V'Zot HaBerachah, וְזֹאת הַבְּרָכָה "And This Is the Blessing" Deuteronomy 33:1-34:12

V'Zot HaBerachah / On the Blessing From The Man of God 5783

Poetic notes on the parashat V'Zot HaBerachah*,

Face to face with death,

the man of God was dressed

in the glory of the Shechinah

The man of God,

so handsomely dressed,

blessed Israel

Moses blessed mother Israel

His blessing promised eternal life,

life from death for all her tribes

His blessing sprung

from a spring whose waters sung

before the foundation of the world

For, if there would be a creation

its nature would be severe

Immediately, its condition would be critical

From its foundation stone to its capstone,

upon coming to be,

Creation could immediately break

Having been nothing

and now facing the almighty One,

it could quake and shatter by nature

Supportive actions would need to be executed

if Creation were going to be able to endure

Lives would hang in the balance

To perform this action, Adam was created,

in order to pray words of fear and love for God

on behalf of all Creation

But Adam tilted the scales

They proved unworthy

They soured their souls

They ruptured the harmonic ties

that they had with God

Even greater actions then needed to be executed,

if Creation’s deadly nature was to be tamed

All lives were at stake

and all Creation had spun out of balance,

and Adam was to be blamed…

All this was revealed in the blessing

with which the man of God,

when face to face with death,

blessed the tribes of Israel

He began to speak and say,

Hashem was with mother Israel

all the way from Egypt to Sinai,

and all the way from Sinai to the holy land

She saw Him coming

She saw Him coming from Esau’s land of Seir

She saw him arrive shining with light

from Ishmael’s Mount Paran

She saw him arrive

surrounded by holy myriads of His servants

She saw him holding in his right hand

a fiery edict of love for her,

a law of love for her alone

Truly, so very deeply,

You, Hashem, are in love with a people

You have given the mother

and all of her children

sanctuary in the hollow of Your hand

Her young flock You have kept

closely in Your footsteps,

They were flocked closely together with their mother,

and you are assembling them with her before You

Your words were like their newly grown wings

They tried them, they strained and moved them

Your words raised them up to fly as eagles

What are these words

that gave wings to the children of Israel?

The words of Torah,

an instruction faithfully delivered,

delivered through Moses, the best man of God,

to be a holy engagement present,

a matrimonial inheritance,

for the whole body of the family of Jacob

This is how it was on the day of beauty,

the day of Yeshurun’s youthful beauty

That day Hashem became king

He became king in the heart and soul of Yeshurun,

This was the day when Israel’s teachers

unified in one choir, singing one song

This was when the day of Adam’s death

became the day of the promise of new life,

the day when the voices of the tribes of Israel were set free

The song of the tribes of once enslaved and divided Israel

was heard sung by Moses on the day of beauty:

May Reuven be rejuvenated and not die,

and the count of the firstborn of Israel

not be as if a count of corpses

The Ark is taken captive by Philistines

The Torah is subjected

to a nation which thinks that Torah Israel is nothing

Remember that the covenant was given to Abraham

even when Israel was yet unborn in a barren womb,

like a living corpse

Though the firstborn be like a corpse,

may he be rejuvenated and not be lost

May he be reunited with the covenant

May he be counted like the galaxies of stars

For you, Reuven, are now God’s Adam

And Simeon is your hidden right arm

Together you will overcome

the arrogance of the nations

and manifest the grace and humility of God

This covenant blessing,

this blessing of Reuven the firstborn

and of all his brothers,

Moses placed with a special blessing

on the shoulders of Judah

Moses blessed Judah, praying,

Hear, Oh HaShem, the voice of Judah

in the songs of David,

those songs sung in the voice and spirit of Mashiach

May Judah return in peace to his people

after defeating all pretenders to the throne

What alien would presume to occupy the land

and hold the tribes of Israel hostage?

By the arm of Judah

May the weapon of death be defeated

may Reuven be rejuvenated

and Simeon inherit the land of Israel

and Levi serve God’s house forever!

For you, Judah, are God’s lion,

The prince over His seraphim, the prince of His lions

It is your roar that will silence heaven and earth

Through Judah, Moses then blessed Levi

The holy spirit of Your Thummim and Urim

will be preserved for You, Hashem,

in the voice of Your Hassid,

the Master of faith and kindness

Aaron kept Your secret at Massah

Levi kept Your faith at the waters of Meribah

When no other tribe stood with Abraham

Levi stood with Abraham and said to Adam and Eve,

I am like the newborn of Hashem

You, Adam, no longer rule my house,

but I rule your house

For the tribe of Levi stood its ground

and confessed this confession with Abraham

In the loins of Abraham, Levi left Adam’s house

to seek a new land and a new house

where Adam could be cared for,

a land that God would show him

Even to his own brothers who sinned, Levi said,

I can now no longer see you…

Like his father, Jacob,

Levi left his own children in Hashem’s hands

and did not faint on account of chastisements,

but he observed Your word

and kept Your covenant

Therefore, Levi’s children will educate Jacob

They shall be the ones

who place the incense of prayers before You

Indeed, they shall be the ones

who offer on Your altar the whole burnt offering,

which acknowledges You in all things,

both in decrees of judgement and blessings of kindness

May Hashem bless Levi’s spiritual aspirations

and establish in his hand the fruit of the tree of life

In all his spiritual efforts and endeavours

may He undermine the degenerative power

of the evil inclination

Oppose those who fight against the efforts of Levi,

so that they will never defeat him

For you Levi, are God’s mighty eagle,

having His messages to declare

Your greatest work is seen by no eye but His eye alone

Facing Benjamin he said:

I love you, Benjamin!

You are beloved of HaShem,

In the night, he rests securely beside Him;

Constantly, He protects him,

For He gently holds Benjamin between His shoulders

For you, Benjamin, are God’s beloved calf,

leaping over this world to the world to come,

holding all Israel together by the prayers of your heart

Facing Joseph he said,

The eternal gift of your land is placed into your hand

You will occupy it according to your judgment

This power comes to you from the blessing of Hashem,

which comes down freely to anoint you

On account of the gracious fortunes of heaven,

which fall like its dew upon your bones, Joseph,

all Israel will inherit the eternal gift of their land

It is all for you, Joseph,

a land with the redeeming lot of life produced under the sun,

and with the redeeming rays of hope produced under the moon,

and with the fortune of the primary mountain pillars of Creation

a land of the everlasting hills,

in which is the fortune of the creation that is yet to come

For the land of Joseph's bones is a land alone,

due to the desire of the One who dwells in the thorn bush,

like Israel dwells in a sukkah

His desire is that all this fortune

should rest on the head

of the one separated from his brothers

For you, Joseph, are God’s ox

plowing the whole earth

cultivating it for judgment and redemption

Joseph, the firstborn ox

Joseph, the firstling bull

glorious in majesty are his untamed horns

His wild horns gather peoples together

from all the ends of the earth

Here are the myriads of Ephraim

Here are the thousands of Manasseh

all of them yoked together as one plowing ox,

yoked together as Joseph,

overturning the world!

Zebulun and Issachar, Rejoice!

Rejoice in your setting out with Zebulun

and your staying here at home with Issachar in your tents

For you are lions of the pride of Judah

Like Judah you are the lions of Hashem

You run out with Abraham's spirit to meet passing souls

and with Abraham's spirit you bring them

into your tent of hospitality and Torah kindness

Through you, peoples from every direction

are called up by the holy mountain,

called to come up to her!

There they offer up a sacrifice of righteousness

For the peoples are nursed from the flowing blessings

of the tribes of Israel,

the blessings of Issachar and of Zebulun

For the blessings of the mountain of Hashem are flowing

from the seas above to the seas below

and from the nutrients of deep eternal treasures,

like treasures cast up by the sands on the shore

Facing Gad Moses said,

Blessed is He who enlarges you, Gad!

You are God’s eagle who comes down like a lion of the sky

and rips Armilus like the scalp of Pharaoh from Pharaoh’s head,

and first rips off Babylon, Pharaoh’s limb

Babylon is Pharaoh’s taproot to evil

Gad rips it from his shoulder

Gad recognized that the first lot of inheritance

fell outside the first boundaries of the land

This is the lot where the lawgiver is concealed

Gad took responsibility for that prophetic portion himself

and performed an act of righteousness in Israel

Gad took the last portion and, in an hidden way,

prepared a place for the hidden lawgiver

Therefore the army of Gad is at the head of the army of Israel

Facing Dan he said,

Dan too is God’s fierce eagle

Swooping through the air like a young lion

leaping from Bashan

to capture the evil inclination in his beak

to tear Amalek with his talons

Amalek boasts that he is the ground of his own being

But Dan fears Hashem,

who created all things from nothing with love

Dan will be the one who can stand his ground in the end

Facing Naftali he said,

You are God's speeding eagle

You race on the wind

You carry news to Jacob

You race like a young stag across the land

Your are full of joyous news from Hashem

Israel will live and not die!

Hashem’s spirit flies across the land together with you

to bring you to your inheritance

Your inheritance is the northern sea

and the southern shore,

in order that you might know

to take possession with your feet

your swift feet, like one raised from the dead,

rushing in like a new world,

rushing out like the old

For the gift of your news, oh Naphtali,

is Israel’s life-giving inheritance

of this bone dry spiritual world

It is Israel’s reward to transform this world

into the lavish spiritual world to come

For how shall it be known, Hashem

that Your people have gained Your grace and favour,

unless You run with their feet

and fly with the wings of Naphtali,

bearing good news?

Facing Asher he said,

You are God’s eagle that ascends with offspring,

moving to the head of the line,

leading the way for all your brothers

in bringing forth children like the stars of heaven,

through you shall the tribes be fruitful,

through Asher ’s anointing the foot of faith with oil,

with holy oil pressed from olives of Jerusalem

Asher’s gates are life for Israel

May your lifeline be strong like bronze

and your gates be like iron

and, in the midst of your years,

may Hashem hold your hand,

as in the days of your youth

Yeshurun, there is nothing and no one like your God,*

Hashem rides on His chariot through four universes,

with passion He comes to help you,

first, like a shadow of concealment

across the milky way skies

Then, His glory turning night into day,

arriving before you in Jerusalem in His majesty

There in the place He has chosen

our long quiet sighing shall end

on the Festival of Pure Joy,

the long day of death

now become the Day of Simchat Torah in Jerusalem

Then Hashem shall be seen by all

to go everywhere in Israel's midst!

As Israel everywhere dwelt in the sukkah,

in this very manner,

so shall Hashem will be seen everywhere

to dwell in the midst of the Jewish people

He will dwell in His people as a flame,

as a flame in a thorn bush,

yet not consuming it

Israel said, If Hashem does not go up with us

how will the nations believe

that He has forgiven us?

We moaned when we understood

that they could not see Benjamin

between His shoulders

We sighed when they could not hear Judah

stand up and speak like a lion,

as You spoke in the days of Egypt!

He will roar to the nations

that the Jews are not a mere collection

of survivors and heroes,

but are still two full tribes named by God,

two homes, Leah and Rachel, as one,

which Mashiach will fill with the souls

of all the tribes of Israel

God has preserved Israel as Judah

And Judah has preserved Israel in Benjamin

Torah Israel is corporate and whole!

We pray to Hashem,

May the blessings of the man of God

upon the tribes of Israel

be known among the nations!

Israel knows that the nations

will not believe that Hashem is married to her

They do not see Hashem

running like a hart with Naphtali,

to bring good news to Jacob

He is concealed from them for their chastisement

They do not see that He is

yoked with Ephraim and Manasseh,

plowing the earth for judgment and redemption

He will be revealed openly only to raise the dead

They do not hear that with Zebulun and Issachar,

He is inviting all the ends of the earth

into Abraham’s tent

Today, if you hear His voice,

do not harden your heart

They do not see that with Gad and Dan,

He is overcoming the evil inclination,

and with Asher anointing the feet of his servants with oil

For, with Reuven, with Simeon and with Levi,

He is preparing the way of Mashiach

over all the lands and all the seas

When the nations are blind

and cannot see, asks Israel,

how will they know that Hashem goes with us?

Until they are given eyes to see,

how will they believe

that Israel has been shown Hashem’s grace and favour?

Unless they are saved from the exile of Adam,

how will they believe and know

that all the twelve tribes of Israel

will yet dwell with the Almighty in Jerusalem?

Let Judah roar!

Let Benjamin be revealed!

Let Joseph embrace his God!

Let His two witnesses stand beside the Master of all the earth,

to let all the nations know

that Hashem has forgiven His people,

that the wedding day of Israel is come