JTS Torah Commentary

Remembering Moses

Sep 27, 2002 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Vezot Haberakhah | Shemini Atzeret | Simhat Torah

My father died twenty years ago. The day of his yahrzeit has never been hard for me to remember. It follows by one day the day affixed by the Talmud for the death of Moses (BT Kiddushin 38a). Moses died on the seventh of Adar, the last month of the Jewish calendar, and my father on the eighth. Thus the Hebrew date of my father’s passing is forever anchored in my memory by its proximity to the traditional date for the demise of Moses. Reciprocally, that convergence has heightened for me the yahrzeit of Moses, which is barely noted in most Jewish calendars.

Kafka and Returning to Torah

Oct 22, 2000 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Vezot Haberakhah | Simhat Torah

Ve-zot ha-b’rakhah is the one parasha that does not have a Shabbat unto itself. As the final two chapters of the Torah, it constitutes the main reading for Simhat Torah (the joy of Torah) when we both complete the annual Torah cycle and begin it immediately again by reading the first creation story of Genesis. As if to make up for the slight, we repeat the parasha until all who are present in the synagogue have been honored with an aliyah.

Vezot Haberakhah

Jan 1, 1980

¹ After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ attendant:

² “My servant Moses is dead. Prepare to cross the Jordan, together with all this people, into the land that I am giving to the Israelites.

Vezot Haberakhah

Jan 1, 1980

¹ This is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, bade the Israelites farewell before he died.