Parashat V’Zot Ha’Bracha

This week we read the final parashat of the Torah. The Torah ends with the following:

So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-Peor; but no man knows his grave till this day. And Moses was 120 years old when he died; his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; and the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended. And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him; and the people of Israel listened to him, and did as the Lord commanded Moses. And there has not arisen since in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. In all the signs and the wonders, which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land. And in all that mighty hand, and in all the great and awesome deeds which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel. (Deut. 34:5 to 34:12)

At the start of the book of Deuteronomy, I wrote about the divine authourship of the book – G-d dictated and Moses wrote. These last eight verses seem to pose a problem. They seem to be written after Moses’ death, so how could Moses have been the scribe?

The Talmud seems to give conflicting explanations about this. In one place it says that these last eight verses were actually dictated by G-d and written by Joshua (in a sense passing the torch) [Baba Bathra 15a]. In essence, the Talmud says the book of Joshua actually begins with these last eight verses. But that’s a problem, since these eight verses are part of the Five Books and thus are on a higher level of holiness.

In another place, the Talmud makes the difficult to understand statement that up until this point G-d dictated and Moses repeated and wrote, but for the se last eight verses, G-d dictated and Moses wrote with his tears [Baba Bathra 15a].

The Ritva resolves this issue beautifully. Moses had completed writing the Torah, expect the last eight verses when he was sent my G-d up the mountain to his death. Knowing that he had acted as G-d’s conduit for the last time he wept; his tears falling on the Torah scroll. G-d caused the tears to write the last eight verses (in invisible ink). Joshua was then called upon to go over the tear marks with ink, thus completing the Torah.

And with that, we conclude the annual cycle of reading the Torah, and along with it, we conclude my first round of Torah commentary. Writing these have vastly improved my understanding of Torah, on every level. G-d willing, my writings of the next year will be as fulfilling.

CHAZAK CHAZAK V'NITCHAZEK!

Shabbat Shalom.