parsha bit: Ha'azinu

Moshe's final poem begins with the words "give ear, oh heavens... let the earth hear". According to the midrash the word "ha'azinu", "give ear", refers to a listener who is nearby, while "tishma" (hear, or listen) refers to one who is farther away. Moshe and Isaiah both use both words; Moshe applies "ha'azinu" to heaven and "tishma" to earth while Isaiah reverses them. The midrash (Sifrei) says that Moshe was closer to heaven than to earth so he asked heaven to "give ear" and the earth to "listen"; Isaiah, on the other hand, while a prophet, was solidly of the world, so he asked the world to "give ear" and heaven to "listen". (Sifrei 306)

Moshe was closer to heaven than any other prophet, knowing God "panim el panim" (face to face). Perhaps this is one more reason that he needed to not be the one who led Israel into the promised land; perhaps they needed someone more "of the earth" than "of the heavens".

new TV shows

This fall I've seen two new shows with lots of promise.

Studio 60 in the Sunset Strip is Aaron Sorkin's new show. He did a great job with West Wing and Sports Night (I haven't seen all of the latter yet), so I had to check it out. The witty dialogue and fast interchanges are back. This time the venue is the production crew of a live comedy show (Saturday Night Live with the serial numbers filed off). In the first episode of the real show, the fictional show is almost immediately plunged into controversy. Their handling of it in the first new episode of the fictional show was brilliant. There have been two episodes so far, so it's not too late to catch up.

The other new show is Jericho. If you liked Jeremiah then run (don't walk) to your VCR or DVR and check this out. There have only been two episodes, so there's plenty of opportunity for it to go sour later, but so far I'm finding it compelling. (The second episode included a recap from the first, so I assume there'll be no problem jumping in with the third episode next week.)

Jericho is a small rural town (5000 people). In the opening episode the residents see a mushroom cloud in the direction of the nearest major city (Denver) and then they lose power and communications. There are reasons to believe the problem is more widespread than just Denver (trying to avoid spoilers here). Now, if this goes in the direction of a political drama or a hunt for the guys who did this, it won't be interesting. So far, though, the focus seems to be solidly at the character level, watching the people of Jericho deal with the situation. There are several characters with interesting potential and obvious secrets. (Does anyone in the audience really believe that the guy from Saint Louis is who he says he is? I sure don't.) I'm looking forward to seeing how this plays out.