Portion 54 of 54 · Deuteronomy
וְזֹאת הַבְּרָכָה
V'Zot HaBerachah
Moses blesses each tribe, climbs a mountain, sees the whole land, and dies there. Nobody knows where he is buried.
Start by reading it
Deuteronomy 33:1–34:12
2 chapters. About 10 minutes at an unhurried pace.
Paired reading from the prophets: Joshua 1:1–18
What happens
- 01
A blessing for every tribe, one at a time, each in its own words.
- 02
He goes up Mount Nebo and is shown the land from end to end.
- 03
He dies there, and God buries him, and no one knows the place to this day.
- 04
There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.
The thing most people walk past
No grave to visit
The greatest figure in the Torah has no tomb, no shrine, no pilgrimage site. The text takes care to say nobody knows where he is. What he left was a book and a people, not a monument.
One verse to carry
And there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face;
This portion is read on Simchat Torah, and the moment it finishes the scroll is rolled back and Genesis 1:1 is read again. The book has no ending; it has a turn.
A question to sit with
The Torah ends outside the land, with the journey unfinished. Why not end with arrival?
There is no answer key. This is the part you take with you.