Parashat Haazinu by Lila ’28

by Lila '28

This week’s parasha is Haazinu. Haazinu is a prayer poem that Moses presents to the people of Israel just before he ascends Mount Nevo—his resting place. Moses shares many valuable lessons, but the most important is to remember your history, story, and relationship to G-d. After B’nai Israel listens to Moshe’s outstanding message, Moshe climbs the mountain where he can see all of the land. He knows he will die without entering as a punishment for his anger. Moshe’s speech makes me wonder: Why do we recall and study the past or history? Why do we recite it again and again if it already happened?

Rashi proposes that one should remember and consider history in order to be conscious of what may happen in the future. I agree with this commentary because the past teaches us what we should do differently and how we should change. It makes us think about who we want to be.

If each of us were to look back, we would probably find a time in our past that we regret or wish we had handled differently. Without that reflection, we would keep making the same mistakes and never learn.

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past” is a famous line by American author, William Faulkner. This quote goes to show that we are all learning from the past, whether from historical events like the Holocaust, a subject we will learn about as 7th graders, or just our past selves, which we also learn from every day. Haazinu means to listen. I strongly believe that if we listen more to the people who give us advice, to past stories, and to the sounds around us, we will become the people we want to be.