Home > News > Food Tourah: VeZot HaBerakhah
October 9, 2025 in Food Tourah
Because life so often happens around food, we spent the year exploring the weekly parshiot and finding connections to each week’s Shabbat menu.
This week we complete the 54th and final parsha!
In VeZot HaBerakhah, Moses bids the Israelites a final farewell, giving each tribe a unique blessing. He then climbs Mount Nebo where God shows him the entire land of Israel – the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants. Though Moses would not enter it, he is granted the gift of seeing the land before he dies at age 120. The Israelites mourn him for 30 days, providing the biblical basis for the practice of shloshim, the 30-day mourning period following a funeral. The Torah ends spotlighting Moses’ unequalled greatness – and, as our shaliach, Yoel Glezier, pointed out when he spoke earlier this week, the final word is “Israel”.
With the completion of this year’s Torah reading, Sunset Soup feels like the perfect addition to this week’s menu. A warm vegetable soup that will hit the spot as you dine in your sukkah this week. Fifty-four parshiot is quite an accomplishment – dare we say a cause for celebration? To that end, you can enjoy either Oven-Baked Celebration Chicken or Celebration Salmon. The chicken is described as “pure perfection,” while the salmon is a joy to look at and a joy to eat! And by now you know that we’d never end an entry without a dessert recommendation. Like the Torah itself, we’ll close with a shoutout to Israel. What could be more Israeli than halva? We’re trying our hand at Homemade Halva…we’ll let you know how it comes out!
And with that we have finished all five books of the Torah – 54 parshiot! Chazak, Chazak, Venitchazek! The end…or is it?
For those who have joined us on this food tour through the Torah, we hope you will join us again and spread the word. We are signing up for another year. Big News: You’ll now be able to get a glimpse of each week’s parsha-inspired recipe suggestions on our new Instagram account! And then you’ll be able to link back to the Beth El website for a more detailed parsha summary and explanation for our tasty Torah takes. Follow us on Instagram @foodtourah54.
So this is not our farewell address, instead we’ll say, l’hitraot!
B’tayavon and Shabbat Shalom, Alison (Baraf) & Sarah (Roark)
To read past installments of Food Tourah – Click Here.
For a more in-depth look at this week’s parsha, visit Sefaria.org.
