Zoth Habracha: Bracha and Prophecy

Perhaps the purpose of prophecy is bracha. 

Let's look at the words.  Prophecy is something that sane people no longer claim.  It is an art that is lost.  It is our tradition that it is lost.  The shadow of prophecy is the crazy person with the sign reading: The End is Near. 

That crazy person preserves the essence of prophecy.  There is something that everyone can predict: the end will come.  That prophecy is a threat; it serves to make a person think about legacy, what will happen after she is gone. 

The Torah ends with prophecy.  It is a  literary device.  

Bracha is related to the replanting of the vine that has grown too long.  It is the success that comes from investment.  It is legacy.  A true blessing requires an element of prophecy, it is an aid to the blessed  that is appropriate to his nature and directs what she should become. The blessing is   hard to give and hard to accept. 

May we all have a gebenschte (blessed) year and may it  come to a good end.