Future Past

Remember the days of old; reflect upon the years of (other) generations. Ask your father, and he will tell you; your elders, and they will inform you.                                  Deuteronomy 32:7

            The poem of Ha’azinu is Moses’ survey of the entire history of the nation of Israel, “From beginning to end, including all that will occur for the nation in the future, beginning with the creation of the world and ending with the days of Messiah, as the verse states ‘Remember the days of old’,” as Rabbeinu Beḥayye writes in his introduction to the parasha.

            Though the Book of Deuteronomy is known as the repetition of Torah, and it opens with a review of Israel’s experiences during the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, its basic focus is forward looking. Essentially, the view to the past informs the view to the future, and the quintessential point is continuity.

            It is significant that in the Holy Tongue the root of the word for forward “kadima” means that which is past. The word itself teaches that for the nation of Israel the past enlightens the future. There is no possibility of divorcing Israel’s past from its present and future.