Vezot Habracha

So, with God’s help, we will read the very last weekly portion of the Torah, the portion that is called Vezot Habracha, and we will begin with verse 1 of chapter 33.

What does and here mean? There was a first blessing, the blessing of Yaakov. Before his death the Patriarch Yaakov blessed the people of Israel, the people that is called by his own name. Each tribe received its own blessing. And Moshe came, who gave Israel the Torah, and he too blesses the people of Israel. Accordingly, first there was the blessing of Yaakov, and here is the second blessing, the blessing of Moshe. Of course, both blessings are blessings of the Most High, who blesses the people both through Yaakov and through Moshe.

It is worth stopping and looking carefully at these two words, ish ha'elohím. The simplest translation, and also, by the way, a quite accurate one, is indeed man of God. On the other hand, one can see here a compound word, man-god or god-man, that is, a person who has subordinated his will, all his desires, to the Divine will, who gave all of himself to service and through himself revealed the divine. Therefore Moshe can be called ish ha'elohím in this sense. It is hard to say anything about the proportions of the presence of the divine and the human in Moshe. We like to say: 100% God, 100% man, or 50% God, 50% man. The commentators of the midrashim say this about Moshe: above the waist God, below the waist man. And this is completely incomprehensible, and that is exactly why it is said this way, here is the great mystery of god-manhood. And it is quite possible that there is a hint here that Moshe is a god-man. No one in the Torah is called by such a title. Further on in Scripture – yes, this designation is mentioned seventy-five times, and more than once it is applied to Moshe. But it is also said this way about the prophets: at the moment when a person subordinates his will to the Most High, one can say that he becomes ish ha'elohím – a man of God or a man-god.

So, Moshe blesses the people of Israel. Moshe, the man of God, blesses the sons of Israel before his death. What is this needed for? Why is it important? In chapter 1 of our book Devarim, you and I read that Moshe says to the people of Israel: “Because of you I am punished, because of you the Most High punishes me.” Why because of you? After all, it was said: “You did not sanctify My name,” this is the punishment that was given to Moshe and Aharon. Moshe and Aharon did not pull Israel up to the needed level, this is the fault of both Moshe and Aharon. But part of the fault for the way it turned out also lies with the people of Israel. And here, as a reconciliation, as a resignation to God’s will, Moshe blesses Israel before his death. This is very similar to the words of Yeshua Mashiach, to that very forgive them, Father, for they do not know what they are doing. Moshe blesses the people of Israel, with whom he suffered so much, fussed so much, nursed so much, from whom he received so much of everything, because of whom, in the end, he was punished.

These are all geographical points, they are all located in the Sinai desert. This geographical description is understood in different ways. There are commentators, modern commentators, biblical critics, who say that people believed that God lives somewhere in the south, and He came from the south, a sort of southerner God. Others say: “These are different peoples to whom the Holy One, blessed be He, offered the Torah, but they refused it, and then the Most High came to the people of Israel.” One can also understand this as some key events in Jewish history that took place in the corresponding places during the wandering in the desert. Or one can understand it like this: like a whirlwind, from all sides, simultaneously from all sides, the Most High came with an army. That is, one can understand it this way: Moshe describes a picture of how myriads of angels approached Israel from all sides during the giving of the Torah.

Against the word eshdát (or separately, esh dat) a great many commentators and interpreters break themselves, so we will not go deep into it now. That is, from the right hand of the Most High came the light of the Torah. In this way Moshe recalls, perhaps, the revelation to the people of Israel at Sinai, but this is also the saving action of the Most High toward the Jewish people at any moment.

This too is a rather difficult verse to translate. I give only one of the variants of translation, there can be many translations.

The word that is used here, dabberotécha, is also used in Tehillim 110, in verse 4: “The LORD has sworn and will not repent: you are a priest forever by oath, by the word (al-divratí) of Malki-Tzedek (after the order of Malki-Tzedek),” that is, it is an oath. And perhaps a parallel with the Mashiach can be seen here, with the bowing of all the peoples of the world in the name of the Mashiach.

During the revelation that all the peoples of the world will bend their knee according to the promise, Moshe bequeathed the Torah to us, the community of Yaakov, as an inheritance.

Yeshurun (they will see, they will behold), as we have already said, is one of the names of Israel, that name of Israel which corresponds to its coming mission.

Next the blessings begin, they begin with Re'uven, as with the firstborn.

This can be explained in two ways. Re'uven, as we remember, went up onto his father’s bed, and there is a dispute about what happened there. One way or another, Yaakov did not bless him in his time. Here the people is renewed, and Moshe blesses him. We do not see in the censuses that Re'uven is somehow few in number. The tribe of Re'uven takes for itself a part of the land in a very special place, and this puts it in great danger. Perhaps Moshe here also speaks about the protection of the tribe of Re'uven.

Yehuda is a warrior by nature, he will fight a lot for all of Israel. And here Moshe prays and says: “Bring him back to his people. Come back, please, Yehuda, come back alive, come back, warriors of the tribe of Yehuda. Although you have many fighters, let them all stand firm, let the Most High be a protection to all of you.”

All your abilities to see, to discern, to look deeply, to help people, all that with which the Levites and the kohanim are endowed as part of the tribe of Levi – all this is for chésed, for mercy. Here the places are listed where Israel had a conflict with the Most High.

This is about how the Levites, after the sin with the golden calf, stood shoulder to shoulder with Moshe and went through the camp without respect of persons. If a person had turned aside toward idolatry, he had to be punished, despite the fact that he was a brother. This is needed for his correction. And the Levites acted without respect of persons. This is the same thing, as has been noted, that Yeshua Mashiach paraphrases, who said: “Whoever does the will of My Father, he is to Me brother, and sister, and father, and mother,” this is the same thing that Moshe says here in the blessing to the Levites. This is important when the Levites execute judgment, when a kohen executes judgment, makes certain decisions. A kohen who is appointed, willy-nilly, to decide certain questions in Israel, to make serious decisions, must separate himself from family ties and look for the one who seeks God’s truth. As it is written: tzédek tzédek tirdóf – to justice, to justice strive. This, of course, relates to the kohanim.

This is a repetition, a parallelism. That is, it is clear that the Levites will teach Yaakov the Torah and Israel the judgments, it is simply a poetic form like that.

Here again Moshe prays for the protection of the Levites.

The Temple (Beit haMikdash) is located in the tribe of Binyamin. Moshe wishes that it would exist long and long, and long in the tribe of Binyamin, and that Binyamin himself would be under constant Divine protection.

By Yosef here is meant, of course, both tribes of the sons of Yosef, we will see this further on. Méged is sweets, a delicacy that is given as a gift, so one can say that it is an offering; but at the same time also sweets, that is, sweet gifts. The deep that is below gives springs, ores and so on.

Here the Most High is associated with the One Who was in the bush that did not burn. Sometimes people say about a person: “God kissed him on the crown of his head.” Yosef turned out to be singled out or chosen from among the brothers already when his father, Yaakov, bought him a ketónet passím (a special shirt, either with long sleeves or striped) – a garment that set him apart from the others. This gave rise to his brothers’ hatred of him. And not only this, but also the dreams that he told them, and the reports about them to their father. And (as the midrash says) as a consequence of this the Temple was not built in his allotment, only the Mishkan stood for some time in Shilo. But Yosef knew how to change, knew how to be with God and to show others that he was with God, managed to change his brothers as well, to bring them to teshuvá, and in the end took care of the sustenance, of the prosperity of the people of Israel in Egypt for a long time. And for this his land, his allotment, his descendants are blessed with an allotment abundant in every respect.

Efrayim has a special destiny, we know about this, and his tribe is much more numerous than the tribe of Menashe.

There was a peculiar cooperation between the tribe of Zevulun and the tribe of Yissachar. According to some versions, the tribe of Yissachar studied Torah or was engaged in growing fruit, and the tribe of Zevulun, accordingly, traveled and traded. Then it turns out that because the tribe of Zevulun supported those who studied Torah (they could study Torah in peace), it had merit, as if they also study Torah. That is, Zevulun had this kind of financial service, he (according to the version we are talking about) helped the tribe of Yissachar financially out of all his turnover, supported Yissachar in his study of Torah, in his occupation with holy matters. By helping someone do his work: to study, to preach and so on, Zevulun himself also had a reward in it, sharing it with the one he helps. This is one of the versions, as I said. But most likely, in the simplest understanding, it was a kind of commerce like this: we produce, you sell.

The tribe of Zevulun will travel and say to the peoples: “Here are our goods.” The whole world will be amazed and look at how cool the technologies of these Jews are. And the Jews will say: “Come to us! Bow down to our God!” This is how Zevulun and Yissachar will work as a pair. Having seen how advanced, how high the technologies are, how beautiful the fruits are that Zevulun brings, the peoples of the world will be drawn to the people of Israel and, of course, to the Temple, to the God of Israel.

Gad indeed has a territory with an option for expansion. And if necessary, Gad can “bring his armored train out of the siding” and attack, and tear apart any enemy.

What is this about? About the fact that Gad saw his allotment on the other side of the Jordan. The words chelkát mechokék can be understood as the grave of the lawgiver, the grave of Moshe. Gad received an allotment where the grave of Moshe will be hidden, Moshe speaks about this calmly. Giving allotments beyond the Jordan, Moshe said to these tribes: “First go and fight in the common war, and then come back and receive your allotment.” And Gad did this.

Dan is the one whose allotment is in the area of present-day Tel Aviv (this area is in fact called that – Gush-Dan, a clump of settlements in the tribe of Dan). For a long time this tribe could not fully conquer its territories, until Dan, one might say, grew up, jumped out of Bashan and conquered everything that is due to him.

In the allotment of Asher, toward Lebanon, olives really grow beautifully, that is why the production of olive oil is developed there.

Moshe calls down the constant protection of the Most High upon Asher, he will constantly be under the protection of the Most High.

From verse 26 Moshe moves from blessings to the glorification of the Most High.

Moshe says here that there is no power except the power of the Most High, there is no power stronger than the power of the Most High, there is none and there never has been. He is God from the very beginning, and therefore the plan that can be realized is only His plan.

This is the promise of an abundant, well-fed, rich existence of Israel in its own land. Any satiety, any abundance is accompanied by the fact that you may be attacked. But Israel, trusting in the Most High, will live in safety and prosper.

Here the blessing of Moshe to the people of Israel ends, to each tribe, according to its nature, separately, and to the whole people as a whole.

This is the end of chapter 33, and we will continue reading the very last, chapter 34 of the book of Devarim, from verse 1.

By the way, to this day there are very good dates from those parts, from the area of Jericho and the Dead Sea.

Usually, when I read the Torah, I try to feel what those I am reading about feel. To enter into it, to live through together with the hero what he feels. It is terribly hard for me to live through together with Moshe the fact that he sees the land, that he has, strictly speaking, done his work: he brought the people of Israel and knows that the LORD has a plan regarding this people, but Moshe himself will not enter there. What feelings does he have inside? Only joy, or joy mixed with longing? I do not know. Yeshua Mashiach (Gospel of Yochanan 8:56) says about Avraham: “Avraham saw this day and rejoiced.” Did Moshe rejoice? Did he only rejoice? Or is there bitterness in this? Here I am, I am going to die now! How does a person feel at all who is going to die now by the commandment of God? So much that is complicated, it is so hard for me to understand Moshe, that I will probably not comment on anything here in particular.

There are various disputes about how satan wanted to take his body and raise it up to heaven, so that everyone would see that he ascends alive, or wanted to make a mausoleum for worshipping him. Many midrashim speak about this, the apostle Yehuda mentions this when he speaks about the dispute of the archangel Michael with satan. But here we read that everything was accomplished according to the will of the LORD, Moshe is buried in the valley of Moav, opposite Beit-Pe'or. And this is a great blessing, because the place of burial did not become an object of worship, of some magical ceremonies and the like.

I simply do not know what to comment on here. Every time I read about the death of Moshe, I get upset, as if he had only just died. Do forgive me this silence of mine.

There did not stand up, there did not rise up a single prophet like Moshe, who would have wrought such wonders.

With this the last chapter ends, and the whole Torah ends. With God’s help we have walked this path. Blessed is the LORD, who supported us, strengthened us and let us live to see this time.

With God’s help we are completing the study of the Torah, we are reading the last weekly portion, which is called Vezot Habracha.

In our portion Moshe, before his departure, blesses each tribe of Israel according to its nature, in accordance with its purpose. This is not just a blessing, this is, of course, also a prophecy. In verse 18 of chapter 33 we read a special prophecy for the tribe of Zevulun: “And of Zevulun he said: Rejoice (semách), Zevulun, in your going out, and Yissachar – in your tents.”

It is precisely the tribe of Zevulun, the only one of all the tribes, that receives such a blessing – to rejoice. Would you like to rejoice? I, for example, love to rejoice very much. The tribe of Zevulun receives the blessing to rejoice in going out. The tribe of Zevulun will indeed travel very often. This is the tribe of merchants, seafarers, people who must be ready for creativity, for improvisation, to constantly come up with something new, to look for new approaches. A tribe that does not live calmly either in body or in soul and all the time looks for some new paths.

That is how it was in those times. And today many Jews, many of the people of Israel live precisely like the tribe of Zevulun. We have very many “Zevulunian” qualities, we constantly need to go out somewhere. In our history, as we know, Rivka goes out, and Lea goes out, and our history begins with the going out from Egypt. We Jews are, in this respect, famous “out-goers,” with us everything is built on going out. A person either goes out from his land, from his country, or goes out beyond the boundaries of himself, overcoming his possibilities, his abilities, becoming better.

The word simchá (joy), which is used here, is also interesting. In fact, the word simchá is consonant with the word tzmichá (growth, sprouting). That is, to rejoice and to grow are words that have two identical root letters (mem-chet): as a plant grows, so also a person is tzoméach, grows and rejoices. Another understanding of the word joy is shining. It can mean both to shine and to grow in light, to increase one’s shining, the shining around oneself – well, one way or another, to grow. To rejoice means to grow, and to grow means to rejoice.

So what is the blessing of Zevulun? Every time one comes up with something new, every time one moves, solves some little problem, runs into something when going out of one’s tent, one can find reasons to develop, to grow. God did not send Zevulun into the world so that he would rejoice sitting on the seashore in a deck chair and thinking about beautiful things. Nor did He send us into the world for the calm, peaceful, quiet joy of resting in an exclusive hotel or in a hotel for mountain tourism. He sent us into a world of restlessness, so that in it, going out, we would look for occasions for joy. An occasion for joy is the time when we have grown, when we have coped with some new task, overcome something in ourselves, learned something new, when we detach ourselves from the old. And our dream is our dream about the future, our striving to change the world, our striving to go beyond the frame of our today’s self and come to our tomorrow’s self, so that tomorrow we move further toward our day-after-tomorrow’s self. This is the essence of the blessing of Zevulun, and today, as I would like to say, it is relevant for everyone in Israel, because we are all in many ways “Zevuluns.” Move forward, go, change – such is the conclusion from the last portion of the Torah.

It is interesting that in the first word of the Torah, in the word bereshít, the word ish, man, is sewn in. And in the last word of the Torah, Yisrael, the word ish, man is also sewn in. As they say, the whole Torah is, by and large, about how to be a Human Being.

I would like to raise a glass (at least of pomegranate juice) and celebrate, this really is a milestone. You and I have walked a very serious path. Celebrate, it is worth it.

Also read the portion Haazinu, the portion Vayelech, the portion Bereshit and the weekly portions of the Torah.