V’zot ha’brachah
Deuteronomy 33:1-34:12
In last week’s portion, Moses predicted that our people would rebel against God and suffer dire consequences as a result. Deuteronomy’s last portion takes a radically different turn.
As Moses prepared to die, his words of rebuke turned into words of consolation and blessing. The Midrash collection Sifrei notes a powerful lesson: Harsh words cannot be left standing on their own. They should be followed by a message of compassion.
The harsh words of last week’s portion warn us that actions have consequences. This portion teaches that we cannot lose sight of the overall picture of life.
Despite obstacles and setbacks, the Holy One Blessed is He loves us, welcomes us back, and offers a well of strength and compassion. Further, it is our task as humans to emulate God and His great compassion.
Moses our Teacher chose to end his life on a note of blessing and love for the people he shepherded for so many years. Therefore, this last portion of the Torah begins with: “And this is the blessing with which Moses, man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death” (Deuteronomy 33:1).
At this point, Moses knew that he was about to die soon. He was fully conscious, vigorous, and his senses all were functional.
Many wouldn’t understand this as an advantage. A quick, unknowing end seems to be what many see as the ideal death.
For Moses, this wasn’t the case. He was able consciously to choose the last memory that would remain in the minds and hearts of his people.
Harsh words now could leave the people demoralized and devoid of hope. Moses could not leave that message as his final legacy.
Blessing and encouragement would give heart to the people. With Moses death, they would have a new leader, Joshua, but the death of their great leader would be a devastating blow. Moses final mission was to implant seeds of strength and hope within them.
The blessings themselves teach us a great deal about the meaning of shalom, peace or wholeness.
Moses entrusts each individual tribe with a different mission. For instance, Moses did not expect the tribe of Zebulon to produce great Torah scholars. Rather, their land would be near the sea, which enabled them to become wealthy merchants and international traders.
Issachar would live near them. Because Zebulon could support them, the tribe of Issachar became noted Torah scholars. Issachar learned and taught Torah because Zebulon had a different task.
Moses blessed the tribes with diversity. However, diversity can be either a divisive influence or source of unity.
Diversity brings us together when we learn mutual respect and understand the depth of our inter-dependence. When we do understand that lesson, we realize that we are all one community — a single organism.
We can compare this to our bodies. We do not expect our hearts to do the work of our livers.
In this manner, we should not expect all Jews to think and act the same. This was the genius of Moses’ final blessings.
Moses exhibited his greatness throughout the Torah. At the end of his life, he succeeded in the most extraordinary task of all: he gave us the tools to cleave to God and Torah.
Moreover, Moses gave us the insight to recognize each other as living embodiments of Torah and God’s image.
It is the obligation of every Jew to continue Moses’ legacy and to recognize the blessings and sparks of holiness embedded in every one of us. This was Moses’ last and greatest blessing for all of us.
Rabbi Shaina Bacharach is spiritual leader of Congregation Cnesses Israel in Green Bay.
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