פרשת האזינו תשט"ו - שירת האזינו

Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? Is not He thy father that hath gotten thee? Hath He not made thee, and established thee?

הלה' תגמלו זאת, after G’d had planned to make you superior over all other nations, is it indeed imaginable that you would respond by frustrating His intention by desecrating His name and to thereby prevent G’d from realising His declared intention when He created man that he should reflect the image of G’d? (Genesis 1,26)

הלה׳ תגמלו זאת DO YOU THUS REQUITE THE LORD? — This Is an expression of astonishment: Do you mean to grieve Him Who has the power to punish you, and Who has bestowed all these favours upon you?

עם נבל A FOOLISH PEOPLE — i.e., a people that has forgotten all that has been done to them,

הלה׳ תגמלו זאת DO YOU THUS REQUITE THE LORD? — This Is an expression of astonishment: Do you mean to grieve Him Who has the power to punish you, and Who has bestowed all these favours upon you?

זכר ימות עולם REMEMBER THE DAYS OF OLD — what He did to previous generations who provoked Him to anger,

בינו שנות דר ודר [CONSIDER] THE YEARS OF GENERATION AFTER GENERATION — the generation of Enosh over whom He caused the waters of the ocean to flow, and the generations of the flood whom He drowned by flood (cf. Sifrei Devarim 310:1). Another explanation is: If you have not set your attention to the past (i.e. if you fail to remember the days of old, then) בינו שנות דר ודר CONSIDER at least THE YEARS OF GENERATION AND GENERATION so that you become conscious of what might happen in the future — that He has the power to bestow good upon you and to make you inherit the blissful days of Messiah and the world to come (cf. Sifrei Devarim 310:5).

בינו שנות דר ודר [CONSIDER] THE YEARS OF GENERATION AFTER GENERATION — the generation of Enosh over whom He caused the waters of the ocean to flow, and the generations of the flood whom He drowned by flood (cf. Sifrei Devarim 310:1). Another explanation is: If you have not set your attention to the past (i.e. if you fail to remember the days of old, then) בינו שנות דר ודר CONSIDER at least THE YEARS OF GENERATION AND GENERATION so that you become conscious of what might happen in the future — that He has the power to bestow good upon you and to make you inherit the blissful days of Messiah and the world to come (cf. Sifrei Devarim 310:5).