The Blessings -- Poetry or Reality? VeZot Haberachah 5786

This piece by Rabbi Berel Wein ztz'l was kindly supplied by the Destiny Foundation.

Rashi points out that the blessings of Moshe to the Jewish people are based upon and mirror those of Yaakov at the end of the book of Bereshit. Some blessings are eternal and always valid, while others pertain only to the times in which they are given but have little relevance to other times. The blessings of both Yaakov and Moshe are of two distinct types; they focus on their locations in the Land of Israel and the traits and characteristics of their individual members as warriors, merchants, or scholars, and as part of the national fabric of the Jewish society. 

Over the long years of the exile of the Jews and their disappearance from the Land of Israel, these blessings have seemed to be pure poetry, detached from reality. However, the words of the Torah are eternal and therefore in our time these blessings have again acquired relevance and actuality. We are once again a society of warriors, sailors, scholars, merchants and farmers. All these traits, that we were preventing from demonstrating  during our long sojourn in exile, have once again come to the fore in our daily lives. So, the blessings of Moshe have immediate and deep meaning to our generation and to the society in which we live. Perhaps this is part of the connection to the past, to which Moshe refers in the introduction to his blessings, a connection not only to the blessings of Yaakov but also to the original Jewish inhabitants of the Land of Israel millennia ago. 

Part of the blessing that Moshe has bequeathed to us is the fact that, even though no person is completely replaceable, it is also the case that no person is indispensable. If there is any one person about whom the Jewish people would feel that they could not do without, it was Moshe. Nevertheless, his influence and teachings remain with us thousands of years after his death, and Jewish people have continued throughout human history. 

The reality of human mortality is coupled with the miracle of Jewish eternity. All of us live on through the future success and development of the Jewish people. Those who are unconditionally attached to the Jewish people, heart and soul, are attached to an eternity that is not subject to the nature of human mortality. This is because of our attachment to the God of Israel who has proclaimed that “you who adhere to the Lord your God are all still alive even today.” 

That is the point that Moshe wishes to impress upon us in this final chapter of the Torah. Moshe lives on through the Torah that he taught us and through the people of Israel whom he helped form and lead during his lifetime. This idea of comfort and eternity is truly the great blessing that he bestowed upon us. All of the other detailed blessings, important and vital as they are, are nevertheless only corollaries to this great blessing of eternity and continuity. 

"Being True to Ourselves", Rabbi Wein's article on this parashah for Hanassi Highlights last year, is available here.