#also wild: the fact that Moshe used his very last moments to bless B'nei Yisrael

[torahgalus]

Ve’zot HaBerakha

after forty years of shouting myself hoarse I’ll use my last breaths to bless you. oh Israel, I wrestled the angel to win your berakha. you can’t see my face but I can see yours, all upturned and regretful. know that I  can give you all this; know this is all I can give you. I see your whole future and am frightened for you. I see your whole future and I love every ugly bit of you. I look God in the eyes and see all you can be  in Their cool, measured stare. I wish you goodbye with a kiss.

#poem #poetry #torah #jumblr #parsha #Parshat HaShavuah #Poem HaShavuah #Ve'zot HaBerakha #last! #poem!!! #wild! #also wild: the fact that Moshe used his very last moments to bless B'nei Yisrael #he has spent so long having to fill the role of disciplinarian #I think about how perhaps they mourned Aaron longer because they had a more uncomplicatedly loving relationship with him #he was like the fun dad #he didn't have to be harsh #but Moshe takes these last moments to share his love #he WRESTLES THE ANGEL OF DEATH to carve out this time #if you can't tell I'm a bit obsessed with angel midrashim #there's the midrashim about how when God shows Moshe the land They show him everything that will ever happen to B'nei Yisrael #their entire future #I imagine how painful and joyous and overwhelming that could be #how he's unable to leave them in a way that is simple but he is able to leave them with his work and his wishes #think about how they haven't been able to look him in the face for forty years #but he's the only navi to have ever seen God panim-el-panim #and after decades of such tortuous complexity he gets to leave so simply #with a kiss