Deuteronomy 33:1-34:12; Genesis 1:1-2:3

This is the special Torah reading for Simchat Torah. This is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, bade the Israelites farewell before he died. He said: The Lord came from Sinai; He shone upon them from Seir; He appeared from Mount Paran, and approached from Ribeboth-kodesh, lightning flashing at them from His right. Lover, indeed, of the people, their hallowed are all in Your hand. They followed in Your steps, accepting Your pronouncements, when Moses charged us with the Teaching as the heritage of the congregation of Jacob. Then He became King in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people assembled, the tribes of Israel together. May Reuben live and not die, though few be his numbers. And this he said of Judah: Hear, O Lord the voice of Judah and restore him to his people. Though his own hands strive for him, help him against his foes. And of Levi he said: Let Your Thummim and Urim be with Your faithful one, whom You tested at Massah, challenged at the waters of Meribah; Who said of his father and mother, "I consider them not." His brothers he disregarded, ignored his own children Your precepts alone they observed, and kept Your covenant. They shall teach Your laws to Jacob and Your instructions to Israel. They shall offer You incense to savor and whole-offerings on Your altar. Bless, O Lord, his substance, and favor his undertakings. Smite the loins of his foes; let his enemies rise no more. Of Benjamin he said: Beloved of the Lord, he rests securely beside Him; ever does He protect him, as he rests between His shoulders. And of Joseph he said: Blessed of the Lord be his land with the bounty of dew from heaven, and of the deep that couches below; with the bounteous yield of the sun, and the bounteous crop of the moons; with the best from the ancient mountains, and the bounty of hills immemorial; with the bounty of earth and its fullness, and the favor of the Presence in the Bush. May these rest on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the elect of his brothers. Like a firstling bull in his majesty, he has horns like the horns of the wild-ox; with them he gores the peoples, the ends of the earth one and all. These are the myriads of Ephraim, those are the thousands of Manasseh. And of Zebulun he said: Rejoice, O Zebulun, on your journeys, and Issachar, in your tents. They invite their kin to the mountain, where they offer sacrifices of success. For they draw from the riches of the sea and the hidden hoards of the sand. And of Gad he said: Blessed be He who enlarges Gad! Poised is he like a lion to tear off arm and scalp. He chose for himself the best, for there is the portion of the revered chieftain, where the heads of the people come. He executed the Lord's judgments and His decisions for Israel. And of Dan he said: Dan is a lion's whelp that leaps forth from Bashan. And of Naphtali he said: O Naphtali, sated with favor and full of the Lord's blessing, take possession on the west and south. And of Asher he said: Most blessed of sons be Asher; may he be the favorite of his brothers, may he dip his foot in oil. May your doorbolts be iron and copper, and your security last all your days. Read the rest of the Torah portion here.