sholem aleichem,

In this week’s haftorah, Yeshayahu issues a command to the heavens and earth: “Hear, o heavens, and give ear, o earth!” This is an echo of Moshe’s command in Parashas Ha’azinu: “Give ear, o heavens, and let me speak; let the earth hear the words of my mouth.”

Rashi notes that Yeshayahu reverses the roles of the heavens and the earth from Moshe’s command. The implication, he argues (quoting the sages), is that the heavens and earth are not only listening but also serving as witnesses. And indeed, elsewhere it is written: “I call the heavens and the earth as witness on you this day” (Devarim 30:19), “I call the heavens and the earth as witness on you this day” (Devarim 4:26), “so that I may call the heavens and the earth as witness on them” (Devarim 31:28).

But can the heavens and the earth hear? And even more than hearing, can they give-ear, that is, hear with intention? And can they bear witness together, that is, report (in some way) on what they have observed?

It is likely that, in context, these claims are mere figures of speech. But this is not the only part of our tradition that assigns some kind of consciousness to the world around us. For example, in an aggadah on Bereishis 1:12, the sages imagine the grasses of the field making a logical inference, applying to themselves a command Hashem spoke only about trees.

And in the view of chassidus, even seemingly dead objects like stones have life — and souls! — within them. In Shaar HaYichud v’HaEmunah (Ch. 7), the Alter Rebbe of Chabad gives the example of a stone, which in the holy tongue is spelled א-ב-ן. He explains that this spelling teaches us that the spiritual root of a stone is in the name of Hashem that is spelled ב-ן. The addition of the א (for reasons “know only to its Creator”) is part of “many powerful contractions” that allow a very small life-force to descend from the name ב-ן and clothe itself in a stone/אבן.

“And this [contracted life-force] is the soul of the silent [stone], that gives it life and existence, from nothing to something, in every moment.”

“We must see clearly from the beginning,” writes Heschel, “that the minimum of meaning we associate with the word God is that He [sic] is alive” (God In Search Of Man 12). And if the Living God fills all things and sustains all things, if the Knower is absolutely one with the Known, should we be surprised to find life and awareness in all Her creation?

“Where will you find [God]?” the Piaseczner asks. And he answers, “In yourself and in everything that surrounds you” (B’nei Machshavah Tovah). He advises his beloved students to become people who seek Hashem in every place: “when you seek Her you will find Her.” And “when a person looks carefully for the life-force in every thing,” says the Me’or Einayim on Bereishis, “she fulfills the verse: I have set Hashem before me always.”

So how can heaven and earth hear, how can they witness? The better question is this: how can we hear them? “There is a loneliness in us that hears. When the soul parts from the company of the ego and its retinue of petty conceits; when we cease to exploit all things but instead pray the world’s cry, the world’s sigh, our loneliness may hear the living grace beyond all power” (Heschel, 13).

Listen, Yisrael.

good shabbos,

ada