratitude, punishment, and God's "hiding of His face," before turning to restraint, vengeance on Israel's oppressors, and ultimate redemption. It also opens with a call to memory ("Remember the days of old") and is framed as a perpetual witness that Israel is commanded to learn and teach to its children.

When the standard Ha'azinu Haftarah is read, it is 2 Samuel 22:1-51, David's song of deliverance (nearly identical to Psalm 18), and this same selection is used in both Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities. The connection is poetic and biographical: both are great songs sung near the end of a leader's life, both celebrate God's protection, and both repeatedly invoke God as a saving "Rock" (Tzur). In practice, however, Ha'azinu most often falls on Shabbat Shuva (the Sabbath between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur), and in those years the special Shabbat Shuva Haftarah is read instead, beginning with Hosea 14:2-10. In most Ashkenazi communities the Shabbat Shuva reading continues with Joel 2:15-27, while many Sephardi communities continue with Micah 7:18-20.

Ha'azinu is famous as the "Song of Moses" and is written in Torah scrolls in a distinctive two-column poetic layout, with parallel half-verses set side by side. Among its best-known verses are Deuteronomy 32:4 ("The Rock, whose work is perfect, for all His ways are justice"), 32:7 ("Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations"), and 32:11, the tender image of God as an eagle that "stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, and spreads its wings." The word "Tzur" (Rock) for God recurs throughout the song. It is also one of the shortest weekly portions, spanning only Deuteronomy 32 (52 verses), and it most often coincides with Shabbat Shuva, the "Sabbath of Return" during the Ten Days of Repentance.