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(א) וְזֹ֣את הַבְּרָכָ֗ה אֲשֶׁ֨ר בֵּרַ֥ךְ מֹשֶׁ֛ה אִ֥ישׁ הָאֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל לִפְנֵ֖י מוֹתֽוֹ׃
(1) This is the blessing with which Moses, God’s man [my translation], bade the Israelites farewell before he died.
(3) BEFORE HIS DEATH. Close to his death. This means on the day of his death.
(א) וַיֵּ֥לֶךְ אִ֖ישׁ מִבֵּ֣ית לֵוִ֑י וַיִּקַּ֖ח אֶת־בַּת־לֵוִֽי׃
(1) A certain man [my translation] of the house of Levi went and took [into his household as his wife] a woman of Levi.
Midrash P'tirat Moshe, cited in RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 1202
All my life, I have scolded this people. At the end of my life, let me leave them with a blessing.
(2) He said:
יהוה came from Sinai,
And shone upon them from Seir;
[God] appeared from Mount Paran,
And approached from Ribeboth-kodesh,
Lightning flashing at them from [God’s]
right.
Rambam on Deuteronomy 33:2,2
(2) AND HE SHONE FORTH FROM SEIR UNTO THEM. For after they journeyed from Sinai the cloud abode in the wilderness of Paran,19Numbers 10:12. and from there Moses sent the spies, as it is said, And Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran.20Ibid., 13:3. As a result of the spies’ report, the people were banished,21Yerushalmi Taanith III, 4. The term “banished” suggests a form of censure and excommunication, when the Divine utterance was not communicated to Moses. and there was no Divine communication to Moses until they came to Seir,
(ג) אַ֚ף חֹבֵ֣ב עַמִּ֔ים כׇּל־קְדֹשָׁ֖יו בְּיָדֶ֑ךָ וְהֵם֙ תֻּכּ֣וּ לְרַגְלֶ֔ךָ יִשָּׂ֖א מִדַּבְּרֹתֶֽיךָ׃
(3) Lover, indeed, of peoples [my translation],
Their hallowed are all in Your hand.
They followed in Your steps,
Accepting Your pronouncements,
(4) When Moses charged us with the Teaching
As the heritage of the congregation of Jacob.
Jeffrey Tigay, The JPS Torah Commentary: Deuteronomy, p. 321
Because this verse is such a pithy expression of fundamental Jewish beliefs - that the Teaching was commanded by Moses, that it is a heritage, and that it belong to the entire people, not just to an elite group - the rabbis selected it and the first verse of the Shema (Deut. 6:4) as the first bible verses to be taught to a child when they are able to speak. It appears in Ashkenazic prayerbooks as part of a brief morning prayer for young children. In the Sephardic and Middle Eastern liturgy it is one of the verses recited when the Torah is lifted during the Torah-Reading service.
RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 1203
In Deuteronomy, torah refers specifically to the teachings of Deuteronomy. However, because this poem probably originated independently of Deuteronomy and was appended to it at a later time, the term may not have so precise a reference here and may be a general allusion to sacred teaching.
Let Your Thummim and Urim
Be with Your faithful one,
Whom You tested at Massah,
Challenged at the waters of Meribah;
(9) 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.
(5) Simeon and Levi are a pair;
Their weapons are tools of lawlessness. (6)
Let not my person be included in their
council,
Let not my being be counted in their
assembly.
For when angry they slay a man,
And when pleased they maim an ox.
RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, p. 1204
The qualities of zeal that led Jacob to condemn Levi have been sublimated to the service of God and God's altar, so that Moses can now bless the Levites.
(יג) וּלְיוֹסֵ֣ף אָמַ֔ר מְבֹרֶ֥כֶת יְהֹוָ֖ה אַרְצ֑וֹ מִמֶּ֤גֶד שָׁמַ֙יִם֙ מִטָּ֔ל וּמִתְּה֖וֹם רֹבֶ֥צֶת תָּֽחַת׃ (יד) וּמִמֶּ֖גֶד תְּבוּאֹ֣ת שָׁ֑מֶשׁ וּמִמֶּ֖גֶד גֶּ֥רֶשׁ יְרָחִֽים׃ (טו) וּמֵרֹ֖אשׁ הַרְרֵי־קֶ֑דֶם וּמִמֶּ֖גֶד גִּבְע֥וֹת עוֹלָֽם׃ (טז) וּמִמֶּ֗גֶד אֶ֚רֶץ וּמְלֹאָ֔הּ וּרְצ֥וֹן שֹׁכְנִ֖י סְנֶ֑ה תָּב֙וֹאתָה֙ לְרֹ֣אשׁ יוֹסֵ֔ף וּלְקׇדְקֹ֖ד נְזִ֥יר אֶחָֽיו׃
(13) And of Joseph he said:
Blessed of יהוה be his land
With the bounty of dew from heaven,
And of the deep that couches below; (14)
With the bounteous yield of the sun,
And the bounteous crop of the moons;
(15) With the best from the ancient
mountains,
And the bounty of hills immemorial;
(16) 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.
Rejoice, O Zebulun, on your journeys,
And Issachar, in your tents.
Mishneh Torah, Torah Study, 3:10
(10) Anyone who comes to the conclusion that he should involve himself in Torah study without doing work and derive his livelihood from charity, desecrates [God's] name, dishonors the Torah, extinguishes the light of faith, brings evil upon himself, and forfeits the life of the world to come, for it is forbidden to derive benefit from the words of Torah in this world.
(27) The ancient God is a refuge,
A support are the arms everlasting.
He drove out the enemy before you
By His command: Destroy!
(28) Thus Israel dwells in safety,
Untroubled is Jacob’s abode,
In a land of grain and wine,
Under heavens dripping dew.
(כט) אַשְׁרֶ֨יךָ יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל מִ֣י כָמ֗וֹךָ עַ֚ם נוֹשַׁ֣ע בַּיהֹוָ֔ה מָגֵ֣ן עֶזְרֶ֔ךָ וַאֲשֶׁר־חֶ֖רֶב גַּאֲוָתֶ֑ךָ וְיִכָּחֲשׁ֤וּ אֹיְבֶ֙יךָ֙ לָ֔ךְ וְאַתָּ֖ה עַל־בָּמוֹתֵ֥ימוֹ תִדְרֹֽךְ׃ {ס}
(29) O happy Israel! Who is like you,
A people delivered by יהוה,
Your protecting Shield, your Sword
triumphant!
Your enemies shall come cringing before you,
And you shall tread on their backs.
Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah, p. 2939
33:29. Happy are you, Israel! These are the last words that the people hear from Moses. Strange: The first half is understandable as his final words, “Happy are you … a people saved by YHWH.” The second half is not what we might have expected: God is their strong shield and sword! “And your enemies will fawn to you. And you: you’ll step on their high places.” Why does he end with the defeat of enemies? Apparently an assurance that Israel does not have to fear enemies was important—and so it has in fact turned out in the people’s history in the three millennia following Moses. The presence of enemies has been a sad, constant fact of life. But Moses’ last words are an assurance that Israel will survive to fulfill the destiny that was the first promise to Abraham: to be a source of blessing for all the earth’s families.
George Robinson, Essential Torah, p 543
One might note that the Torah ends with an inversion of the patriarchal narrative beginning; God tells Moshe, ‘you will not enter this land,’ as he first commanded Avram, ‘go from your home.’ The irony of those paired commands is unmistakable. Avram/Avraham will become uprooted as the first part of God’s promise to give his successors Eretz Yisrael. Yet his direct descendant, Moshe, will be denied entry into that very land, and the final fulfillment of the covenant with Avraham will not take place in the Torah at all (the process of conquering the land begins in the Haftorah).
Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah, p. 2941
34:4. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is the last mention of them in the Torah. The Torah returns to them and to the promises to them, but it does not end with those promises fulfilled. It ends with Moses looking out at the land, with the fulfillment lying in the future. Some have said that the original unit was the Hexateuch rather than the Pentateuch; that is, that the story more properly concludes in the book of Joshua, when the people come to live in the land that was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But the Torah ends here, with the future, with the story still to be told. It is a message to the reader that this is not meant to be just a story of the past. I wrote at the beginning of this commentary that the Torah’s story is rich in background, always presuming what has come before it (and I shall discuss below how it is also enriched by its reader’s knowledge of what is coming later in the story). Now I would add that it has a third perspective in that it always points beyond itself, to the destiny of Israel and humankind in the rest of the Tanak that follows, and, for millions of readers, in their continuing life beyond the conclusion of the Bible.
(ה) וַיָּ֨מׇת שָׁ֜ם מֹשֶׁ֧ה עֶבֶד־יְהֹוָ֛ה בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מוֹאָ֖ב עַל־פִּ֥י יְהֹוָֽה׃ (ו) וַיִּקְבֹּ֨ר אֹת֤וֹ בַגַּי֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מוֹאָ֔ב מ֖וּל בֵּ֣ית פְּע֑וֹר וְלֹא־יָדַ֥ע אִישׁ֙ אֶת־קְבֻ֣רָת֔וֹ עַ֖ד הַיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּֽה׃ (ז) וּמֹשֶׁ֗ה בֶּן־מֵאָ֧ה וְעֶשְׂרִ֛ים שָׁנָ֖ה בְּמֹת֑וֹ לֹא־כָהֲתָ֥ה עֵינ֖וֹ וְלֹא־נָ֥ס לֵחֹֽה׃ (ח) וַיִּבְכּוּ֩ בְנֵ֨י יִשְׂרָאֵ֧ל אֶת־מֹשֶׁ֛ה בְּעַֽרְבֹ֥ת מוֹאָ֖ב שְׁלֹשִׁ֣ים י֑וֹם וַֽיִּתְּמ֔וּ יְמֵ֥י בְכִ֖י אֵ֥בֶל מֹשֶֽׁה׃ (ט) וִיהוֹשֻׁ֣עַ בִּן־נ֗וּן מָלֵא֙ ר֣וּחַ חׇכְמָ֔ה כִּֽי־סָמַ֥ךְ מֹשֶׁ֛ה אֶת־יָדָ֖יו עָלָ֑יו וַיִּשְׁמְע֨וּ אֵלָ֤יו בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ וַֽיַּעֲשׂ֔וּ כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר צִוָּ֥ה יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶת־מֹשֶֽׁה׃ (י) וְלֹא־קָ֨ם נָבִ֥יא ע֛וֹד בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל כְּמֹשֶׁ֑ה אֲשֶׁר֙ יְדָע֣וֹ יְהֹוָ֔ה פָּנִ֖ים אֶל־פָּנִֽים׃ (יא) לְכׇל־הָ֨אֹתֹ֜ת וְהַמּוֹפְתִ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֤ר שְׁלָחוֹ֙ יְהֹוָ֔ה לַעֲשׂ֖וֹת בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם לְפַרְעֹ֥ה וּלְכׇל־עֲבָדָ֖יו וּלְכׇל־אַרְצֽוֹ׃ (יב) וּלְכֹל֙ הַיָּ֣ד הַחֲזָקָ֔ה וּלְכֹ֖ל הַמּוֹרָ֣א הַגָּד֑וֹל אֲשֶׁר֙ עָשָׂ֣ה מֹשֶׁ֔ה לְעֵינֵ֖י כׇּל־יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
(5) So Moses the servant of יהוה died there, in the land of Moab, at the command of יהוה. (6) [God] buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, near Beth-peor; and no one knows his burial place to this day. (7) Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died; his eyes were undimmed and his vigor unabated. (8) And the Israelites bewailed Moses in the steppes of Moab for thirty days. The period of wailing and mourning for Moses came to an end. (9) Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands upon him; and the Israelites heeded him, doing as יהוה had commanded Moses. (10) Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses—whom יהוה singled out, face to face, (11) for the various signs and portents that יהוה sent him to display in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his courtiers and his whole country, (12) and for all the great might and awesome power that Moses displayed before all Israel.
(יא) וְדִבֶּ֨ר יְהֹוָ֤ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁה֙ פָּנִ֣ים אֶל־פָּנִ֔ים כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר יְדַבֵּ֥ר אִ֖ישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵ֑הוּ וְשָׁב֙ אֶל־הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֔ה וּמְשָׁ֨רְת֜וֹ יְהוֹשֻׁ֤עַ בִּן־נוּן֙ נַ֔עַר לֹ֥א יָמִ֖ישׁ מִתּ֥וֹךְ הָאֹֽהֶל׃ {פ}
(11) יהוה would speak to Moses face to face, as one person speaks to another. And he would then return to the camp; but his attendant, Joshua son of Nun, would not stir out of the Tent.
Rabbi Judith B. Edelstein, in The Mussar Torah Commentary, p. 340-341
I wonder if God has not singled out anyone again because no other person had sufficient emunah to seek God’s face with the same intensity as Moses did. Continuing on the trajectory of our ancestors, we play hide-and-seek with God and ourselves.
Rabbi Yoel Kahn, Rosh Hashanah Sermon 5770 Re: "his vigor unabated' lit: "his moisture had not departed," or "he had not become wrinkled" per Ibn Ezra, citiing Bereshit Rabbah 65:9 and BT Bava Metzia 87a:
Before Isaac was born, no outward signs distinguished the chronological age of one person from another. So when Isaac and Abraham would go out together, Abraham would get carded, too, because no one could tell them apart. But Abraham, one hundred years old when his son was born, felt unappreciated for the person who he had become and the life he had lived. He asked, therefore, to be crowned with outward signs of his age – and thus it was as a reward that the physical signs of aging entered the world. Wrinkles and grey hair, then, are not of any inherent worth, but they are the outward markers of the older person – the experience in the vessel – and thus they are a crown of honor, not an excuse for Botox injections.
Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah, p. 2944
34:7. a hundred twenty years old. Moses gets the maximum that anyone can live according to YHWH’s decree in Genesis: “My spirit won’t stay in humankind forever, since they’re also flesh; and their days shall be a hundred twenty years” (Gen 6:3).
Devarim Rabbah, 11:5, cited in Nehama Leibowitz, Studies in Devarim, p. 372
Moses said: I ask of Thee one favour before I die, that as I enter the Hereafter, all the gates of Heaven and the deep be opened for them to see that there is none beside Thee...Whereupon God replied: You declare: 'There is none else.' I too say: 'And no one else hath arisen in Israel like unto Moses'
Howard Schwartz, Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism, p 394
That Moses never died is deduced from the biblical verse that asserts that no one knows his burial place to this day (Deut. 34:6). As evidence that Moses is sleeping and not dead, Sifre on Deuteronomy reinterprets the verse Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eyes were undimmed and his vigor unabated. Here the final phrase reads literally ‘his moisture had not dried up,’ and apparently implies that even at the advanced age when he died, Moses was still sexually potent. …one reason given for Moses avoiding death is that because he perfected himself during his lifetime, he rectified the sin of Adam that brought death into the world. Therefore he did not die.
Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, p. 834, from Sotah 13b
But Israel were not the only mourners for Moses. God Himself wept for Moses, saying 'Who will rise up for Me against the evil-doers? Who will stand up for Me against the workers of iniquity?"
Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, footnotes on p 833
The ways in which the midrash says Moses dies and is buried:
- God buries Moses
- Moses buries himself (also in Islamic literature)
- Moses is buried by celestial beings
- Moses lies down in a grave that is being dug for him by angels
- Moses' grave is created in twilight on the sixth day of creation
- The Roman government looked for Moses' grave, but could not find it
- He disappeared into thin air
Howard Schwartz, Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism, p 301, citing Sefer ha-Hazyenot 2:50, Shivhei Rabbi Hayim Vital described in Jewish Mystical Autobiographies, ed Morris Faierstein
Rabbi Hayim Vital once dreamed that it was the ancient custom of Israel to bring the body of Moses to the synagogue on Simhat Torah. The reason for this custom is that Simhat Torah is the day of rejoicing with the Torah that had been given through Moses. Furhtermore, on this day the Torah portion that is read from Deuteronomy recounts the death of Moses. Now the day of the festival arrived, and they brought the body of Moses to the synagogue in Safed. It took many men to carry to body inside the synagogue for it was at least ten cubits long. Then the body, wrapped in a white robe, was placed on a very long table that had been prepared in advance. But as soon as the body of Moses was stretched out on the long table, it became transformed into a scroll of the Torah that was opened to its full length, like a long letter, from the first words of genesis to the end of Deuteronomy. And in the dream they began to read the words of the Torah, starting with the creation, and they continued until they reached the last words, “displayed before all Israel” “before the eyes of all Israel” (Deut 34:12 – last words of the torah)
Rabbi Shefa Gold, Torah Journeys, p. 223
The fact that Moses’ gravesite is unknown, poses a major challenge in the development of Judaism. Religions tend to develop as the glorification of some great man. …But here the message becomes, “Don’t look to Moses…it is really not about him…the Torah is about YOU.” Once I asked, “Show me where Moses is buried.” I was told: “It’s not out there. Moses is buried within YOU.” The challenge for each one of us is to plant and tend the seeds of prophesy. Each of us must stand up to Pharaoh, take our shoes off at the burning bush, receive the Divine Name, sweeten our bitter waters, and journey courageously through the wilderness. Each one of us must come to Sinai and receive Torah for ourselves.
(יז) וָאֶתְפֹּשׂ֙ בִּשְׁנֵ֣י הַלֻּחֹ֔ת וָֽאַשְׁלִכֵ֔ם מֵעַ֖ל שְׁתֵּ֣י יָדָ֑י וָאֲשַׁבְּרֵ֖ם לְעֵינֵיכֶֽם׃
(17) Thereupon I gripped the two tablets and flung them away with both my hands, smashing them before your eyes.
(א) ולכל היד החזקה. שֶׁקִּבֵּל אֶת הַתּוֹרָה בַּלּוּחוֹת בְּיָדָיו: (ב) ולכל המורא הגדול. נִסִּים וּגְבוּרוֹת שֶׁבַּמִּדְבָּר הַגָּדוֹל וְהַנּוֹרָא (עי' ספרי): (ג) לעיני כל ישראל. שֶׁנְּשָׂאוֹ לִבּוֹ לִשְׁבֹּר הַלּוּחוֹת לְעֵינֵיהֶם שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר "וָאֲשַׁבְּרֵם לְעֵינֵיכֶם" (דברים ט') וְהִסְכִּימָה דַעַת הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְדַעְתּוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר "אֲשֶׁר שִׁבַּרְתָּ" (שמות ל"ד) — יִישַׁר כֹּחֲךָ שֶׁשִּׁבַּרְתָּ:
(1) ולכל היד החזקה AND IN ALL THAT STRONG HAND — this refers to the fact that he received the Torah that was on the Tablets, in his hands. (2) ולכל המורא הגדול AND IN ALL THAT GREAT TERRIBLENESS — the miracles and mighty deeds that were wrought in the great and terrible wilderness (cf. (Sifrei Devarim 357:45). (3) לעיני כל ישראל [WHICH MOSES SHOWED] BEFORE THE EYES OF ALL ISRAEL — This refers to the fact that his heart inspired him to shatter the Tablets before their eyes, as it is said, (Deuteronomy 9:17) “And I broke them before your eyes” (Sifrei Devarim 357:45), and the opinion of the Holy One, blessed be He, regarding this action agreed with his opinion, as it is stated that God said of the Tablets, (Exodus 34:1) אשר שברת "Which you have broken"/asher shavarta, [which implies] "May your strength be fitting (יישר; an expression of thanks and congratulation) / yishar kochacha she-shavarta because you have broken them" (Yevamot 62a; Shabbat 87a).
Franz Kafka, Diaries, 1914-23, trans. Martin Greenberg & Hannah Arendt, p 195-196, in Dr. Avivah Zornberg, Moses: A Human Life, p. 192
He is on the track of Canaan all his life; it is incredible that he should see the land only when on the verge of death. The dying vision of it can only be intended to illustrate how incomplete a moment is human life, incomplete because a life like this could last forever and still be nothing but a moment. Moses fails to enter Canaan not because his life is too short but because it is a human life.
Rabbi Shai Held, The Heart of Torah, v. 2., loc, 5608, Kindle edition
As the Torah comes to an end, Israel’s great leader dies; we learn that “God buried [Moses] in the valley” in a burial place fated to remain forever unknown (Deut. 34:6). As the Torah begins, Adam and Eve eat from the tree and become aware of their nakedness; we are told that “the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them” (Gen. 3:21). The sage R. Simlai notes: “The Torah begins with an act of lovingkindness (gemilut hasadim) and ends with an act of lovingkindness.”
Richard Elliott Friedman, Torah and Commentary, p. 2949-2950
We find all of these (and many more) reminiscences and denouements at the end of the Torah that remind us of things we found at the beginning. But this look backward is only half of what we get—because our custom is to start over immediately, going back to Genesis. So we begin the Torah looking forward. Now when we go back to Genesis and read about the 120-year limit on human life, we will think of how Moses arrived at it. Now when we read about the divine promise of the land to Abraham in Genesis, we may think of Moses’ reminder to the people that this promise is about to come true at the end of Deuteronomy. And note: the promise to Abraham is not fulfilled at the end of the Torah. It is fulfilled in Joshua. So the last chapter of the Torah invites us to do both: to turn back to Genesis and to read on in Joshua. The Torah thus involves a looking forward and a looking back, a linking of past and future. It is a strange concept of time: linear and cyclical at the same time, historical and timeless at the same time. It is the first known work of history on earth: telling a record of events through a progression of time on a line. Yet we read that record in a cyclical manner, always returning to the beginning. And so Returning becomes one of the central concepts of Judaism.
RA & USCJ, Etz Hayim, Torah and Commentary, p. 1212
We begin again, finding new insights on every page, not because the Torah has changed, but because we have changed since we read it a year ago.
(1) When God began to create heaven and earth— (2) the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water— (3) God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
Hazak Hazak V'nithazek!
(ח) לֹֽא־יָמ֡וּשׁ סֵ֩פֶר֩ הַתּוֹרָ֨ה הַזֶּ֜ה מִפִּ֗יךָ וְהָגִ֤יתָ בּוֹ֙ יוֹמָ֣ם וָלַ֔יְלָה לְמַ֙עַן֙ תִּשְׁמֹ֣ר לַעֲשׂ֔וֹת כְּכׇל־הַכָּת֖וּב בּ֑וֹ כִּי־אָ֛ז תַּצְלִ֥יחַ אֶת־דְּרָכֶ֖ךָ וְאָ֥ז תַּשְׂכִּֽיל׃ (ט) הֲל֤וֹא צִוִּיתִ֙יךָ֙ חֲזַ֣ק וֶאֱמָ֔ץ אַֽל־תַּעֲרֹ֖ץ וְאַל־תֵּחָ֑ת כִּ֤י עִמְּךָ֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ בְּכֹ֖ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר תֵּלֵֽךְ׃ {פ}
(8) Let not this Book of the Teaching cease from your lips, but recite it day and night, so that you may observe faithfully all that is written in it. Only then will you prosper in your undertakings and only then will you be successful. (9) “I charge you: Be strong and resolute; do not be terrified or dismayed, for the ETERNAL your God is with you wherever you go.”
(יא) הקורא בתורה צריך לאחוז בספר תורה בשעת ברכה: הגה וסמכו מנהג זה על מה שנא' ביהושע לא ימוש ספר התורה הזה מפיך חזק ואמץ ומזה נהגו לומר למסיים לקרות בתורה בכל פעם חזק (ב"י בשם אורח חיים):
(11) The one reading the Torah must hold the Sefer Torah at the time he makes the blessing. Rem"a: And they base this tradition on the verse from Joshua: "Do not let this Book of Teaching cease from your lips...Be strong and resolute"(Josh. 1:8-9). And from this we have the tradition to say to the person who finishes reading from the Torah, each time: "Hazak" ("Be strong"). (Beit Yosef in the name of Orach Chaim)