Welcome back friends! And a Happy and Healthy New Year to you. Torah Thoughts is from the Jewish Congregation of Northern Iowa and based in Mason City. A reminder we will hold services this Friday evening at 7:00PM and then our Midrash (Torah Study) will take place on Shabbat starting at 10:00AM. We hope you can make to to one or both.
Parsha Vayechi
This week we are reading from Genesis 47:28 - 50:26. It is Parsha Vayechi (Hebrew for "he lived) and it is the final reading from the book of Genesis or in Hebrew Bereishis. There is also something unique about this Torah Portion in the fact that the story continues without a pause. The sages teach that throughout the Torah G-d paused in order to allow Moses and later students to reflect on the preceding verses. That is not found here between last week's reading and this week. Why is that? The sages say it is because, after Jacob or Israel the hearts of his children were "closed" and after the death of Jacob began a "spiritual exile". They simply did not have the capacity to understand.
This week the Torah portion, opens with Jacob on his deathbed 17 years after arriving in Egypt. Jacob blesses Joseph's two sons, Manasseh (Menashe) and Ephraim (to this day it is a tradition to bless our sons every Shabbat evening with the blessing, "May the Almighty make you like Ephraim and Manasseh" Why is that? The two boys grew up in the Diaspora (Egypt) among foreign influences and still remained devoted to the Torah. The Shabbat evening blessing for girls is "to be like Sarah, Rivka, Rachel and Leah." Jacob then individually blesses each of his sons.
The blessings are prophetic and give reproof, where necessary. More on that in a moment.
Jacob then dies at the age of 147. A large group from Pharaoh's court accompanies the family to Hebron to bury Jacob in the Ma'arat Hamachpela, the burial cave purchased by Abraham. The Torah portion ends with the death of Joseph and his binding the Israelite Nation to bring his remains with them for burial when they are redeemed from slavery and go to the land of Israel. Here we end the book of Genesis.
There is something very important being transmitted (isn't there always?) in this Parsha. It has to do with kindness and truth. We read "And the days of Israel (Jacob) drew near to die; and he called his son Joseph, and said to him: 'If now I have found favor in your eyes, please ... deal with me kindly and truly; bury me not in Egypt.' " (Genesis 47:29).
The great sage Rashi explains this to us by saying kindness done for the dead is a very special kindness. Why? Because the kindness we show the departed is not selfish. The dead can not be impressed or react.
This is one of the reasons that at a Jewish burial it is our custom to remain at the graveside and take part in filling in the grave of the deceased. It is an act of kindness that can not be repaid. It is the ultimate act of respect.
Jacob also talked about truth. He and his family had lived in Egypt for 17 years. Joseph for longer. The comment about "truth" is understood to mean even though his family lived among people of another faith he was asking to be buried in the homeland...the land of Israel so that the truth of Torah would be among the people.
When we do a kindness for someone we should make sure that it is not only physically rewarding but also spiritually rewarding. That is true kindness.
The Blessing of Joseph
One final thought. Jacob blesses each of his sons and when he gets to Joseph he does something odd. It is said that Joseph was one good looking guy. So good looking that the Egyptian women would scale the walls just to catch a glimpse of him. And so Jacob starts the blessing by saying so. (Gen. 49:22) And then reminds Joseph that he was hated by his brothers and sold into slavery. (Gen. 49:23)
Why what is the point of this?
The answer is that Jacob is saying any other man would succumb to the advances of the Egyptian women. Any other person, so hated by his own family, would have struck back in anger. But, Joseph didn't. Joseph married one woman and had two sons and by all accounts was kind and thoughtful and remained true to his faith. We'll expound on this more during our Midrash on Shabbat.
Thank you for reading and Shabbat Shalom!
Comments