This weekend we conclude the annual Torah reading cycle with the final parasha, v’Zot haBerakhah. It begins by saying: “This is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, bade the Israelites farewell before he died. He said: YHWH came from Sinai, and shone upon them from Seir—appearing from Mount Paran, and approaching from Ribeboth-Kodesh; lightning flashing at them from His right.” (Deuteronomy 33:1-2) The three concluding words, esh dat lamo (אש דת למו), are cryptic and mysterious, giving rise to various interpretations and translations.

The first word, esh, is seemingly clear, meaning “fire”. However, in an actual Torah scroll, it is fused with the next word and written as eshdat lamo (אשדת למו). This combined term is more difficult, and can mean “slope“ or “waterfall” or “cascade“, so some translations of the verse say “a fiery stream for His people”. Meanwhile, the word dat later came to mean “law” or “religion” (see Em laMikra on the verse). So, some interpretations translate the phrase as “He gave a fiery law to His people”. Others say God gave the Torah “out of the fire”, or that He gave a “flaming Torah”. Rashi comments here that it refers to the famous mystical teaching that God gave the Torah as “black fire on white fire”.

The Tikkunei Zohar (57b) expands on this fiery Torah theme and first suggests that it’s a Torah of fire because if we don’t fulfil the Torah, God’s fiery wrath comes down upon us, chas v’shalom. This is what led to the destruction of the First and Second Temples, and the exile of the Shekhinah. Later (in 127b), the Tikkunei Zohar has a much deeper discussion. The meaning of that fiery Torah on God’s right side is actually a reference to the “angel of the Torah”, who is always described as God’s “right-hand man”, so to speak. This is, of course, Metatron. Continue reading →