Shabbat Parashat Devarim 5784

Parashat Hashavua: Hearing the Sounds

The parasha begins with the devarim (utterances) that Moshe diber (spoke) to Bnei Yisrael (Devarim 1:1), as does the haftara that we read recently, “Divrei Yirmiyahu … asher haya devar Hashem (spoke)” (Yirmiyahu 1:1-2). The phenomenon of double stressing the speaking occurs several times in the two sefarim. (Parenthetically, the people involved, Moshe and Yirmiyahu, have a lot in common.) It is noteworthy that throughout Sefer Devarim, there are connections to the Aseret Hadibrot (Ten Commandments). The Aseret Hadibrot also begin with a double mention of the root daber (Shemot 20:1).

 We have demonstrated in the past that throughout Tanach, we find that davar is a reference to prophecies, and indeed Sefer Devarim means that it is the book of Moshe’s prophecies. So too regarding Yirmiyahu, the introductory p’sukim mean that these are the prophecies of Yirmiyahu.

There is a question we have to ask about prophets. What body part is key to their prophecy: the eyes, the ears, or the mouth? The following pasuk in Parashat Vaetchanan may help. “Hashem spoke to you from the midst of the fire; the sound of devarim you heard, and a picture you did not see, but rather a sound” (Devarim 4:12). Sound is stressed, so the important thing is hearing with the ears. After hearing, the prophet shares with the mouth. Seeing is of lesser value and is sometimes even negative. Therefore, we should not be surprised that after the story of the traverses through the desert from the time of the Exodus until soon before the entry to the Land, Moshe addresses the people with the words: “Now, Israel, listen …” (ibid. 4:1). This is followed a little later with the introduction to another important address: “Listen, Israel, to the statutes and the laws” (ibid. 5:1).

So we will posit that the ear is the most important organ, followed by the mouth and only afterward the eyes. Until recently, in order for someone to be able to speak properly, he must have had a functioning ear. With improvements in technology and medicine, in Hashem’s kindness, the situation of the hearing impaired has improved greatly.

One of the people who stressed the importance of hearing was King David, who said: “Ears You formed for me … then I said (with the mouth): Indeed I have come with the scroll of a book written about me” (Tehillim 40:7-8). One who expounded on this point is Rav Kook’s disciple, Rav David Cohen, who was known as The Nazir, in his work “The Sound of Prophecy.”

We end off with a related matter that has been troubling us greatly – the inability of extremists on both sides of the political spectrum to listen and their takeover of the public discourse. The ear has another purpose, other than hearing. The ear is responsible for balance in the body. (Notice that Hebrew uses the same root for the ear and for balance.) Yes, the ear is responsible for that on a physical and on a social level. Let us pray for proper balance, which begins with people listening for the benefit of the needs of their counterparts.

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