The first pasuk in V'zot Habracha says "This is the bracha that Moshe... before his death..." Rashi writes "close to his death, because if not now, when? Why does Rashi add in this last part? What is he telling us here? It would have been enough for him just to say "close to his death" why add more? The reason is because Rashi is trying to teach us a bigger message. This quote is from a mishna in avot (1:14) Rashi there says "If not now when I am alive when? Because anyone who prepares before shabbat will have what to eat on shabbat, but one who does not prepare, what will he eat?" But what does this have to do with a bracha?
We know that during the shabbatot around the Three weeks there are haftorot of tochacha (rebuke) for the Jews. Then those are followed by two weeks of Haftorot about bracha then the haftorot around Elul and Rosh Hashana are about teshuva. Rav Brevda says that it would make more sense for the teshuva to follow directly after the tochacha. So he asks, (Yibane Hamikdash), in the name of the Vilna Gaon (I think), why are there two weeks of bracha in between? He answers that the reason is because Hashem is acting to us like a father would act to his child. If a child does something wrong the father will punish him. But if the father constantly is punishing and is not doing anything nice for the child the child will begin to think that the father does not like him and is just punishing him for the fun of it. So the father must show his love at some point to show his child that really he loves him and the only reason why the father is punishing his son is to teach him how to act. So the two weeks of haftorot of bracha is to remind us the all of the punishment that Hashem is giving to us is completely out of love. We know there is a mitzvah to act like Hashem so Moshe was doing the exact same thing. Even though throughout the last few weeks (throughout the book of devorim) Moshe has been rebuking Bnei Yisrael he wanted to remind them that all of his rebuke was out of love, not out of hate. But if Moshe would have died without having given Bnei Yisrael a bracha they would have believed all of his rebuke was just to be mean to them and not out of love.
We know that after the death of Aharon Hakohen all of the Jews (including the women) wept for 30 days but after Moshe's death only the men wept, why? Mefarshim explain that the reason is because Aharon was constantly going around making people happy especially in the area of shalom bayit. But Moshe was constantly rebuking the people he was not mourned by as many people as his brother. When Moshe was dying the one thing he wanted the most (besides going into Eretz Yisrael) was to die the same way that his brother died. Rashi explains in (32:50) that Moshe wanted to die with honor like his brother did. Elsewhere Moshe's and Aharon's deaths are compared to getting a kiss by Hashem which the gemara in brachot compares to pulling a hair out of milk. Chazal compare death to a man taking off his coat (ie the Neshama removing the body). This is exactly what Rashi writes in 32:50. For some it is easy to remove the outer layer of the body but for others it is much more difficult. All Moshe wanted was to die like that. The only way for him to properly prepare for a death like that was to do teshuva and do gemilut chasadim (Rashi on Avot 4:16) "He is fixing his hair, beard, and clothes before the entrance to the house..." So Moshe, right before his death needed to end his life on a high note of blessing Bnei Yisrael in order to be ready to die by getting kissed by Hashem. "Because if not now, when?"
Chazak Chazak Vinitchazaik!
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