Dearest Reader,Welcome to the concise,
relevant Weekly Dvar. You didn't think I'd miss a week, did you? :)
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Parshat Haazinu is Moshe's last speech, delivered as a song because
songs reach deeper into our souls. In the beginning of the song (32:4), it
says "The Rock! - Perfect is his work, for all his paths are justice; a
G-d of faith without iniquity, righteous and fair is He". This statement
is loaded, saying that Hashem is perfect, just, fair, righteous, and
without iniquity. What's strange is that it begins with comparing G-d to a
rock, and then saying that G-d's work is perfect! What's the Torah trying
to tell us by mentioning a rock, and by using all those terms? Luckily,
the Chafetz Chaim answers one question with a story about having faith: A
man had an only son that was sick, and spared no expense finding him a
cure. One doctor finally cured the boy, and told the father that the son
got sick because of certain meat that he ate. The father vowed to keep
that meat away from his son. Years passed, the father had to go away on a
business trip, and he had his family watch the boy. After he left, the boy
was tempted by the smell of the meat, ate some, and became deathly ill
again. When the father returned, he called the doctor and begged him to do
all he could. Once again the doctor was successful in healing the boy, and
the father decided to never leave his son again. A while later the father
had a party (with meat), and when the son walked in, the father quickly
rushed him out. The guests all watched in wonderment, but they didn't
understand that it was for the son's sake.
We are the guests, wondering why things are happening in our lives, but
we now know that G-d's work is just, fair, and perfect as a ROCK in every
way! But a rock is not perfect, you say? Well, it may not be perfect in
shape or color, but it's solid, consistent, and always grounded, which are
the qualities G-d shows us, and the very qualities we should emulate this
coming year! By this time next year, may we all be ROCK Jews, in every
sense of BOTH words!