Shabbat Parashat Haazinu - 5785
Shabbat Parashat Haazinu - 5785
Rabbi Hal Miller
Like an eagle arousing his nest, hovering over his young, he spreads his wings,
he takes it, he carries it on his pinions. [Devarim 32:11]
Our verse refers to God, describing Him as "like an eagle". The word 'hovering' then
becomes problematic as it implies that God is physical in order to hover over
something. How should we understand this word in the context here?
The dictionary definitions of racheif include hover, flutter, tremble, shiver, shudder,
quiver, shake and sweep over. In Tanach we find the word in Yirmiyahu [23:9] where
it refers to "all my bones tremble", and in the most well-known place, Bereishit [1:2]
"ruach Hashem hovered over the surface of the waters". This latter verse seems
directly relevant to our verse here, as it also refers to God. There the hovering refers to
ruach, in our verse to nesher. What is it about these two references that explain the
verses without the potential anthropomorphism?
Rashi gives a simple explanation that in both cases God is covering, "touching" but not
touching. He explains that what was hovering in Bereishit was the Throne of Glory, that
the ruach was supporting it in the air. Ibn Ezra says that in both cases it refers to a matter
of covering by the Clouds of Glory. Most commentators concentrate on the words around
our word to explain it.
In Bereishit, "ruach Hashem" can be translated as the wind of God, the spirit of God, the
breath of God, or according to Sforno the energy of God. If we understand it as wind, as
Onkelos, we avoid the anthropomorphisms. Torah Temimah uses "swept over" for our
word, that the wind passes over the waters. Onkelos translates it as "blowing wind" which
Radak explains is the process of drying out the waters to create land. Sforno is close to
this, that ruach is the energy that God uses to "activate the atmosphere". Perhaps that
also explains the translation of ruach as spirit, that it is God's angel acting rather than
God Himself.
Rav Hirsch defines it as breath of God, which differs from wind in that the breath infuses
life into previously lifeless matter. At this point, nothing else existed, but next God says,
"Let there be light" to advance Creation. Rav Soloveitchik brings us back to our question by
noting that each of these explanations of ruach implies motion, that God is dynamic and
never resting.
How does all this from Bereishit help us understand the word here in Devarim? Most of the
commentators concentrate on the word ya'ir, arousing. The eagle does not swoop down and
grab its young from the nest to transport them, rather hovers over the nest, flapping its wings
to awaken the chicks and give them an opportunity to prepare. As Rav Hirsch describes it, the
chicks then fly up to the parent and take a seat over its wings. This is the key to the analogy,
that God is calling to us to arouse ourselves, to fly up to Him and allow Him to do for us. He
does not grab us nor touch us, rather gives us the opportunity to act to raise ourselves.
Like His hovering over the waters enable positive development in Creation, so too hovering
over His children enables them to grow. Like in Creation where the earth had to "bring forth"
on its own, here, like the eagle, it falls to us to act for our own advancement, not just sit around
waiting for God to do everything as some religions claim. The hovering is God waiting for us to
do our hishtadlut, our effort in the partnership.
Hal Miller
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