V'Zot HaBerachah / On the Blessing From The Man of God
5783
5783
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
Footnote:
*Yeshurun - the private, endearing name by which Hashem addresses Torah Israel.
Attributions:
*With reference primarily to the commentary of Ramban,. Also with some consultation of the commentaries of Tur HaAroch; Siftei Chakhamim; Rashbam; Rabbeinu Bahya; Or HaChaim; Daat Zkenim; Chizkuni; Sforno; Ibn Ezra and Rashi.
For 5783 reference is made to the teaching of the Zohar on the fourteen commandments of the days of creation, which is found in the Prologue to the Zohar.