## Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Ha'Azinu, I; The Arc of the Moral Universe

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[Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Ha'Azinu, I; The Arc of the Moral Universe 1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Covenant%20and%20Conversation%20Family%20Edition/s/Ha%27Azinu,_I%3B%20The%20Arc%20of%20the%20Moral%20Universe/r/1)

**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
**I. The Arc of the Moral Universe**
***THE CORE IDEA***
In poetic language, Moshe breaks into song, putting both power and passion into his final speech to the Israelites. The main message of this final, musical speech is the idea known as*tzidduk hadin*, defending God’s justice. The way Moshe puts it is this:


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
*He is the Rock, His works are perfect, And all His ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, Upright and just is He.* (Devarim 32:4)


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
This belief is fundamental to Judaism and it is key to the way we understand evil and suffering in the world – a difficult but necessary belief. It teaches us that bad things happen, but God is just.


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
*Is He corrupt? No – the defect is in His children, A crooked and stubborn generation.* (Devarim 32:5)


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[Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Ha'Azinu, I; The Arc of the Moral Universe 5](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Covenant%20and%20Conversation%20Family%20Edition/s/Ha%27Azinu,_I%3B%20The%20Arc%20of%20the%20Moral%20Universe/r/5)

**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
God rewards good with good, evil with evil. When bad things happen to us, it is usually because we have been guilty of doing bad things ourselves. The fault lies not in our stars but within ourselves.


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[Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Ha'Azinu, I; The Arc of the Moral Universe 6](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Covenant%20and%20Conversation%20Family%20Edition/s/Ha%27Azinu,_I%3B%20The%20Arc%20of%20the%20Moral%20Universe/r/6)

**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
This is a very challenging idea to accept, but it leads us to not look for others to blame, but rather work hard to make our lives and the world better.


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[Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Ha'Azinu, I; The Arc of the Moral Universe 7](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Covenant%20and%20Conversation%20Family%20Edition/s/Ha%27Azinu,_I%3B%20The%20Arc%20of%20the%20Moral%20Universe/r/7)

**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
**QUESTIONS TO PONDER**


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
*1. Why is it sometimes hard to defend (our perception of) God and His justice in the world? Can you think of any examples from our times?*


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[Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Ha'Azinu, I; The Arc of the Moral Universe 9](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Covenant%20and%20Conversation%20Family%20Edition/s/Ha%27Azinu,_I%3B%20The%20Arc%20of%20the%20Moral%20Universe/r/9)

**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
*2. Why is it important not to look for someone to blame, but rather to look towards ourselves to act?*


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[Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Ha'Azinu, I; The Arc of the Moral Universe 10](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Covenant%20and%20Conversation%20Family%20Edition/s/Ha%27Azinu,_I%3B%20The%20Arc%20of%20the%20Moral%20Universe/r/10)

**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
***IT ONCE HAPPENED…***
*Ariella was five when her one-year-old cousin was diagnosed with cancer. He was a brave little boy who fought the disease and survived. He inspired his whole family to find ways to show their gratitude to the hospital where he was treated, and so they began raising money for and awareness of the hospital. Ariella’s grandmother set up a special charity to fundraise, and her father ran a marathon to raise money for the cause.*


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
*As Ariella grew up, she wanted to help other children with cancer. She, too, raised money for the hospital that had treated her cousin by running in a race that was a mile long. But she wanted to do even more for children with cancer. So she grew her beautiful hair long, and then cut it and donated it to a charity that makes wigs for children who had lost their own hair through cancer treatments. Ariella loved her long blonde hair, but she didn’t think twice about donating it to this very important cause.*


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[Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Ha'Azinu, I; The Arc of the Moral Universe 12](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Covenant%20and%20Conversation%20Family%20Edition/s/Ha%27Azinu,_I%3B%20The%20Arc%20of%20the%20Moral%20Universe/r/12)

**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
*When Ariella turned ten, she also became ill with cancer, and she became a patient in the very same hospital that had treated her cousin. She also beat the disease and became an inspiration to many. Her experience only made her want to give more and more to the children she saw fighting alongside her, and she continues to do so to this day.*


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[Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Ha'Azinu, I; The Arc of the Moral Universe 13](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Covenant%20and%20Conversation%20Family%20Edition/s/Ha%27Azinu,_I%3B%20The%20Arc%20of%20the%20Moral%20Universe/r/13)

**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
**QUESTIONS TO PONDER**


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[Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Ha'Azinu, I; The Arc of the Moral Universe 14](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Covenant%20and%20Conversation%20Family%20Edition/s/Ha%27Azinu,_I%3B%20The%20Arc%20of%20the%20Moral%20Universe/r/14)

**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
*1. What was so inspiring about the way Ariella responded to her cousin’s illness and then her own?*


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[Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Ha'Azinu, I; The Arc of the Moral Universe 15](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Covenant%20and%20Conversation%20Family%20Edition/s/Ha%27Azinu,_I%3B%20The%20Arc%20of%20the%20Moral%20Universe/r/15)

**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
*2. How does her response connect to the message from the* parasha*?*


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
***THINKING MORE DEEPLY***
After delivering his philosophical message to the Israelites, Moshe moved into the prophetic mode, predicting the pitfalls the people will encounter once they cross the Jordan and enter the land. Throughout the book of Devarim, Moshe has delivered similar warnings, knowing that once the hardships of the desert and the struggles of battle have been forgotten, the people will become comfortable and complacent. They will attribute their achievements to themselves and they will drift from their faith. When this happens, they will bring disaster on themselves:


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
*Yeshurun grew fat and kicked – You became fat, thick, gross – They abandoned the God who made them And scorned the Rock their Saviour… You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; And you forgot the God who gave you life.* (Devarim 32:15–18)


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[Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Ha'Azinu, I; The Arc of the Moral Universe 18](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Covenant%20and%20Conversation%20Family%20Edition/s/Ha%27Azinu,_I%3B%20The%20Arc%20of%20the%20Moral%20Universe/r/18)

**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
This, the first use of the word *Yeshurun* in the Torah – from the root*yashar*, upright – is deliberately ironic. Israel once knew what it was to be upright, but it will be led astray by a combination of affluence, security, and assimilation to the ways of its neighbours. It will betray the terms of the covenant, and when that happens it will find that God is no longer with it. It will discover that history is a vicious wolf. Separated from the source of its strength, it will be overpowered by its enemies. All that the nation once enjoyed will be lost. This is a stark and terrifying message.


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[Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Ha'Azinu, I; The Arc of the Moral Universe 19](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Covenant%20and%20Conversation%20Family%20Edition/s/Ha%27Azinu,_I%3B%20The%20Arc%20of%20the%20Moral%20Universe/r/19)

**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
Yet Moshe is bringing the Torah to a close with a theme that has been present from the beginning. God, Creator of the universe, made a world that is fundamentally good: the word that echoes seven times in the first chapter of Bereshit. It is humans, granted free will as God’s image and likeness, who introduce evil into the world, and then suffer its consequences. Hence Moshe’s insistence that when trouble and tragedy appear, we should search for the cause within ourselves, and not blame God. God is upright and just. The shortcomings are ours, His children’s, shortcomings.


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
This is perhaps the most difficult idea in the whole of Judaism. It is open to the simplest of objections, one that has sounded in almost every generation. If God is just, why do bad things happen to good people?


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
This is the question asked not by sceptics, doubters, but by the very heroes of faith. We hear it in Avraham’s plea, “Shall the Judge of all the earth not do justice?” We hear it in Moshe’s challenge, “Why have You done evil to this people?” It sounds again in Yirmeyahu: “Lord, You are always right when I dispute with You. Yet I must plead my case before You: Why are the wicked so prosperous? Why are evil people so happy?” (Yirmeya 12:1).


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
It is an argument that never ceased. It continued through the rabbinic literature. It was heard again in the *kinot*, the laments, prompted by the persecution of Jews in the Middle Ages. It sounds in the literature produced in the wake of the Spanish expulsion, and its echoes continue to reverberate in memories of the Holocaust.


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
The Talmud says that of all the questions Moshe asked God, this was the only one to which God did not give an answer. The simplest, deepest interpretation is given in Psalm 92, “The song of the Sabbath day.” Though “the wicked spring up like grass,” they will eventually be destroyed. The righteous, by contrast, “flourish like a palm tree and grow tall like a cedar in Lebanon.” Evil wins in the short term but never in the long. The wicked are like grass, whereas the righteous are more like trees. Grass grows overnight but it takes years for a tree to reach its full height. In the long run, tyrannies are defeated. Empires decline and fall. Goodness and rightness win the final battle. As Martin Luther King said in the spirit of the Psalm: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
It is a difficult belief, this commitment to seeing justice in history under the sovereignty of God. Yet consider the alternatives. There are three: The first is to say that there is no meaning in history whatsoever. History is a Darwinian struggle to survive, and justice is no more than the name given to the will of the stronger party.


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
The second, about which I write in *Not in God’s Name*, is dualism, the idea that evil comes not from God but from an independent force: Satan, the Devil, the Antichrist, Lucifer, the Prince of Darkness, and the many other names given to the force that is not God but is opposed to Him and those who worship Him. This idea, which has surfaced in sectarian forms in each of the Abrahamic monotheisms, as well as in modern, secular totalitarianisms, is one of the most dangerous in all of history. It divides humanity into the unshakeably good and the irredeemably evil, giving rise to a long history of bloodshed and barbarism of the kind we see being enacted today in many parts of the world in the name of holy war against the greater and lesser Satan. This is dualism, not monotheism, and the Sages, who called it*shetei reshuyot*, two powers or domains, were right to reject it utterly.


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
The third alternative, debated extensively in the rabbinic literature, is to say that justice ultimately exists in the World to Come, in life after death. Although this is an essential element of Judaism, it is striking how relatively little Judaism had recourse to it, recognising that the central thrust of Tanakh is on this world, and life before death. For it is here that we must work for justice, fairness, compassion, decency, the alleviation of poverty, and the perfection, as far as lies within our power, of society and our individual lives. Tanakh almost never takes this option. God does not say to Yirmeyahu or Iyov that the answer to their question exists in heaven and they will see it as soon as they end their stay on earth. The passion for justice, so characteristic of Judaism, would dissipate entirely were this the only answer.


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
**Difficult though Jewish faith is, it has had the effect through history of leading us to say: If bad things have happened, let us blame no one but ourselves, and let us labour to make them better.** I believe it was this that led Jews, time and again, to emerge from tragedy, shaken, scarred, limping like Yaakov after his encounter with the angel, yet resolved to begin again, to rededicate ourselves to our mission and faith, to ascribe our achievements to God and our defeats to ourselves.


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
**I believe that out of such humility, a momentous strength is born.**


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
**QUESTION TO PONDER**


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
*How does this approach to suffering in the world lead to humility and strength?*


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[Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Ha'Azinu, I; The Arc of the Moral Universe 31](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Covenant%20and%20Conversation%20Family%20Edition/s/Ha%27Azinu,_I%3B%20The%20Arc%20of%20the%20Moral%20Universe/r/31)

**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
***FROM THE THOUGHT OF RABBI SACKS***
If you were to ask what our response to the Holocaust should be, I would say this: Marry and have children, bring new Jewish life into the world, build schools, make communities, have faith in God who had faith in man and make sure that His voice is heard wherever evil threatens. Pursue justice, defend the defenceless, have the courage to be different, and fight for the dignity of difference. Recognise the image of God in others and defeat hate with love.


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
***A Letter in the Scroll, 192***


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[Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Ha'Azinu, I; The Arc of the Moral Universe 33](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Covenant%20and%20Conversation%20Family%20Edition/s/Ha%27Azinu,_I%3B%20The%20Arc%20of%20the%20Moral%20Universe/r/33)

**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
***AROUND THE SHABBAT TABLE***
What extra dimension does poetry give this *parasha*?


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
What right did the heroes of our faith, such as Moshe, Yirmeyahu, and Iyov, have to ask God why there is injustice in the world? Did they receive answers?


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[Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Ha'Azinu, I; The Arc of the Moral Universe 35](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Covenant%20and%20Conversation%20Family%20Edition/s/Ha%27Azinu,_I%3B%20The%20Arc%20of%20the%20Moral%20Universe/r/35)

**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
Does this approach to suffering blame the victim? Or are we asking for something else from the victims (and from us all)?


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[Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Ha'Azinu, I; The Arc of the Moral Universe 36](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Covenant%20and%20Conversation%20Family%20Edition/s/Ha%27Azinu,_I%3B%20The%20Arc%20of%20the%20Moral%20Universe/r/36)

**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
**EDUCATIONAL COMPANION TO THE QUESTIONS**


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
***IN A NUTSHELL***
It is a bad habit that many people have to look to place blame rather than take responsibility. It is comforting to believe in a God who does not allow evil and suffering in the world, so it is a natural instinct to blame God (who is in charge of the universe after all) for all our problems and all the problems of the world. But the reality is more complex. We believe God has the power to stop suffering, but that He chooses to give humankind free will, and human actions can often lead to suffering. It takes maturity to take responsibility as a human race, and to try to help remedy the problems rather than looking to place blame.


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[Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Ha'Azinu, I; The Arc of the Moral Universe 38](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Covenant%20and%20Conversation%20Family%20Edition/s/Ha%27Azinu,_I%3B%20The%20Arc%20of%20the%20Moral%20Universe/r/38)

**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
***THE CORE IDEA***
Often there are examples of suffering that make us falter in our faith that God is just and powerful and cares for His creations. The philosophical challenges of suffering in the world, especially when good, innocent people are the ones who suffer, have challenged Jewish and non-Jewish philosophers from time immemorial. For example, the Covid pandemic has given us multiple reasons to ask these questions, as many good people lost their lives, health, or financial stability. We must find ways to maintain our faith, and to find meaning in the suffering that faces humanity.


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
Looking for a “scapegoat,” someone to blame for the suffering and troubles in the world, only causes us to cast ourselves as victims, and as grudge-bearers, rather than proactive agents who can improve the situation for ourselves and the wider world. We must focus on making things better and learn to see our role as people who will step up, to fight the injustices and help those in suffering.


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
***IT ONCE HAPPENED…***
It would have been understandable if Ariella had struggled to come to terms with her cousin’s illness, and then her own. Or if she had found the experience challenging to her faith, or frustrating, or if she had slipped into a state of victimhood. But instead, she focused on how she could best respond. She looked for ways to improve the world for others who were suffering in similar ways.


###### Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Ha'Azinu, I; The Arc of the Moral Universe 41
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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
The *parasha* encourages us to have faith that God is just and created a just world. When there is suffering, the blame lies not with God but rather in humankind (or even better is not to look for someone to blame but rather a way to respond and improve the situation), and we must turn inwards and look to ourselves to be part of the solution rather than perpetuate the problem. It is important to note that in this case, the source of this suffering was from natural causes, and not directly from humankind. However, it is the responsibility of humankind to find solutions and work hard to alleviate the suffering of their fellows. This was Ariella doing her part.


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
***THINKING MORE DEEPLY***
Blaming God for suffering encourages passivity and hubris (I don’t deserve this. I deserve better from God). Understanding that the responsibility lies with humanity encourages humility and the taking of joint responsibility. This leads to growth.


###### Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Ha'Azinu, I; The Arc of the Moral Universe 43
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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
***AROUND THE SHABBAT TABLE***
Poetry and song are often more powerful media for expressing powerful ideas that touch our hearts and souls. The themes in Moshe’s words are frightening, powerful, and emotional, and sometimes they are difficult to hear. Poetry is a deeply elegant and human way to express real and raw ideas.


###### Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Ha'Azinu, I; The Arc of the Moral Universe 44
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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
The message in the *parasha* is not that we cannot ask questions, or even challenge God when we feel there is injustice in the world. These biblical characters model for us that we can. And God made space for them to challenge Him. He received their questions. However, there were no easy answers then, and there are no easy answers now. Avraham was not given an answer. The message from the *parasha* is not to avoid the question, but to have faith that there are answers even if we cannot fathom them. The message is to have faith that God is just, but to focus on the role we must play in redeeming the world.


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**Covenant and Conversation Family Edition, Maggid Books, 2023:**
It is important to state that this is not blaming the victim. Rabbi Sacks is not suggesting that the fault lies in those who suffer themselves. But rather the responsibility to fight suffering in the world lies with humanity and humanity alone. And that is why the Torah asks us to look inwards when there is suffering and not look for someone to blame, including God, but rather step up and respond to fix the suffering in the world.