V'zot Habracha - Moses' Blessings - Not the End
Rabbi Yoshi’s humor keeps us entertained as he struggled not to finish the book!
Alan Podel read the entire poem V'zot Habracha in Deuteronomy 33 – a tribute for his birthday ( happy day Alan)
While this is a poem it is not presented graphically as a poem in Torah like the previous poems it still has the structure and rhythm of a poem. (no reason given)
We discussed the dating of this poem (and Deuteronomy) based on the Hebrew details – the spelling of the name David is an example of how this is done. If it is “dalit vav dalet” as in Samuel and Kings it is older than if it is “dalit vav yud dalet” as in Chronicles. (link on more of this information)
Yoshi Leshem, R. Zweibacks teacher, did a study that questions the theory of Deuteronomy being dated at the time of King Josiah (7th Cen) based on study of only the style of the language and spelling. This study dates the book much earlier.
The discussion then moved to the poem itself. And an interesting view of Moses, the man who we first met as having difficulty speaking, and now as a great orator and poet. How did Moses become “a man of words”? There is midrash referred to that “the Torah itself cured Moses’ speech impediment”.*
There are many sites that speculate about this I did find one theory that when Moses said he was “slow of tongue” it was referring to his lack of fluency in the language rather than an impediment that we more often hear about. (interesting drash on Moses )
The comparison of Moses’ blessing to that of Jacob shows that they are parallel in some ways but not in specifics and tone. Jacob was speaking to his sons as individuals while Moses was referring to the ‘tribe’ or descendents of those sons. Jacob’s blessings were often critical, while Moses is more hopeful and positive. While both felt the anxiety of leaving their ‘children’, they were different in many ways but Moses was more optimistic in his view as expressed in the blessing. Possibly Moses’ blessings were more indicative of the geographic areas where the tribes would settle.
The specific question of “what is thummim and urim” blessed on Levi - was another interesting topic from the blessing – And this brought us to the “magic 8 ball” discussion (that we really didn’t have according to R. Yoshi) But it was explained that this was on the breast plate or special stones of the priests that were to help them understand God’s will.
Side find I thought you would like by by Rabbi Judith Z. Abrams:
(For example, there are two creation stories, two versions of the Ten Commandments, two versions of the Golden Calf story, etc.)
Alan Podel read the entire poem V'zot Habracha in Deuteronomy 33 – a tribute for his birthday ( happy day Alan)
While this is a poem it is not presented graphically as a poem in Torah like the previous poems it still has the structure and rhythm of a poem. (no reason given)
We discussed the dating of this poem (and Deuteronomy) based on the Hebrew details – the spelling of the name David is an example of how this is done. If it is “dalit vav dalet” as in Samuel and Kings it is older than if it is “dalit vav yud dalet” as in Chronicles. (link on more of this information)
Yoshi Leshem, R. Zweibacks teacher, did a study that questions the theory of Deuteronomy being dated at the time of King Josiah (7th Cen) based on study of only the style of the language and spelling. This study dates the book much earlier.
The discussion then moved to the poem itself. And an interesting view of Moses, the man who we first met as having difficulty speaking, and now as a great orator and poet. How did Moses become “a man of words”? There is midrash referred to that “the Torah itself cured Moses’ speech impediment”.*
There are many sites that speculate about this I did find one theory that when Moses said he was “slow of tongue” it was referring to his lack of fluency in the language rather than an impediment that we more often hear about. (interesting drash on Moses )
The comparison of Moses’ blessing to that of Jacob shows that they are parallel in some ways but not in specifics and tone. Jacob was speaking to his sons as individuals while Moses was referring to the ‘tribe’ or descendents of those sons. Jacob’s blessings were often critical, while Moses is more hopeful and positive. While both felt the anxiety of leaving their ‘children’, they were different in many ways but Moses was more optimistic in his view as expressed in the blessing. Possibly Moses’ blessings were more indicative of the geographic areas where the tribes would settle.
The specific question of “what is thummim and urim” blessed on Levi - was another interesting topic from the blessing – And this brought us to the “magic 8 ball” discussion (that we really didn’t have according to R. Yoshi) But it was explained that this was on the breast plate or special stones of the priests that were to help them understand God’s will.
Side find I thought you would like by by Rabbi Judith Z. Abrams:
If Torah were a person, we would say she was an individual with many interests. She would be interested in history and family, social justice and ritual laws, just to mention a few topics. She would also be able to take into account many different views on the same topic.
(For example, there are two creation stories, two versions of the Ten Commandments, two versions of the Golden Calf story, etc.)
posted by Chavarah @ 9:54 PM
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