Angels and animals
Ha’azinu — Deuteronomy 32:1-32:52
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September 23, 2009
Ha’azinu contains the prophetic poem known as the “Song of Moses.” It begins with words of moral teaching, contrasting the virtue of God to the wickedness of Israel. It then tells of God’s goodness to Israel, Israel’s prosperity and rebellion, and God’s punishment for breaking the covenant. Finally, it speaks of God’s mercy, that God will save His people from their enemies.
The poem begins, “Give ear, O heavens, let me speak; let the earth hear the words I utter.” Moses symbolically calls heaven and earth to be witness to the fact that he has warned Israel about the punishment that will follow their rebellion. (This foreshadows the halachic requirement that in capital cases the perpetrator must be warned in the presence of two witnesses that what he plans to do is forbidden and will incur the death penalty if he proceeds.)
Among the suggestions as to why Moses chose heaven and earth as witnesses are that he wanted witnesses who would outlive his and subsequent generations or, if Israel were found guilty, that these witnesses would administer the punishment, for the heavens would withhold rain and the earth would withhold its produce.
Humash Eitz Hayim cites this from the 19th-century Hungarian rabbi known as the Hatam Sofer: “Listen to me, you spiritual people whose thoughts are in heaven, and also you down-to-earth people whose concerns are more material. This message is meant for all of you.”
However, this explanation is problematic, because it implies a dichotomy between body and soul, between the spiritual and the material. It’s true that some religious traditions emphasize this, urging adherents to exalt the spiritual and downplay the physical, but this is not in mainstream Jewish tradition.
The Talmud in Hagigah (16a) teaches: “Our masters taught: Six attributes are ascribed to human beings. In regard to three they are like angels; in regard to three they are like animals. Like angels they have understanding, they walk erect, and they speak the sacred tongue [Hebrew]. Like animals they eat and drink, they procreate, and they excrete wastes.” And it was after the creation of this human being — part angel, part animal — that God looked at what He had created and pronounced it tov m’od, very good.
God doesn’t ask us to suppress our material attributes and become spiritual beings — after all, God already has angels. God wants us to do something more difficult — to channel our physical attributes and desires in order to create holiness. You see, angels are incapable of sin — they have no yetzer hara, no evil inclination. Angels carry out God’s commandments and missions without question or difficulty. In that sense, you can’t even say that angels are good, because they have no choice.
But we human beings do have choices:
- Both we and animals eat and drink, but we can choose to make our meals vehicles of holiness through kashrut, blessings said before and after eating, and the words we speak at the table — or we can, as the saying goes, eat like pigs.
- Both we and animals procreate, but we can choose to make sex holy in the context of marriage, love, and concern for each other, by raising children in love and security, and by approaching this aspect of our lives with concern for modesty and dignity.
- Both we and animals excrete, but we can choose to perform even the elimination of bodily wastes in a holy manner when we surround these acts with modesty, concern for privacy, and respect for others and our surroundings.
Moses called heaven and earth to be witnesses because, at our best, we embody both.
Rabbi Joyce Newmark, a resident of Teaneck, is a former religious leader of congregations in Leonia and Lancaster, Pa.
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