Zoth HaBracha: ? 

When does the Jewish year end, when does it begin? The calendar changes its number on Rosh Hashana, but the process of review and resolutions continues through Yom Kippur and the Torah restarts  on Shmini Atzret, ten days later.  Through that time, the last parsha, Zoth Habracha hangs over the transition period and never has a Shabbath of its own. 

Zoth Habracha is hard to understand. The introductory sentences are filled with names that are now part adjective,  names that evoke the cast-off siblings ( Seir- Esau, Paran- Ishmael)  or in-laws ( Hovav - Jethro).  Words are torn apart ((אשדת) [אֵ֥שׁ דָּ֖ת], waterfall  becomes the fire of knowledge) . The sentences convey the desperation to  impart understanding to the listener/reader and the inadequacy of understanding. 

The situation is explicit: these are Moshe's parting words before his death. We are confronted with the ethical will of the man of Gd. This Jewish man of Gd is fully human, born of man and woman, and will not be resurrected in the flesh ( for a long time, not yet). The passage, appropriate to Yom Kippur, is reminder that we will all die. 

Moses proceeds to make statements about most of the tribes of Israel ( Simon is not directly mentioned).  The statements are hints, prophecies. Moses does not mention his own sons, Gershom and Eliezer. Moses sacrificed his personal life for the people. He rejected the idea that his descendants would replace Israel, when it was offered to him by Gd. His progeny did not lead the Hebrews.

The daf yomi  ( Bava Bathra 109)  talks about a descendent of Moshe: Jonathan  son of Gershom. The story that involves him in Judges chapter 18, describes his ascent as the priest to the sculpted, molten image called  Pesel Micha: an idol kept by the tribe of Dan and minidtered for hundreds of years by Johnathan's decedents. Johnathan was in the family business, but closer to his great-grandfather Jethro than his grandfather. When Johnathan is identified at the end of the story, he is named: וִ֠יהוֹנָתָ֠ן בֶּן־גֵּרְשֹׁ֨ם בֶּן־מְ^נַשֶּׁ֜ה.  , the son of Me(n)ashe.  The flying nun is intended to protect ( and reveal) the identity of his grandfather.  Was the grandson's  deviation in faith the result of Moshe's decision to put the nation as a whole ahead of his immediate  family?  We as a nation are grateful to Moshe, but we do not look away from the consequences of his decision.

On Yom Kippur, I do not pray for myself alone. When my parents were alive, I prayed for them ( less, but not zero, now). Now I have a wife and children and grandchildren: I pray for their success and their  happiness. Will their success require detour from the tradition? I pray for a better solution. I should have dedicated more time to that goal.