VAYECHI 47:28-50:26
This essay on Parshat Vayechi contains among other things:
- · The meaning behind Joseph’s tears.
- · Where Ephraim and Manasseh for us or against us?
- · Blessing your children.
- · Labayu, King of Shechem, a city-state.
- · Our right to Machpelah.
- · Embalming Jacob through the ages.
- · Turning the past into the future.
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Joseph is characterized as being a dreamer. He is also described as Joseph “the righteous” when he does not succumb to the sexual advances of Potiphar’s wife.
But Joseph is also a weeper. Time after time he weeps copious tears:
42:23-24, They did not know that Joseph understood, for the interpreter was between them. And he turned away from them and wept, then returned to them and spoke to them…
43:30, And Joseph hastened, for his mercy was stirred toward his brother, and he wanted to weep; so he went into the room and wept there.
45:1-2, And he wept out loud, so the Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard.45:14, And he fell on his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.
45:15, And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them, and afterwards his brothers spoke with him.
46:29, And Joseph harnessed his chariot, and he went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and he appeared to him, and he fell on his neck, and he wept on his neck for a long time.
50:1, Joseph fell on his father's face, and he wept over him and kissed him.50:17,… Now please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father. Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
Yael Tzohar of Bar Ilan University writes: “…it must be said that weeping is the song of the soul. It expresses that which is beyond words. That which cannot be expressed by words, which limit, finds expression in the meritorious tears of Joseph, the righteous man who wept.”
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In this week’s Parshah at 48:8 Israel (Jacob) asks:
וַיַּרְא יִשְׂרָאֵל, אֶת-בְּנֵי יוֹסֵף; וַיֹּאמֶר, מִי-אֵלֶּה
“Israel saw Joseph's sons, he said, Who are these?"
Joseph’s two boys will be the beneficiary of their father’s double portion. It is not unreasonable to assume that Jacob was asking whether they are Jews or Egyptians, culturally or otherwise. They are being brought up in a palace. They are not herdsmen. Their mother is not a Jew. She is the daughter of an Egyptian priest.
Ezra (Chapter 9) makes it clear that intermarriage is verboten.
Will these boys be for us or will they be against us?
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Traditionally on Friday nights we bless our boys, referring them to Joseph’s sons: “May you be like Manasseh and Ephraim”. I do not think this is wise. My reasoning is as follows: As to whether Ephraim and Manasseh will be for us or will they be against us? Hindsight being 20-20, they were against us.
The most famous descendent of Ephraim was Jeroboam, the first King of the Northern Kingdom. To his shame, the Ephraimite Jeroboam constructed a temple replete with priests and two golden calves for his followers to worship.
Without exception the Kings of the Northern Kingdom are viewed as wicked and evil.
If you are looking for an alternative with which to bless your boys consider two other brothers: Moshe and Aaron
Parents bless their children for a variety of reasons. For example: that the youngsters be able to cope in difficult surroundings, that they continue the family line, that they succeed in elevating themselves in spirituality in a way appropriate to them, and that they preserve peace and friendship with one another.
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At 48:22 Jacob says to Joseph:
וַאֲנִי נָתַתִּי לְךָ, שְׁכֶם אַחַד--עַל-אַחֶיךָ: אֲשֶׁר לָקַחְתִּי מִיַּד הָאֱמֹרִי, בְּחַרְבִּי וּבְקַשְׁתִּי
“And I have given you Shechem, one portion over your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow."
Jacob knows that his life is drawing to close. He wants Joseph to ensure that he will be buried in Machpelah. In return, Jacob gives to Joseph a burial place in Shechem.
Not only did Jacob purchase land in Shechem, but he fought to keep Shechem as his. This is unusual; Jacob is largely understood as a peaceful man, not as a man of war.
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Today we recognize Shechem as the city of Nablus.
There are cuneiform (Amarna) postal letters from about 1350 BCE. In them Šakmu or Shechem is said to be the center of a kingdom carved out by a warlord who recruited mercenaries from among the Habiru, Hebrews.
Shechem was a city-state had its own ruler, and consisted of a main city and a system of villages around it. Its king was named Labayu. He is noted for his territorial ambition. Using diplomacy and a strong army Labayu expanded the boundaries of Shechem into other Canaanite city-states.
There is a possibility that Labayu, is Gideon’s son Avimelech from the Book of Judges (Chapter 9). They both lived approximately at the same time and are identified as rulers of Shechem. Labayu is characterized as an unprincipled, ambitious ruler, often engaged in war with his own subjects.
This is a translation of the illustrated letter to the Pharaoh where Labayu defends himself against accusations made by a Canaanite city-king ruler named Milkilu.
To the king, my lord and my Sun:
Thus Lab'ayu, your servant and the dirt on which you tread.
I fall at the feet of the king, my lord and my Sun, 7 times and 7 times. I have obeyed the orders that the king wrote to me.
Who am I that the king should lose his land on account of me?
The fact is that I am a loyal servant of the king!
I am not a rebel and I am not delinquent in duty.
I have not held back my payments of tribute; I have not held back anything requested by my commissioner.
He denounces me unjustly, but the king, my Lord, does not examine my (alleged) act of rebellion.
Moreover, my act of rebellion is this: when I entered Gazru-(Gezer), I kept on saying, "Everything of mine the king takes, but where is what belongs to Milkilu? "
I know the actions of Milkilu against me! Moreover, the king wrote for my son.
I did not know that my son was consorting with the 'Apiru (Herews).
I hereby hand him over to Addaya-(commissioner).
Moreover, how, if the king wrote for my wife, how could I hold her back?
How, if the king wrote to me, "Put a bronze dagger into your heart and die", how could I not execute the order of the king?
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In the Parsha at 49:1, the Torah says:
וַיִּקְרָא יַעֲקֹב, אֶל-בָּנָיו; וַיֹּאמֶר, הֵאָסְפוּ וְאַגִּידָה לָכֶם, אֵת אֲשֶׁר-יִקְרָא אֶתְכֶם, בְּאַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים
“Jacob called for his sons and said, "Gather and I will tell you what will happen to you [at the end of days] or [in days to come].”
If you have a Messianic bent, then בְּאַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים means at the end of days, but if you opt for the simple meaning, then you favor in days to come.
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In this week's Torah portion, Parshat Vayechi, there are important lessons for Jews today:
Machpelah, Hevron
At 49-29-30, Jacob commands his sons to bury him in the double cave purchased by Abraham from Ephron the Hittite:
“And he charged them, and said unto them: 'I am to be gathered unto my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying-place”.
The description of the burial place is specific and exhaustive. There is no doubt as to its location, the lesson being that it belonged to us then; it belongs to us now and it will always belong to us. We are talking about Hevron, where between 500-850 Jewish Israeli citizens live, and who are surrounded by 200,000 Muslim Arabs.
Despite the condemnation of International bodies, Arab peoples and Leftist whining, there is no question as to our right to right to live there in our Land, and so we do.
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In the Parshah at 50:2 -
וַיְצַו יוֹסֵף אֶת-עֲבָדָיו אֶת-הָרֹפְאִים, לַחֲנֹט
אֶת-אָבִיו; וַיַּחַנְטוּ הָרֹפְאִים, אֶת-יִשְׂרָאֵל.
“And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. And the physicians embalmed Israel”.
Upon his death, Jacob undergoes the Egyptian embalming process, something that is antithetical and abhorrent to Jewish death and burial practice today. The lesson is that when a Jew is living outside the Land of Israel, he willfully or by osmosis will absorb the customs of his non-Jewish friends, family and neighbors.
An example of one such custom, although lovely, is to exchange gifts at Chanukah time. I'm not playing at holier than thou. The custom is overpowering and most of us have done it, perhaps using blue wrapping paper instead of red, but it is not something for us.
Come to Israel and you can forget this foreign tradition.
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The Haftarah portion is from 1Kings 2:1-12 –
King David is about to die, and he gives over to his young son Solomon these final words:
אָנֹכִי הֹלֵךְ, בְּדֶרֶךְ כָּל-הָאָרֶץ; וְחָזַקְתָּ, וְהָיִיתָ לְאִישׁ
"I go the way of all the earth; you shall be strong, and you will be a man…”
In Hebrew grammar the future tense is marked by prefixes that indicate person, gender and number. In contrast the past tense is marked by suffixes that indicate person, gender and number. In this verse the suffix תָּ should normally indicate 2nd person, male, singular for the past tense.
However, this is not always so. In biblical Hebrew the letter vav וְ, normally a conjunction, has the power to change the past tense into the future tense and vice versa. From its context, David must be addressing Solomon about the future where if Solomon is to be a man, he must be strong.
We also must be strong.
Vayechi is the final Parsha in the Book of Genesis. At the conclusion of the Torah reading it is a custom to say:
חזק, חזק, ונתחזק
Chazak Chazak Ve-Nit’Chazek
Be strong; Be strong, and let us strengthen one another.
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