This week’s parashah
“Vayechi,” the last parashah of Bresheet, opens with a brief look at Ya’akov’s life in Egypt
and his approaching death.
At the
center of the parashah, however, stands the list of the blessings which Ya’acov
bestows upon his sons and their offspring. His words can be perceived as an
epilogue which sums up the history of the family. His language suggests, on the
one hand, that he is offering a prayer or expressing a wish. On the other hand,
some of his words can be interpreted more as a reproof or even a curse. Most
likely, though, they can also serve as Ya’akov’s last will and testament, a
projection, a portrayal or even a prophecy of what lies ahead and what is to
become of his sons and their tribes in the future, in general, “Gather around
so I can tell you what will happen to you in the days to come” (Chapter 49:1).
Initially, Ya’akov
wishes to bless Ephraim and Menasheh, Yoseph’s sons. His blessing to them is
the one that Jewish parents grant their children every Friday night. Though
Yoseph is also, later, blessed (48:21-22), one may wonder as to why this
blessing of all the blessings in the Torah. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, adopts the answer
given by his predecessor, Lord Jakobovitz, who said, “all the others {blessings)
are from fathers to sons – and between fathers and sons there can be tension.” According
to Jakobovitz, “Ephraim and Menasheh is the only instance in the Torah of a
grandparent blessing a grandchild. And between grandparents and children, there
is no tension, only pure love.”
Judging by
the nature of the blessing to Ephraim and Menasheh, one can view it as Ya’akov’s
strive to upgrade their status to that of a “tribe.” In Ya’akov’s own words “Now
then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned
as mine; Ephraim and Menasheh will be mine, just as Reuven and Shimon are mine”
(48:5). In other words, Yoseph’s sons become equal in status to that of Ya’akov’s
other sons.
This measure
or step taken by Ya’akov makes Ephraim and Menasheh not only, officially, part
of the tribes. It also doubles Yoseph’s share of the inheritance and, according
to some commentators such as Rashba”m and Ramba”n, establishes his rank and
prominence as firstborn. They base their assertion on Devarin (Deuteronomy)
21:17 which states that a father should give his firstborn “a double share of
all he has,” because that son “is the first sign of his father’s strength.”
The
significance of Ya’akov’s words further increases as the parashah brings to
closure the theme of sibling rivalry which runs like a golden thread through
the book of Bresheet. Rivalry was the reason for tension between Caine who ends
up killing Abel. That was the underlying factor in the conflict between Sarah
and Hagar resulting in Yishmael and Hagar being banished. Later, we encountered
the tensions between Ya’acov and Esav and most recently between Yoseph and his
brothers where both cases almost ended in murder.
Following the death of Ya’akov, the brothers
ask Yoseph to forgive them. Their fear that he might avenge them for the wrong
that they had done to him is dispelled when Yoseph tells them “You intended to
harm me, but G-d intended it for good” (50:20).
“The Torah,”
writes Rabbi Sacks, “is telling us an unexpected message here: the family is
prior to all else, to the land, the nation, politics economics, the pursuit
of power and the accumulation of wealth.”
This was, I
believe Ya’acov’s intended legacy and wish for his future generations, the
future Am Yisrael. His yearning to ensure that rivalry among his children and
their posterity is removed and replaced’ instead, by sharing, love and compassion
was the driving force that pushed him to deliver the detailed, eloquent, and powerful
monologue on his deathbed.
“That,” according
to Rabbi Sacks, “is what Genesis {Bresheet} is about. Not about the creation of
the world, which occupies only one chapter, but about how to handle family
conflict. As soon as Avraham’s descendants can create strong families, they can
move from Genesis to Exodus {Shemot} and their birth as a nation. Rabbi Sacks
believes “that family is the birthplace of freedom. Caring for one another, we
learn to care for the common good.”
I could not
agree more.
Shabbat Shalom, Fellow Jews and a wonderful weekend to all.
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