I had reason recently to read again the first line of the stunning, soaring, disturbing poem that Moses dramatically proclaims to the people Israel as his farewell address. (Deuteronomy 32) In another day, he will walk to the mountaintop, see the land his people will enter without him, and die.

He opens his song to his people with the following words: “Give ear, you heavens, and I will speak. Listen well, land, to the words of my mouth.” Rashi asks the obvious question: if Moses is speaking to the Jewish people, why does he begin by addressing the heavens and the earth?

The great teacher explains: Moses is reminding Israel, in fact warning Israel, that the heavens and earth will be witnesses to his exhortation, and to the Israelites behavior. Moses himself is flesh and blood and will die. He imagines that the people Israel might on occasion be tempted to think: after Moses dies, who will there be to hold us to the promises we re-commit ourselves to today?  If we choose to say, ‘We did not take upon ourselves the covenant,’ who will there be to contradict us?

So Moses invokes before them “the heavens and earth as witnesses, for they endure forever.” The heavens and the earth will be there when Moses is not, and they will dispense God’s justice. That is, “If Israel merits it, the witnesses will come give Israel their reward, as it says, ’ the grapevine will give of her fruit and the land will give its bounty, and the heavens will give its dew.’ But if Israel should be guilty (faithless), the hand of the witnesses will be the first against them, and the heavens will be shut up, there will be no rain, and the land will not give of its produce, and thus you will be lost.”

This time when I read it, it cut very close to home. Daily we make a compact with the earth: it gives us air to breath, produce to eat, stored and current waves of energy to ride on and nestle in. In return for all this goodness, we are bidden to tend well to the earth. In the words of Genesis 2, our task, our covenant, is l’ovdah and l’shomrah: to make good use of the earth, and to protect it in the process.

It seems we have forgotten the second half; as if we have neglected and violated the compact. Yet, who is able stand before us and say so? Who will we listen to even if they speak this truth?

But should we dare, in our hubris, to say: we did not make such a covenant, we are not off the hook.  The earth is here to stand witness against us.

And it is. This is what is happening. Our bad behavior is causing the heavens to seize up or to explode in unpredictable ways and places. The earth is stripped of its nutrients and unable to produce its bounty. Even if we manage to live out our lives well-fed and comfortable, we will not be able to hide our misdeeds from the next generation. The heavens and the earth will testify against us. They are our witnesses, and they cannot be fooled, silenced or bought off.

Whatever story we want them to tell our children and grandchildren, we must write with the efforts of our deeds today.