Perashat Ha'azinu 5779

Perashat Ha'azinu 5779

"May my teachings drop like rain, my words flow like the dew." (Debarim 32-2)

Moshe Rabbenu uses two words to describe the way he hopes his teachings should be taken, as rain and as dew.
Those two words are instructive. They teach us how to teach. Dew is soft; it sits gently on the surface. Rain penetrates the earth, at times causing flooding and sometimes even sweeping away parts of the earth.

So which is it? How did Moshe teach? How should we be instructing our children, students, or workers?

The answer is in the pasuk itself. 

The "teachings", or deep lessons that Moshe wanted to impart, were penetrating. They were like a driving rain. They got down to the roots of the trees and plants and facilitated growth. They occasionally even washed away clumps of earth, shaping the landscape upon which the Jewish people would thrive. Life's greatest lessons shake us up. They disrupt. They shift our perspectives, our priorities, and therefore our lives. 

However, that is only the "teachings", or messages. The words on the other hand are a completely different matter. They are "like dew". 
There is only one way to give life changing advice, softly. The words we use to communicate what our messages are make all the difference in the world. You can say the harshest of criticisms in the nicest of ways.

In How to Talk So That Kids Will Listen the authors note that we almost always try and deal with people's behaviors and almost never with how they are feeling. In actual fact, the reason for said behaviors IS how they are feeling. Imagine that.

Moshe knew that the gentle touch of a kind word or an understanding position on the surface or outset can open the doors for deep and lasting improvement. Dew is soft. It happens at a convenient and appropriate time. It does not force a reaction. With "words" like these our "teachings" will truly penetrate and help the recipient grow to great heights!

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Shlomo Farhi