Moses’ sings a swan song, which begins:
“Listen heaven! I will speak, Earth! Hear the words of my mouth.
My lesson shall drop like rain, my saying shall flow down like the dew, like a downpour on the herb, like a shower on the grass.”
(Deuteronomy 32:1-2)
A Hasidic master commented that rain is only beneficial for plants, enabling them to grow, if the earth has first been plowed and sowed; if the area has not been properly prepared, the rain will produce only mud. So too with Torah, which is most beneficial to those who are properly prepared to receive it (M’ena shel Torah). This comment is contained in our siddur, Lev Shalem (p.167), which than adds: “Prayer prepares us for the words of Torah to penetrate deep within us.”
We are given pause to consider how do we prepare ourselves to pray and how does Torah penetrate our awareness to nurture us deeply.