Vayechi – the Molding of the Future Am Yisrael

 

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.

Humility

“Before Honour there is Humility.” – Proverbs 15:33

Humility, in my opinion, is one of the lessons of Parashat “Miketz.”

The story begins with Yosef’s childhood.

As it unfolds, we learn that, unlike his brothers, Yosef has been blessed with sublime foresight, wisdom and abilities. Unfortunately for him, since he was not the oldest, he had little, if any, say in everyday life or important matters that pertained to him as well. Imagine how frustrating it must have been for him having to follow the advice and directives of those who did not share his level of acuity. His older brothers must have felt it as well.

To add insult to injury, Yosef was also Ya’akov’s favourite son. The reason could be double fold. The first might be related to Yosef being his son from his beloved wife, Rachel. The second, he must have recognized Yosef’s talents from early on and thus preferred him over the others. Or was it perhaps because “he had been born to him in his old age,” as Bre’sheet 37 :3 tells us? Whatever the reason, Ya’akov never made his preferential attitude towards Yosef a secret much to the disdain of his older children. As a token of his love for Yosef, Ya’akov made an “ornate striped robe” for him.

That gesture by Ya’akov, naturally, was resented by his other sons. It developed into great, unbearable hatred which, as the story in Bresheet tells us, ignited in the brothers a burning desire to hurt Yosef and wish to dispose of him.

There is a question that is begging to be asked here. Why would an “ornate striped robe,” propagate such a deep-seated hatred towards Yosef?

Rachel Sivilia undertook the task of finding out. In her article entitled, “Joseph’s ornate robe, brotherly jealousy just because of a robe?” (http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/ktav_et/maamarim/sivilia6.pdf) Sivilia, states that she decided to research the clothing closet of that period according to their soc ial class . What prompted her to engage in it was a picture she saw of a wall painting in a tomb from ancient Egypt. It depicted a group portrait of a family or tribe who were on their way to Egypt to purchase wheat. What caught her attention was their garb. They were all wearing ornate striped robes of different fabrics and different colours.

According to Sivilia, different robes, their texture, their splashy hues were the marks of the social class of those who wore them. She, therefore, concludes that the robe given to Yosef was not only exceptional to the status of Yosef’s brothers but to that of Ya’akov as well. It classified him as nobility. He was their superior. It gave him the confirmation that he was above them.

It did not, however, stop at merely feeling superior. Yosef was not apprehensive about expressing his overflowing pride, arrogance and vanity through his dreams of dominance and preeminence.

It was evident that Yosef had not yet mastered the art of humility.

We can only imagine the frustration, jealousy and sense of revenge that brewed through his brothers like a burning fire. The eruption was imminent. As we know, they sold him to a convoy of Yishmaelites who took him to Egypt where he was sold as a slave to a man named Potifar.

The turning point Yosef’s life’s journey, the journey towards reaching maturity, adulthood, ridding himself of his vanity and above all reaching that point of rare integration between his exceptional talents and humility seems to have happened when Yosef was in prison. He was jailed following following the episode with Potifar’s wife who accused him of sexual harassment.

Even after all the hardships that he has endured, Yosef does not lose his faith in G-d. In prison, he ascends to a higher spiritual level when he realizes that his special gifts and abilities come from G-d. “The answers lie with G-d,” he tells Pharaoh’s wine steward and chef when they ask him to interpret their dreams. From the depth of his awareness of the source of his powers, sprouted his salvation.

“I cannot do it," Yosef, similarly, replied to Pharaoh, "but G-d will give Pharaoh the answer he desires" (Bresheet 41:16) is what Yosef answers Pharaoh when the latter asks him to explain  his dream. He has undoubtedly learned the importance of being modest and humble. Just then, when Yosef insists that his solution does not come from his ability but from G-d, just then Pharaoh finds him worthy of being freed from prison and serve as his right-hand man.

Is Yosef, perhaps, what Pharaoh was looking for, not just a talented man but a man of honour, a man who practices humility “one in whom is the spirit of God ?” (Genesis 41:38).

Shavua tov and Chodesh tov.

“And he took one of the stones of that place…”

“There will always be rocks in the road ahead of us. They will be stumbling blocks or steppingstones; it all depends on how you use them.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

I was seven years old when I first learned about the story of Ya’akov’s (Jacob) dream. It has captivated me ever since.

Imagine Jacob, a fugitive who is forced to leave his home and his family, a man who is doomed to a life of wandering after stealing the first born right from Esau. A man, so it seems, who is well on his way to becoming a "tragic hero."

At one point, he decides to follow the advice of his mother and visit his uncle, Laban, who lives in Haran. Haran is outside of the boundaries of Eretz Yisrael.

Needless to add that his journey is perilous and carries him through unfamiliar terrains. It takes much courage and determination to embark on such an undertaking.

Additionally, it is essential to preface here that in ancient times, the prevalent belief was that G-d dwelt and was present only within the boundaries of Eretz Yisrael. ”Eretz Yisrael is the House of G-d” (Or Ha Chayim Shemot 20:2). “He who dwells in Eretz Yisrael is like one who has a G-d, and he who dwells outside of the Land is like one who does not have a G-d.” (Ketuvot 110b).  

I can only imagine the emotional agitation and the storm that rages within Ya’akob as he is getting ready to spend the night in no man’s land, alone and consumed by the fear that G-d is not there to watch over him.  

After he finds a place to rest and sleep, Ya’akov puts a stone under his head and falls asleep. We all know that a hard stone could never take the place of a comfortable, soft pillow.

The question that is begging to be asked is, why would Jacob do that? Surely, he could use something less harsh in place of a pillow.

What role does the bulky stone under Ya’akov’s head have in this story?

The answer has everything to do with the dream that Ya’akov is about to dream. In it, he sees a ladder placed on earth, its head reaching the sky and the angels of G-d are climbing and descending it.

“Dad,” I asked my father after reading that dream for the first time at the age of seven, “where do angels dwell?” “In heaven, of course,” came the obvious answer. “So, why,” I persisted in my innocent way, “does it say that the angels first climbed the ladder and then came down? If they are in heaven above, don’t they need to come down first and then climb up?”

My father was speechless. “I have read this story so many times,” he admitted, “but the question that you raise never occurred to me.” He decided to go and see Rabbi Sokolover, the then chief rabbi of Ra’anana, my home town.

“What a wise girl,“ I remember the rabbi saying when my father posed the question to him. Rash”i and a seven years old girl ask the same question. Rash”i, “continued the rabbi, “explains that the angels that descended were those that accompanied Ya’akov on his journey throughout Eretz Yisrael. As he was about to leave Eretz Yisrael those bid him farewell and he was joined by the angels of foreign lands who were entrusted with guarding him. As the dream continues, Ya’akov suddenly experiences G-d who blesses him, promises to give him the land upon which he lies, and pledges to watch over him and protect him. Through his dream, Ya’akov learns that G-d’s presence, his guardianship and the protection of his angels continue to cloak him with a blanket of security and ensure his well-being. It must have been quite a relief for his forlorn soul.

Back to the stone that Ya’akov put under his head. I believe that it plays a very important role in this episode The hard stone, naturally, causes Ya’akov’s head to be tilted. Tilting the head is one way of showing respect. In a symbolic way, the stone prepared Ya’akov to the revelation of G-d, something that Ya’akov had never expected.

Moreover, unbeknown to him, Ya’akov spent the night in what we learn is a holy place. He takes the stone upon which he rested his head, sets up a monument, pours oil on it and names the place Beit El where a House of G-d will one day be erected. He also vows to give one tenth of his possessions to charity should he return to Eretz Yisrael safely.

The stone, as many perceive it, represents the lowest point in nature – the power of the inanimate. Frankly, how many of us truly look at or regard stones as bearing any significance?

However, as the episode above suggests, even stones, can be of value and capable of absorbing sanctity and divinity. Not only do they not disturb the revelation of G-d, they support and facilitate it as well as join it.

In the words of Nietzche, I hope that, like Ya'akov, we all turn the rocks/stones which could threaten to become the stumbling blocks on the journey of our life into stepping stones and veer our experiences along that path into rewarding and meaningful encounters which will lead us to a life of fulfillment and sheer bliss.

Shavua tov  to all. ❤ ❤ ❤