Torah Readers Reflections

And he lived

Parashat Vayechi, “and he lived,” is the last in the Book of Genesis. The parashah tells of Yaakov, who entered the land of Egypt at the age of 130, and spend 17 further years in the land, sensed that his days were drawing to an end and he made Yosef swear to bury him in Canaan, at the Machpelah Cave (Bereishit 47:28-31), the burial place of Adam and Chavah, Avraham and Sarah, Yitzchak and Rivkah. Leah had also been buried at this place and he was to be buried next to her.

Mitzvat Bikur cholim

Upon visiting Yaakov, Yosef had actually reduced Yaakov’s illness by one sixtieth (Nedarim 39b). The Talmud teaches us how important it is to visit the sick, and that supporting someone in a bad state can alleviate a sick person’s mood.

Ephraim and Menasheh’s Blessings  

In Parshat Vayechi, Yosef brings his two sons, Ephraim and Menasheh, to be blessed by his blind aging father, Yaakov, Yosef positions Menasheh, the eldest, on Yaakov’s right, and Ephraim, the younger son, on Yaakov’s left. The purpose is to have Yaakov bless Menasheh with his right hand – the right hand being deemed a source of greater blessing than the left hand.

Yaakov’s blessings  

Yaakov crosses his hands so that his right hand is on Ephraim, and his left hand is on Menasheh, and proceeds to bless his two grandsons. Yosef tries to move Yaakov’s right hand back on to Menasheh. Yosef protests: “This is not correct, father, Menasheh is the bechor – put your right hand on his head.” Yaakov refuses to change his hands back and tells Yosef he knows that Menasheh is the eldest. Yaakov explains:“Gam hu y’hiyeh l’am v’gam hu yigdal v’ulam achiv ha’katon yigdal mimenu v’zaro y’hiyeh melo ha’goyim.” “He (Menasheh) too will become a national hero and he too will rise. But his younger brother will be greater than he and his descendants will astonish the nations.”

Yehoshua ben Nun

Rashi explains that Yaakov foresaw that Gideon would descend from Menasheh, and a miracle would be performed through him. However, Yehoshua ben Nun, Mosheh’s successor, would descend from Ephraim, and would help Bnei Israel conquer Eretz Israel and teach them Torah. The implication is that Yehoshua was a greater leader. Yehoshua ended up being the leader of the Jewish people for 28 years after Mosheh had died, and he defeated many of the Canaanite countries. Yaakov’s response is intended to explain his actions, but it’s not clear how it does so. Yaakov then summoned the rest of his sons in order to bless all of them as well. He gave blessings to reflect the unique character and ability of each tribe, directing each one in its unique mission in serving G-d.

The twelve tribes

The story of the twelve tribes begins when Yaakov and his family went down to Egypt as “70 souls” In Egypt “the Israelites were fertile and prolific; they multiplied and increased very greatly,” and there they became the “Israelite people.” The Israelites were divided into 12 tribes (not including the Levites who were not landowners). Each tribe was assigned a piece of the Land in Israel. Yaakov also had one daughter, Dinah, whose descendants were not recognized as a separate tribe.

Reuven, Shimon and Levi

Yaakov blessed his first three children born to Leah. In each of the blessings was an implied rebuke, they were given to Reuven, Shimon and Levi. He expressed his disappointment with Reuven within regards to him moving his father’s couch (Bereishit 49:4), and rebuked Shimon and Levi due to the way they went about their actions in Shechem (Bereishit 49:6). However we do see later on throughout the Chumash that Levi channeled their zealousness to G-d as they were the Torah scholars in Egypt and were the only tribe to protest against the Golden Calf (Shemot 32:26).

Yehudah

Yaakov then gave a powerful blessing to Yehudah (Bereishit 49:8-12), praising him for the way he dealt with Tamar. He handed over the kingship to Yehudah and compared him to a ‘Lion.’ Many great leaders were to descend from Yehudah, including, Nachshon, Betzalel, David and Shlomo, we see many of the great Princes of Eretz Israel also took great pride in descending from Yehudah (Sanhedrin 5a).

Yissacher, Zebulan, Naftali, Asher, Gad and Benyamin

Yaakov then gave beautiful blessings to the rest of the tribes, Yissacher, Zebulan, Naftali, Asher, Gad and Benyamin. He also blessed the tribe of ‘Dan’ comparing him to a serpent, he was alluding to the great later judge, Shimshon, a Nazarite by birth and went on to become one of the greatest leaders of all time, slaying many of the enemy of the Jews, including thousands of Plishtim (Bereishit Rabba 78:9/ Sota 10).

Yaakov blesses his sons before his demise. Each of the brothers had individual traits and were blessed accordingly. However, as a family, they shared their characteristics and qualities with each other. When he concludes the Beracha, the Torah states that: “…he blessed them, every man according to his blessing” בֵּרַךְ אֹתָם, “he blessed them.” (Gen. 49,28) Rashi questions the wording “he blessed them”. It would be more appropriate to say, “every man according to his blessing he blessed ‘him’.”Rashi answers his question by saying that all the blessings he gave to individuals also applied to the other brothers. He blessed them personally and all of them collectively.

The priestly blessing

It is amazing that today we still connect to parashat Vayechi on a weekly basis. Every Friday night before we say the Kiddush and the Hamotzi blessing over the bread, it is within our tradition to give our children a blessing. This is based on the words of blessing from this week’s parashah where Yaakov puts his hands on the heads of the sons of Yosef, the two grandchildren that were born in Egypt. Before he blesses them, he also gives them a hug. We put our hands over our children’s heads and say “May G-d make you like Ephraim and Menasheh.” (for boys) and “May G-d bless you like Sarah, Rachel, Rivkah and Leah.” (for girls) followed by the priestly blessing:

יְבָרֶכְךָ יהוה, וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ- May the LORD bless you and guard you
יָאֵר יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וִיחֻנֶּךָּ -May the LORD make His face shed light upon you and be gracious unto you
יִשָּׂא יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם- May the LORD lift up His face unto you and give you peace

Praying for our children

Why did Jewish tradition assign this particular blessing, of being like Ephraim and Menasheh as the blessing for the children? One idea is that Ephraim and Menasheh were the first two Jewish children born outside the land of Israel. As Jewish parents we need to bless our children, asking G-d to help them keep their identity and values intact and secure. We are faced daily with temptations and challenges from the world which surrounds us, and we pray that our children will have the strength to know who they are as Jews.

Besides Yaakov’s blessing of Yosef’s sons Ephraim and Menasheh, and Yaakov’s blessing of his sons, parashat Vayechi also tells us about Yaakov’s death and burial, and Yosef’s death.

Yaakov’s death

Yaakov died at the age of 147 years. Yaakov was given the utmost respect at his funeral, as all the leaders of the different nations accompanied him in burial. Extraordinarily, an opinion in the Talmud states that Yaakov never really died (Taanit 5b), one thing for sure, is that till today his legacy still lives on. One example is like mentioned before, every Friday night we bless and spiritually connect with our children, by blessing them, like Yaakov did. After Yaakov died, the brothers were worried that Yosef would now take revenge on them for selling him. Yosef reassured them, even promising to support them both emotionally and financially (Bereishit 50:15-21).

Yosef’s death

Yosef lived out the remaining of his years in Egypt as deputy, and even went on to see Ephraim’s great-grandchildren live. Yosef informed his brothers before he died, that G-d would later on redeem them out of Egypt. He made the brothers swear to bring his bones out of Egypt with them at the time of redemption, actually in few weeks time we will see that Mosheh would be the one to carry his bones out of Egypt (Sota 9). Yosef passed away at the age of 110 (Bereishit 50:26), he was the youngest to die out of his brothers. One opinion according to the Talmud for his early death was because he took a position of authority (Sota 13).

The book of Genesis ends with the reconciliation of Yosef and his brothers, the blessings that each of the 12 sons receives from Yaakov, and the deaths of both Yaakov and Yosef. The scene is being set for the next stage in Jewish history, where the Jews who have come to settle in Egypt will be enslaved by a new Pharoah.