Ha'azinu and the Levi'im

Ha'azinu and the Levi'im, by Rav Yitzchak Etshalom

Why is Haazinu the only Parashah which has "hard-wired" Aliyot (הזיו לך)?

"Now, write for yourselves this poem and teach it to Bnei Yisrael, place it in their mouths..." According to Rambam, the essential command for every Jew to write a Sefer Torah is anchored in the obligation to write Moshe's prophetic poem "Haazinu" (Dev. 32:1-43). Not only was this poem to be taught to all the people, but it served as the Levitical song to accompany the Musaf offering every Shabbat, broken down into six sections (identified by the acronym - הזיו לך) and completed every six weeks. We examine the significance of this poem, its particular relevance to the season of Teshuva and the significance of this six-part division, as well as the aptness of it serving as the unique Song of Shabbat in the Mikdash.