Deuteronomy 33 delves into the blessing Moses bestowed upon his brethren shortly before his passing.
Abravanel gives us an outline of the chapter, as well as giving readers two approaches to the prophet’s
benedictions. Here we bring the first one.
“And this is the blessing wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the
Children of Israel before his death.”
This final section of the Torah branches into four sub-headings, outlined below.
- Introduction. Moses’ preamble consists of this Torah portion’s first five verses.
- Blessings. This relates to the prophet’s blessing of the twelve tribes, the succeeding twenty-five
verses. - Conclusion (of blessings). The valediction covers four verses.
- Death of Moses. The demise of the prophet, his burial, and his undying legacy bring us to the
end of the Torah. They are the final twelve verses.
To begin his discussion, Abravanel roughly bases his comments on the Talmudic sages, though he
reworks them. As stated above, the section’s first five verses lay down an introduction.
“And this is the blessing wherewith Moses the man of God” is uttered right before Moses’s death.
Blessing can be traced to a confluence of factors, as Abravanel explains. What made the Jews worthy
recipients, he asks? A combination of five underlying rationales and pleas answer that question (Here
we bring the first two rationales.).
One, relates to God’s conferring great prestige upon the people, by transmitting the Torah to them.
Heaven’s largesse may be likened to a man who runs out to greet his approaching friend, as expressed in
a verse in Exodus 19: “And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God.” Crucially, “to
meet God” connotes that the Creator initiated the rendezvous, availing Himself to the encampment.
This is explicit in our narrative: “God came from Sinai…”
In our context of deservedness, the Maker’s arrival at Sinai means that He signaled the people as to
what was afoot, giving them a foretaste of what was in store, as preparation to accept the Torah. “You
have seen what I did unto the Egyptians…Now therefore, if you will heed My voice…” To this divine bid,
so to speak, “All the people answered together and said: All that God has spoken, we will do.”
For God, the people’s oral acceptance sufficed as ample preparedness, facilitating the momentous
encounter: “God came from Sinai.” Abravanel broadly describes the process leading up to, and
including, the give-and-take between God and man. The parley provided the people with the necessary
shot in the arm. No sooner had the booster activated spiritual potential than the Creator came to
welcome them.
Two, switches focus from the Hebrews to the Gentiles. Specifically, God turned to the children of Esau
(Seir) and to the children of Ismael (Paran), to see if they would accept the Torah. From both, a flat no
returned. The Jews, as already mentioned, accepted, but not before God made the rounds and extended
an invitation to all the world’s nations to receive His Law, only to be rebuffed. They wanted no part in
submitting to His yoke of Heaven. Ultimately, the Maker’s candescence shone brightly upon the Jews.
What really rankled the Gentiles? Why a no? At heart, it was a no way to the Torah and its
commandments. Admittedly, their refusal is more than a little strange, seeing that they hail from
Abraham. Of course, we speak of the descendants of Esau and Ismael. Be that as it may, the Jews
willfully acceded to the Torah program, and the rest, as they say, is history.