[Parashat Vezot HaBerakhah]

[Siman 1] (Deut. 33:1:) “And this is the blessing.” This text is related (to Prov. 31:29), “Many daughters have done valiantly, but you surpass them all.” This is the blessing of Moses,⁠¹ in respect to which you should note that in the case of the earlier generations each and every one blessed his generation, but there was none was like the blessing of Moses. Noah blessed his children, but it contained a divergence, as he blessed one and cursed another, as stated (Gen. 9:27,) “May God enlarge (ypt) Japheth (ypt) [...]; and let Canaan be a slave to them.” Isaac blessed Jacob, but there was strife in it. It is so stated (in Gen. 28:4), “May He give you the blessing of Abraham, but he said to Esau (in Gen. 27:35), “Your brother came with deceit”; and it is stated (in vs. 41), “Then Esau hated Jacob […, and Esau said in his heart, ‘Let the days of mourning for my father come, and I will kill my brother Jacob’].” Jacob blessed the tribes, but there was strife among them, in that he rebuked Reuben, as stated (in Gen. 49:4), “Unstable as water”; and similarly (in vs. 5), “Simeon and Levi [are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords].” And from where did each and every one of the patriarchs learn to bless his generation? [They learned it] from the Holy One, blessed be He. When he created Adam, He blessed him, as stated (in Gen. 1:27-28), “male and female. Then [God] blessed them.” And the world was maintained by that blessing, until the generation of the flood came, and they cancelled it out, as stated (in Gen. 6:7), “And the Lord said, “I will blot out the humanity which I created.” When Noah left the ark, the Holy One, blessed be He, saw that this blessing had passed from them. He blessed Noah and his children anew, as stated (in Gen. 9:1), “Then God blessed Noah and his children.” The world was maintained by this blessing, until Abraham came into the world, and He added blessing, as stated (in Gen. 12:2), “For I will make you into a great nation.” Once Abraham came, the Holy One, blessed be He, said, “It is not honorable for Me, that I should be obliged to bless My creatures. Rather take note! I am handing over the blessings to Abraham and to his seed, so that for all who they issue a blessing, I am placing my seal upon [those blessings], as stated (in vs. 2, cont.), ‘[I will bless you and magnify your name] and so become a blessing.’” (Vs. 3:) “I will bless those who bless you….” What is the meaning of “I will bless?” The Holy One, blessed be He, said, “Take note. I am handing over the blessings to all whom you bless, and I am sealing [them] through you.” But if from then on the blessings were [handed over] to Abraham, why did he not bless Isaac? It was because Abraham saw that Esau would issue from him. He said, “If I bless Isaac, then Esau will be blessed, and Isaac will be found lacking.” A parable: To what is the matter comparable? To the head of a household that had a vineyard,⁠² [and] gave it to a tenant. And in that vineyard was a tree of life, but it had overgrown a tree having a deadly poison. Now he did not know what to do. He said, “If I cultivate that vineyard, then the tree having a deadly poison will flourish; but if I do not cultivate that vineyard, then the tree of life will die. So what shall I do? I will bear with that vineyard until the owner of the vineyard comes. Then he may do what he wants with his vineyard.” And so also did Abraham say, “If I bless Isaac, Esau will end up being blessed and Jacob will lose out. Rather look here. I will leave him alone until the Holy One, blessed be He, comes, when He will deal with what belongs to Him.” Jacob came and received five blessings: two from his father, one from Abraham, one from the angel, and one from the Holy One, blessed be He.⁠³ From his father, as stated (in Gen. 27:33), “Then Isaac trembled (when he realized he had blessed Jacob instead of Esau). Why “trembled?” R. Eliezer ben Pedat said, “[He did so] because he saw Gehinnom open in front of him. He wanted to say, ‘Cursed will be [Jacob.’ Instead,] he went back [on it], and added blessing [to it], when he said (ibid., end), ‘he also shall be blessed.’” Here is one [blessing]. A second (is in Gen. 28:1), “So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him.” The blessing of the Holy One, blessed be He, (is in Gen. 35:9), “Now God appeared unto Jacob [… and blessed him].” The blessing of Abraham (is in Gen. 28:4), “And may He grant you the blessing of Abraham.” And the blessing of an angel is (in Gen. 32:30), “and he (the angel) blessed him there.” When Jacob came to bless the tribes, he blessed them with the five blessings that he had in hand and added one blessing to them, as stated (in Gen. 49:28), “All these are the tribes of Israel, [twelve in number, and this is what their father spoke to them when he blessed them, each one with his own blessing is how he blessed them].”⁴ When Moses came to bless Israel, he added a seventh blessing to them. Thus it is stated (in Deut. 33:1), “And this is the blessing.” [According to another interpretation, Moses made] an addition to the blessings with which Balaam had blessed Israel,⁠⁵ since it was fitting for him to bless them with seven blessings corresponding to the seven altars [he had built];⁠⁶ but [Balaam] only blessed them with three, as stated (in Numb. 24:10), “but here you have even blessed them these three times.” The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “O wicked one, your eye is too jaundiced for you to bless them. Moreover, I am not putting the power in your hand to finish your blessing over Israel. Moses will come, whose eye is fair; then he will bless Israel.” And it is about him that Solomon has said (in Prov. 22:9), “He that has a benevolent eye shall be blessed (ybrk).” Do not read “ybrk [with vowels meaning] shall be blessed,” but [with vowels meaning] “shall bless.” This refers to Moses our master whose eyes were fair when he blessed Israel, such that he blessed them with [the other] four blessings: The first is (in Exod. 39:43), “When Moses saw all the work […] he blessed them.” The second is (in Lev. 9:23), “Then Moses and Aaron came unto the tent of meeting; and when they came out, they blessed the people….” The third is (in Deut. 1:11), “May the Lord God of your ancestors add [to your numbers a thousand times more than you are and bless you].” The fourth is (here in Deut. 33:1), “And this is the blessing.” It is therefore stated (in Prov. 31:29), “Many daughters have done valiantly, but you surpass them all.”(Deut. 33:1:) And this is the blessing.” It was fitting for Moses to bless Israel because he had constantly risked his life for them.⁠⁷ For this reason, it is stated (in Deut. 33:1), “And this is the blessing [that Moses blessed... the Children of Israel].” (Deut. 33:1:) “The man of God (the Power).” If it says, “man,” why does it say, “God,” and if it says, “God,” why does it say, “man?” It is simply that at the time he fled from in front of Pharaoh, he was a man, but at the time he trounced [the Egyptians], he was a power. Another interpretation: At the time that he went up to the firmament, he was a man; in front of the angels that were all fire, he was a man. But at the time he came down, he was a power. Before he went up to the firmament, he was a man, as he would eat and drink. But all the time that he was there, he was a power, as stated (in Exod. 34:20), “and they were afraid to approach him.”

[Siman 2] Another interpretation (of Deut. 33:1), “And this is the blessing”: R. Samuel bar Nahmani said that R. Johanan said, “When Moshe came to bless Israel with “This is the blessing,” the Holy One, blessed be He, also blessed them with “this,” as stated (in Deut. 4:44), “And this is the Torah that Moshe placed.” And it states (in Deut. 33:1), “And this is the blessing that Moses the man of God blessed the Children of Israel.” (Deut. 33:1:) Another explanation: R. Abba said (regarding Deut. 33:1), “’Which Moses blessed,’ that is Moses; ‘the man of God,’ that is the Holy One, blessed be He, as stated (in Exod. 15:3), ‘The Lord is a man of war.’ And why so much? To fulfill the verse (in Eccl. 4:12), ‘and the threefold string will not quickly be broken.’”⁸ Resh Laqish said, “If it were not in Scripture, it would be impossible to say this:⁠⁹ Just as when a man gives an order to his wife, she carries it out; so when [Moshe gave an order to the Holy One, blessed be He, He carried it out for him] (the Holy One, blessed be He, gave an order to Moses, he carried it out for Him).”¹⁰ What is the meaning of (in Deut. 33:1) “the Children of Israel.” It was Israel's merit that enabled him.

[Siman 3] (Deut. 33:1:) “Before his death.” Would it cross your mind that he blessed Israel after he died?⁠¹¹ Then what is the meaning of before his death? Before the angel of death. When the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him (in Deut. 32:49-50) “Ascend [this mountain of the Abarim]…. And you shall die,” the angel of death thought that the Holy One, blessed be He, had already given him authority over Moses' life. He came and stood directly above him. Moses said to him, “The Holy One, blessed be He, has already promised me that he would not deliver me into your hand.” He [answered], “The Holy One, blessed be He, has sent me to you; that you are to depart on this day.” Moses said to him, “Go away from here, as I want to praise the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘I will not die, but rather live and tell the acts of the Lord (Ps. 118:17).’” The angel said to him, “Why are you bragging, He [already] has someone to praise Him, (in Ps. 19:2), ‘The heavens recount God’s glory.’” Moses said, “I will quiet them and praise,” as stated (in Deut. 32:1), “Listen O heavens....” He came to him a second time. What did Moses do? He mentioned the explicit name [of God], and [so the angel] fled, as stated (Deut. 32:3), “For I proclaim the name of the Lord.” He [then] came to him a third time. [At that point,] Moshe said, “Since he is coming from the Heavens, I must justify the judgment [of death] upon myself.” He immediately began saying (in Deut. 32:4), “The Rock, His actions are just.” R. Isaac said, “Moses’ soul was hesitating to leave him, and he spoke with it. He said to it, ‘Tell me, my soul, what will you say, since the angel of death seeks to subdue you?’ It said to him, ‘He will not do so to me, as the Holy One, blessed be He, promised me that he would not deliver me into his hand.’ He said to it, ‘Tell me [what you will say] when you see them crying and you cry with them.’ It said to him (in Ps. 116:8), ‘You have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears’. He said to it, ‘Tell me [what you will say] when they try to push you to Gehinnom.’ It said to him (in Ps. 116:8, cont.), ‘my feet from stumbling.’ He said to it, ‘And where will you be walking in the future?’ It said to him (in Ps 116:9), ‘I shall walk before the Lord in the lands of the living.’ When Moses heard this from it, he said to it (Ps. 116:7), ‘Return, O my soul.’” R. Abba said, “Once he was departed, the lower creatures (people) said (Deut. 33:4), ‘Moses charged us with Torah.’ The higher creatures (angels) said, ‘He executed the Lord’s judgments and His decisions for Israel.’ And even the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself, in all of His glory praises him and says (in Deut. 34:10-11), ‘Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses [...]. For the various signs and portents.’”