Splendid!
By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER
This Shabbat, I will be serving my congregation as Torah Reader. I have taken on this liturgical role in memory of my mother, whose 35th Yahrzeit is this Shabbat. The Torah Reading is Parshat Ha’azinu – almost entirely a poem or song. This strikes me as especially befitting, as my mother loved music. I cherish childhood memories of her singing me songs in English, German, French, and Yiddish!
The subdivision of Parshat Ha’azinu into individual Aliyot is ancient: the Levites sang these passages to accompany Musaf offerings in the Temple (Rosh Hashanah 31a; Rashi ad loc). We follow the same pattern today. A mnemonic for the first six of these subdivisions is “Ha-Ziv Lecha” (or “Lach”) – “Splendor is Yours”– an acronym, taking the first letter of the first word of each Aliyah (hay-zayin-yod-vav-lamed-kaf… see Deuteronomy 32:1, 7, 13, 19, 27, and 36). Ha’azinu’s prose conclusion comprises the seventh Aliyah.
“Splendor is Yours” serves effectively as a synopsis of Ha’azinu’s song of praise, encrypted into the poem itself.
Some understand the acronym as promising restoration of Israel’s full splendor and a luminous future.
Others understand “Ha-Ziv Lecha” as describing Moses’ radiant countenance.
“Ha-Ziv Lach” – As I chant Ha’azinu this Shabbat, I will remember my mother… grateful for the splendor of the too few years we had together.
Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the editor of “Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism.” The latest edition of Masorti published in the summer of 2026 and honors the American Sestercentennial. A subscription is $18 per annum. Print copies are available from Ben Yehuda Press and Amazon.
