Being true to ourselves: Vezot Habrachah 5785

It is interesting that our great leader and teacher Moshe followed the lead of our father Jacob when it came to blessing the Jewish people before he left the world. The blessings that Moshe bestowed were individual and specific: each tribe was given its own blessing and its own mission. Every human being too is different, and even those amongst us who, on the surface, appear similar, are nevertheless still not identical.

One of the great tragedies in human life occurs when one person feels himself or herself to be a square peg in a round hole, ill fitted for the life one is leading and for the profession or work one is pursuing. Most of us, unfortunately, have to make some sort of peace with such a situation, and suffer the consequences throughout our productive lives. Rare are the individuals who can change course in the midstream of life, fulfill their natural abilities and pursue their true vision, despite all the obstacles that undoubtedly present themselves.

The import of the blessing of Moshe to the Jewish people is that each of the tribes, as well as the individuals who make up those tribes, should be true unto themselves. They should accept and follow their mission, both national and personal, that the Lord set out for them through their genetic traits and personal God-given talents. Conformity stifles all creativity and, without creativity, there can never be progress in human affairs, whether spiritual or physical.

Moshe loves the Jewish people. He has proven his love for them repeatedly during his 40 years as their leader and mentor. This final Torah reading is his last and perhaps most soaring expression of love for his people. A lesser person would, perhaps, feel pains of remorse and even revenge for the treatment he received during his 40-year career as the people’s leader. Indeed, Moshe would be justified in feeling unappreciated, and that he somehow never received recognition from those that he served so loyally and skillfully for so many decades.

However, that would not conform to the character trait of Moshe, who is the greatest of all human beings. It is about him that the Torah testifies to his natural human ego, i.e. that there never arose such a prophet within the Jewish people before him, nor will there ever arise another one after him. In his great vision of prophecy, Moshe identifies the talents and mission of each of the various tribes of Israel, and properly assigns to them their appropriate role in building a holy nation and a kingdom of priests. By so doing, he is fulfilling his final and perhaps greatest act of love for his people, by allowing for the diversity and creativity of human beings to function and build a greater and more holy society.

Chag same’ach, Rabbi Berel Wein 

Tailor-made blessings: Vezot Habrachah 5785

 Though we don't leyn Vezot Habrachah in its entirety until Simchat Torah, which falls on 22 Tishrei/24 October, we have already started leyning it midweek, so here's a devar Torah for it fom Rabbi Berel Wein:

The holy Torah concludes with the blessings of Moshe to the people of Israel before his passing from the world. Though the point has been made before, it bears repetition: the blessing to each of the tribes is different in detail and purpose. Contrary to much current belief and practice in religious Jewish society, there is no one-size-fits-all blessing or mission statement that applies to all Jews.

Rather Moshe, to whom the task of nation building was assigned by Heaven, looks to construct a whole nation, multi-faceted and productive, holy and interactive. If everyone is to be Zevulun, then what will be of Torah study and knowledge amongst the people of Israel? But if everyone is Yissachar, then again Torah will fail to survive within Jewish society.

King Solomon advised us wisely that every child is to be educated according to the individual talents, predispositions and abilities of that particular child. When home schooling was the vogue for Jewish education in biblical times, such an individualized educational program was both more possible and feasible. With the introduction of universal and institutionalized schooling, the task of individualized education to meet every student’s specific situation became a goal that was well-nigh unattainable.

The system was built to create Yissachar, but those that dropped out and became Zevulun were, to a certain extent, treated with less respect in the Jewish scholarly community. Though certainly Yissachar was to be respected, honored and supported, many generations lost sight that it was only through Zevulun that Yissachar could exist in the Jewish world. The two tribes were meant to complement each other, not to compete and denigrate one another.

It is striking to note how careful Moshe is to identify each tribe’s nature and strengths. Moshe is the one person who forges the different tribes into one whole nation. He did so by granting each tribe its different due, by recognizing that all are necessary in this process of nation building. The rabbis carried this idea further when they identified the four species of plant life that form the commandment on Succot, as being representative of the basic groupings that have always formed Jewish life. Just as all four species are necessary for the fulfilment of the commandment, so too are all four groupings of Jews are also necessary to form a vital and healthy Jewish society.

The remarkable variety of people and ideas that have always characterized Jewish society throughout the ages was recognized and extolled by Moshe through his individualized blessings to Israel before his passing from this world. At times Jewish society appears to be riven and chaotic and we long for the elusive “Jewish unity” to which we all pay lip service. But what we really should mean to yearn for is not Jewish conformity but Jewish loyalty, which is a far different matter. There is an Jewish ballad that states this matter clearly and succinctly: “Whatever we are, we are—but we are all Jews!” The blessings of Moshe as they appear in our concluding parsha of the Torah should help guide us to this important conclusion.