TorahParsha

A Family is the Heart of the World

 

for Parshat VaYechi

Before his death, Jacob commands his sons to take his body from Egypt to the family’s burial plot, in Canaan. When Jacob dies, Pharaoh’s servants and the elders of Egypt escort his sons, carrying Jacob’s body, into Canaan. The Canaanites, looking on, say: here is a great mourning for Egypt.

A family’s loss becomes a nation’s loss becomes a moment on the global stage.

The last lesson Jacob imparts is this: that a family is the heart of the world.

 

___

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

 

Inspired by the philosophy of Rav Ezra Bick

Genesis 49:29-33; 50:7-11

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How to find God, Who seems hidden

for Parshat VaYechi

i

Jacob blesses his grandchildren,

saying:

let them multiply as fish

in the midst of the land.

*

Such a strange blessing!

 

ii

When God makes the things of the water,

the word fish is not mentioned.

Fish is first mentioned

only when God announces Man

who will rule over all things,

who will rule over the fish of the sea.

*

God sends Israel through the Sea

and rescues Israel from Egypt

and the Children of Israel

saw the great Hand of God,

and they believed in God.

*

We are land dwellers.

Things of the water do not exist for us

until we and they are brought into connection:

until we rule over fish,

until God protects us with His Hand.

Then these things come into view,

and they exist for us.

 

iii

To be a fish that thrives on land

is to live that connection

that seems impossibly unapparent

between the world where we exist

and the world beyond—

between the land and the sea,

between our lives

and the Hand of God.

*

Jacob blesses his grandchildren:

live that hidden connection so firmly

that it becomes you.

 

________

Shabbat shalom,

Abe

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Does Judaism believe in nostalgia?

for Parshat VaYechi

i

Jacob flees home, fleeing his brother.

He asks God to return him to his father's house—

someday,

when the danger is gone,

when it will be safe.

Then he lifted up his feet

and he set off.

*

Decades later

he returns to his father’s land

only to leave

living seventeen years in Egypt

dying in Egypt

one-hundred forty seven years old

blessing his twelve sons.

And he gathered his feet

and was gathered to his nation. 

 

ii

Jacob asks God

for his father’s house,

for his childhood.

God gives him something else.

God gathers Jacob to his nation,

not to his father’s home.

God makes him an old patriarch

giving blessing,

years past being a child.

*

It is almost a return

but not a return.

 

iii

God sets us out on a journey

not for us to come back to the same spot

but also not to depart utterly.

We are to lift up our feet

and walk far,

to widen the story:

to make a nation

from a father’s home,

fatherhood from childhood,

our time of dependency

into a blessing for others.

*

That is the journey

of a good life.

 

 

_____
Shabbat shalom,

Abe

 

Please pray for for Ayelet Yakira bat Chaya Hinda Matel Nechama, Esther Chaya bat Yael Miriam, and for NeshamaEmunah bat Batya

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How can parents guide a family?

(for Parshat VaYechi)

 

i

Ishmael is the older son. Abraham loves Ishmael first.

Esau is the older son. Isaac loves Esau most.

Of course the older son is loved:

he willl carry the family.

*

But God tells Abraham: your seed will be named through Isaac.

And Jacob, not Esau, receives Isaac’s blessing.

Isaac and Jacob become the patriarchs of Israel.

The younger son takes hold.

 

ii

Jacob has grandsons: Menashe and Efraim,

the sons of Joseph, Jacob’s beloved.

Menashe is Joseph’s older son.

Efraim is the younger.

Jacob blesses Efraim—the younger one—first.

Jacob tells Joseph: Efraim is younger,

but he will be the greater one.

*

Then Jacob’s family becomes the Children of Israel,

The nation of Israel begins.

 

iii

You are a mother, a father, a son:

you live in fixed roles within a family.

But in a nation, your role is the personal greatness you bring to bear.

*

Jacob reaches beyond the family.

Jacob reaches to the person:

not to the youngest son Efrayim,

but to the great one Efrayim.

*

The person comes forth.

A nation springs forth.

 

 

                                                                     

____

Shabbat Shalom, Abe

For a printer-friendly version of this piece,   click here (word document).

 

Please pray for the premature infants Kalev Ezra and Baer Yakov ben Emunah. Please continue to pray for  Achinoam Rina bat Avital Hodaya, Batya Shira bat ChasidaAhuvah Rachel bat Orah and for Rachel Tovah bat Yehudit Esther

 

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Lives of the Patriarchs (VaYechi)

i

Jacob is on his deathbed. He blesses his sons.

He commands them to bury him with his fathers in the cave that is in the field…which Abraham bought from Efron the Hittite.

Then he dies.

*

Jacob’s sons mourn him, publicly.

The servants of Pharaoh…and all the elders of the land of Egypt join them in mourning.

Watching from afar, the Cana’anite people say: It is a grievous mourning for Egypt.

ii

The small world of family—a father with his children—ripples out to the vastness of the world.

That is the conclusion of the life of Jacob.

It is the conclusion of the lives of the Patriarchs of Israel.

In the end it is their lesson.

 

Shabbat Shalom, Abe

Inspired by a teaching of Rav Ezra Bick

Verses quoted: Gen 49:29; 50:11

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The Land Holds an Oath of Duty

i
Jacob, now living in Egypt, makes his son Joseph swear to him that he will bury him in the Land of Israel, when the time comes.

And Joseph does.

*
Joseph, facing death himself, places an oath upon the Children of Israel to carry his bones up out of Egypt, into the Land of Israel, when God finally does send the people Israel free.

*
And earlier, when Abraham seeks a wife for his son, Isaac, Abraham makes his servant swear to him that he will take a wife for Isaac from Abraham's own homeland--and that he will bring her back to Isaac, back to the Land of Israel.

ii
The story of the people Israel returning to the Land of Israel, and coming to the Land of Israel, is the story of oaths given and accepted and taken and fulfilled.

It is the story of how our duties to each other must become the responsibilities we actually shoulder, the promises we make to one another: the promises we keep.

~~~~~~~

In God’s History Lies Forgiveness

i
Joseph’s brothers cast him down into a pit. From there he is stolen and sold into slavery in Egypt. In Egypt he is sentenced for a crime he does not commit. He lives in prison.

Later, in a twist of fate, Joseph becomes ruler over all of Egypt.

*
As ruler over Egypt, Joseph sustains his brothers, and his father, and all the people of that land through seven lean years of brutal famine.

ii
Later, Joseph forgives his brothers; though they have caused him suffering.

Joseph says to them: You …thought evil against me; but God meant it for good: to bring it to pass… this day that many people should be saved alive.

iii
Joseph looks at the world and does not see the world.

Joseph looks at the world and sees God’s will, revealing itself through the world.

Joseph looks at his brothers but does not see his brothers. He sees emissaries of God’s will.

You …thought evil against me, Joseph says to his brothers: but God meant it for good.

*
And so Joseph’s own suffering cannot cripple him.

And so though Joseph has suffered, he can forgive.

~~~~~