Commento su Deuteronomio 33:16

ורצון שכני סנה — the last two words are the equivalent of שוכן סנה (the י being the suffix that that sometimes appears in participles, for the most part in poetry). The-meaning is: And may his land further be blessed through the favour (רצון) and satisfaction of the Holy One, blessed be He, who first revealed himself to me in the thorn-bush (סנה‎).

AND FOR THE PRECIOUS THINGS OF THE EARTH ‘U’MLO’OH’ (AND THE FULNESS THEREOF). This means: “for the precious things of the land of the plains and of which it is full,”²¹³Ibn Ezra thus explains the word u’mlo’oh (and the fulness thereof) as meaning u’mimlo’oh (and “of” the fulness thereof, or “and of which it is full”). for he mentioned the mountains and the hills previously²¹⁴Verse 15. and now he speaks of the valley²¹⁵I have found no reference in the verses concerning the valley. In the commentary of Ibn Ezra, whose opinion Ramban is now quoting, “the valley” is not mentioned either. and the plains, according to the words of Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra. In my opinion, the precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof is identical with the blessings of the breasts, and of the womb,²¹⁰Genesis 49:25. for all humans and all creeping things that are alive are called “the fulness of the earth.” Similarly, let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof;²¹⁶Psalms 96:11. Surely I will fill thee with men, as with the locust.²¹⁷Jeremiah 51:14. This blessing is thus like Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, and the fruit of thy cattle.²¹⁸Above, 28:4.

ורצון שכני סנה, may it enjoy the goodwill of the Lord Who first manifested Himself to me at the burning bush. It was on that occasion that G’d had first indicated that He was going to redeem the Israelites forthwith, in response to the groaning of the Jewish people as reported immediately before the Torah reports Moses’ encounter with G’d. (Exodus 2,23-24) In Psalms 91,15, Moses, the author of that psalm, refers to G’d responding to the outcry of the oppressed. תבאתה לראש יוסף, apart from the blessings the tribe of Joseph shares with all the other tribes, Moses prays that G’d will relate to this tribe without employing His usual intermediaries (such as angels).

ורצון שכני סנה, "and the goodwill of the One who allotted me a place at the burning bush." Moses refers to the time when he found favour in G'd's eyes who appointed him to release the Jewish people from their painful bondage. This is the reference to his having stood in front of the burning bush.

וממגד ארץ ומלואה, “from the bounty of the land and its fullness;” this refers to the produce grown in the coastal plains, seeing that the produce growing on mountains and on hills has already been mentioned. Nachmanides explains the words as referring to blessings of the breast and womb respectively, corresponding to Yaakov’s blessing in Genesis He claims that every living creature is called מלואה inasmuch as they help fill the earth. He quotes as proof Chronicles I 16,32 ירעם הים ומלואו, “let the sea and all that is in it thunder.”

This blessing on Yoseif’s head. Rashi adds the word blessing because without it, the verse does not indicate what will be visited upon Yoseif’s head. Therefore Rashi adds this blessing.

רצון means satisfaction and appeasement, and similar is the meaning wherever רצון occurs in scripture.

ולקדקוד נזיר אחיו, seeing that he was the most self-controlled of all his brothers, [my definition of Nazir, Ed.] (alternative translation, the crowned head in Egypt) and he conducted himself with unparalleled piety toward his brothers, Moses feels that Joseph’s descendants deserve the distinction he prays for.

ורצון שוכני סנה, “and by the favour of Him Who rested on the thorn bush.” This was when the Shechinah had his first encounter with Moses. This was also where he had spent many days (either receiving the Torah, or pleading for forgiveness for his people.) The thorn bush was at the bottom of Mount Sinai, or Mount Chorev as it is known also. Eventually, after the building of the Tabernacle, the Shechinah came to rest above the Holy Ark in that Tabernacle, i.e. over the encampment of the whole Jewish people.

תבאתה לראש יוסף ולקדקוד, "may these rest on the head of Joseph, etc." Moses speaks in respect of two outstanding virtues of Joseph. 1) Although he had been exiled to Egypt and had experienced many temptations and injustices he remained loyal to his father's upbringing. (Compare what Midrash Rabbah 1,7 writes on Exodus 1,5, i.e. "although Joseph was in Egypt.") Moses alluded to this when speaking of ראש יוסף. 2) The second virtue of Joseph deserving special mention is the fact that he repaid the evil his brothers had done to him by doing good for them. Tanchuma explains this on Genesis 37,17 נסעו מזה. In spite of the brothers having severed their connection with Joseph at that time, he provided for them as we know from Genesis 47,12.

URTZON’ (AND THE WILL OF) HIM THAT DWELT IN THE BUSH. This is connected with above [i.e., with the word umimeged at the beginning of this verse, where the prefix mem means “from.” Here, too, the word urtzon is equivalent to] u’mirtzon — “and from the Will of Him that dwelt in the bush.” Now the Glorious Name²¹⁹Ibid., Verse 58. is called “Him that dwelt in the bush” because it was there that He first appeared to Moses,²²⁰Exodus 3:2. and He dwelt many days on Mount Sinai which is a place of bushes²²¹See Ramban ibid., Verse 5 (Vol. II, p. 27). and from Sinai He came and dwelt in Israel. And the sense of the verse is that Joseph’s land be blessed from the Will of G-d, similar in meaning to these expressions: ‘ratzitha’ (Thou hast been favorable) unto Thy land;²²²Psalms 85:2. ‘v’ertzeh’ (and I will take pleasure) in it, and I will be glorified.²²³Haggai 1:8.

תבואתה LET IT COME — i.e. let this blessing come לראש יוסף ON JOSEPH'S HEAD.

תבואתה, “may it be present, etc.;” a reference to this blessing.

תבואתה לראש יוסף, “may it come to rest (the blessing) on the head of Joseph.” The word תבואתה is a strange word; it is composed of the two words באתה and תבא. Moses is trying to hint here that just as Joseph went into exile into Egypt long before the remainder of his brothers, so when the redemption will come he, (his tribe) will also enjoy that experience before the other tribes will. These are the 45 years discrepancy mentioned between the 1290 years and the 1335 years which Daniel speaks of in Daniel 12,11-12. There is a time lapse between the ingathering of the exiles referred to as נדחים, “outcasts,” and those referred to as נפוצים, “scattered.” (compare Deut. 30,2-3).

TAVOTHAH’ (SHE SHALL COME) UPON THE HEAD OF JOSEPH. The meaning of tavothah [in the feminine form] is that this brachah [“blessing” — a feminine noun] shall come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the head of him that is prince among the brethren. Or the meaning thereof may be: “Let the Will of Him that dwelt in the bush come upon the head of Joseph” [the feminine tavothah referring to the masculine ratzon]. Now, do not wonder that [the masculine ratzon] “will” is described with the feminine [tavothah — she shall come], for it [“will”], in the Aramaic language is indeed so [feminine, as it is said] ‘ure’uth’ (and the pleasure of) the king.²²⁴Ezra 5:17. Re’uth or re’utha, the Aramaic term for the Hebrew cheifetz (will), is feminine. See Jastrow, re’utha. And in the language of the Sages²²⁵I have not found this quote in Talmudic literature, but it appears in the writings of the early Rabbinic period. See “Sefer Hachinuch” (my edition, p. 508, line 5): “kol ‘cheftzath’ nafsho — all ‘the desire of his soul.” we find the expression “cheftzath (the desire) of his soul” [again a feminine usage].
And by way of the Truth, [the mystic teachings of the Cabala], the verse states that the Will²²⁶Thus the word urtzon which thus far has been understood as being in the construct form (“and the Will of”) is now interpreted as an independent noun: “and the Will,” and is in apposition with the phrase Him that dwelt in the bush. Ramban will later comment that it is common in the Scriptures to use the construct form of a noun where the independent form is meant. — that is, the Divine manifestation that dwelt in the bush — shall come upon the head of Joseph, for with Her he will raise up the head. It mentions the Will in the construct form [saying urtzon — “and the Will of”] in place of the independent form of the noun [i.e., v’ratzon — “and the Will”]. There are many such cases [in Scripture]. Or it may be that the word urtzon is in construct with the aforementioned Glorious Name [Blessed of ‘the Eternal’ is his land].²²⁷Verse 13. — Abusaula. Thus this verse means: “and the Will of the Eternal that dwelt in the bush shall come upon the head of Joseph.” This is like the blessing of Jacob who said From the G-d of thy father, Who shall help thee, and the Almighty, Who shall bless thee.²¹⁰Genesis 49:25.

נזיר אחיו means THE ONE WHO WAS SEPARATED FROM HIS BRETHREN through his being sold.

לראש יוסף, “upon Joseph’s head.” Moses expresses the wish that Hashem bestow this blessing on the tribe of Joseph. Alternately, the meaning is that “the goodwill of the One Whose residence is above the thorn bush should bestow His blessing on the tribe of Joseph.” The reason that Moses would be referring to G’d in the feminine mode (apparently, by saying תבוא instead of יבוא, is that this is the standard mode employed in Aramaic when referring to attributes of Hashem. [Compare Targum on Kohelet 5,7 where G’d is described in the feminine mode as רעותא ד'.] Some commentators say that when viewed from the perspective of the plain meaning of the text, the פשט, Moses means to say that although there is no need to express a special blessing for the parts of the land of Israel which is naturally bountiful, Moses wanted to bestow a similar blessing on the parts which normally do not yield nature’s bounty. The thorn bush represents such normally barren areas in any country.