Aliyah

Greetings and welcome to Shnayim Mikra, the podcast series developed and sponsored by the Orthodox Union, hosted here at ou.org.

In each one of these podcasts, we read, translate, study, analyze, and discuss one of the Aliyot in the current week's parashah.

My name is Yitzchak Etshalom, and it's been a delight to study Parashat Ha'Azinu, Shirat Moshe, Moshe's famous farewell song of prophecy, um, that is to accompany Bnei Israel.

They are to learn it by heart, commit it to memory, so that when troubles befall them, they will recite it and they will understand the reason for those troubles.

We are now on the sixth Aliyah, and the final Aliyah, it's a very short one, uh, of the song itself.

We have seen a description, a prophetic description of Bnei Israel's success, the love that God exhibits for them, and their, uh, punishment for rebelling against God, and God then staying his hand in order to ensure that the nations do not think they are the ones ultimately who, um, who are in charge of Bnei Israel's destiny or their own destiny, and that this entire process is for the entire world to come to a realization that God is the single power.

Beginning with Pasuk Mem, verse forty.

Greetings and welcome to Schneiem Mikra, a podcast series sponsored and developed by the Orthodox Union, hosted here at ou.org.

In each one of these podcasts, we read, translate, study, analyze, and discuss one of the Aliyot from the current week's parashah.

My name is Yitzchak Etshalom, and I'm honored to be studying Parashat Ha'azinu with you here in the penultimate, uh, series of this larger series of Schneiem Mikra.

I am grateful to, uh, Rabbi Abramowitz and to the Orthodox Union for the opportunity, uh, to teach you via this, uh, most wonderful and modern of technologies and our engagement in the most, uh, sanctified and ancient of texts.

Taf Chof Ches, Halacha Zain.

"Shmoneh Pesukim Achronim Sheba'Torah," the last eight Pesukim in the Torah, "Ein Mafsikim Bohem," you shouldn't divide it up by, you know, breaking it up and having another Aliyah.

"Eli Yachid Kore Ois Kulam," one person reads, uh, the whole lot.

I.e., you have one Aliyah for the final eight Pesukim.

Uh, it says the Mishnah Bora, "Tahinu mi," Seif Kaf Chaf, "Tahinu mi'Veyom Hashem Moshe." The, the final eight Pesukim in the Torah, at the end of the Zot HaBerakhah, you don't break it up.

It's one Aliyah, the last eight Pesukim.

"Ein Mafsikim Bohem," says Mishnah Bora Kaf Alef.

"Le chalkol l'shnei k'ruyim." We don't divide it up to have two Aliyahs.

Each of the first two aliyot was made up of six verses.

We are in chapter 32 now, verse 13.

And as I mentioned in the last podcast, the rabbis developed a mnemonic for remembering the Aliyah breakdown, which paralleled the six-week cycle of the psalm sung, or the song sung, by the Levim with the Korban Musaf for Shabbat.

Every week they would sing one of these, effectively, Aliyot, And we are now on the third one, which starts with Yod, Haziv Lach, Hazinu, Zochoi Motolam, and now Yarkivehu.

I have to remember that the first Aliyah, and I'm following here the Sforno's direction in understanding the structure of the Shira.

The first one, of course, is an introduction to the Shira as I've presented.

The second one is an exhortation to learn from history and to remember the essential piece of Yitzhak Mitzrayim.

The third is the as we will see in this Aliyah, the wealth and protection and security that we enjoyed as a gift of God coming into the land and our reaction to that or our response to that.

The end of this piece is, Adonai Badad Yanchanu, God, will have them sit, or camp, alone, and they have no other God with them, meaning no other power, which is with them, only God, and they dwell alone, and they don't mix with the other nation.

And that is the end of that Aliyah.

Now, Mahazinu, as I mentioned, is unique in several ways.

Another way in which it's unique is the division that we have of the Aliyot.

So a couple words about Aliyot.

You have to recall that although our standard practice has very clear demarcations of where the first Aliyah ends, we've been following that this entire series, the second Aliyah ends, and there's a few places where Chumashim have it printed in different places, notably in Parshat Truma.

But for the most part, almost all Aliyot are fairly fixed.

However, that's not the way it always was.

And now that we are going to begin the study of Parashat HaZinu, my name is Yitzhak Shalom, and I'll be with you for the rest of the week as we study this most special parasha, which is commonly known as Shirat Moshe.

And I'm going to take the opportunity afforded by the relatively short Aliyot, although very difficult Aliyot, to discuss the role of poetry in Tanakh form of Shira in Tanakh, and the special place of Hazinu, both within Torah, in Halacha, and within the graphics of Shira.

And we'll start with the latter.

The end of Parashat Vayelech contains what is commonly known as the last mitzvah in the Torah.

You owe him everything.

And that's the end of that introductory piece.

Why that's an introductory piece, talk about in the second and third Aliyot, we talk about the whole structure of Haazinu.

As I mentioned, there's an interesting story about the word surr.

Even the ones that you would never believe it's possible, it happened.

So, Aliyat Shishi usually is the best Aliyah to buy, right, every Shabbat, Aliyat Shishi.

According to Kabbalah.

According to the Pshat, Aliyat Shishi is the best one.

If there's no Kohen, the first Aliyah is the best.

Instead of Kohen.

But if you have Kohen and Levi, Ashkenazim, they rather get the third Aliyah.

Sephardim, they rather go for the sixth one.

Now, maybe they told them beforehand.

Maybe they didn't tell them the Aliyahs, you know, just the second beforehand like we do today.

But the point is that the people who got the Aliyah would be the ones who actually read from the Torah, which is why, at least ideally, the best way to get an Aliyah is to read along with the Baal Kriah.

Right? When you get an Aliyah, when somebody gets an Aliyah, and they're reading, they're supposed to be watching the words, but also saying them to themselves, right? Sometimes Balei Korea don't like that because it's distracting for the person getting to the Aliyah to be talking in their ear.