Parashat Vezot Haberakhah — And this is the blessing
וְזֹאת הַבְּרָכָה
Vezot Haberakhah (וְזֹאת הַבְּרָכָה) means "and this is the blessing" — taken, as every parashah name is, from the portion's opening words in the Hebrew.
The Readings
Torah Deuteronomy 33:1-34:12 Read →
Haftarah Joshua 1:1-18 Read →
B'rit Chadashah Revelation 21:1-22:5 Read →
What Happens in Vezot Haberakhah
And this is the blessing — vezot haberakhah — with which Moshe, the man of God, blessed the children of Yisrael before his death. The lawgiver's last act is not warning but blessing, tribe by tribe, like Yaakov on his deathbed. He begins with a theophany: YHVH came from Sinai, and rose from Seir... from His right hand went a fiery law for them... Moshe commanded us a Torah, an inheritance for the assembly of Yaakov. Then the tribes: Reuven — let him live and not die; Yehudah — hear his voice and bring him to his people; Levi — Your Tummim and Urim are with Your godly one... they shall teach Yaakov Your judgments; Binyamin — the beloved of YHVH shall dwell in safety by Him; Yosef — blessed of YHVH is his land, with the precious things of heaven, and the favor of Him who dwelt in the bush; Zevulun and Yissachar rejoicing in their going out and their tents; Gad enlarged; Dan a lion's whelp; Naftali satisfied with favor; Asher dipping his foot in oil, with the promise every weary saint has leaned on: as your days, so shall your strength be.
The blessing crests over all the tribes together: there is none like the God of Yeshurun, who rides on the heavens to your help, and in His excellency on the skies. The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms... Happy are you, O Yisrael! Who is like you, a people saved by YHVH, the shield of your help?
Then Moshe goes up from the plains of Moav to Mount Nevo, to the top of Pisgah, and YHVH shows him all the land — Gilad to Dan, Naftali, Efrayim and Menashe, Yehudah to the western sea, the Negev, and the plain of the valley of Yericho to Tzoar: this is the land I swore to Avraham, to Yitzchak, and to Yaakov... I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there. So Moshe the servant of YHVH died there in the land of Moav, according to the word of YHVH — by the mouth of YHVH, which tradition tenderly calls death by the Divine kiss. He buried him in the valley, and no man knows his grave to this day. His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated, at one hundred twenty. Israel weeps thirty days; Yehoshua, full of the spirit of wisdom through Moshe's laid-on hands, takes up the charge. And the Torah writes its own epitaph: there has not arisen a prophet since in Yisrael like Moshe, whom YHVH knew face to face. This portion is never read on a Shabbat but on Simchat Torah, when the scroll's end rolls straight into Bereshit again — for the Torah has no last page, only a turning.
Main Themes
Blessing spoken over every tribe The everlasting arms underneath Moshe's death in the kiss of God's presence A grave no one knows — buried by YHVH Himself The scroll ends where it begins — Torah without end
Key Events
· The blessing of the tribes
· The praise of the God of Yeshurun
· Moshe ascends Nevo and sees all the land
· The death and burial of Moshe
· The thirty days of mourning
· Yehoshua receives the spirit of wisdom
Key People
Moshe Yehoshua The twelve tribes
Key Verses
Deuteronomy 33:27 Read →
“The eternal God is your dwelling place. Underneath are the everlasting arms. He thrust out the enemy from before you, and said, ‘Destroy!’”
Deuteronomy 34:10 Read →
“Since then, there has not arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,”
Deuteronomy 33:25 Read →
“Your bars will be iron and bronze. As your days, so your strength will be.”
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