Torah Weekly - Vayechi
Vayechi
For the week ending 14 Teves 5756; 5 & 6 January 1996
Summary
ContentsAfter living 17 years in Egypt, Yaakov senses his days drawing to a close, and summons Yosef. He makes Yosef swear to bury him in the cave of Machpela, the burial place of Adam and Chava, Avraham and Sarah, Yitzchak and Rivka. Yaakov becomes ill and Yosef brings to him his two sons, Ephraim and Menashe. Yaakov elevates Ephraim and Menashe to the status of his own sons, thus giving Yosef a double portion which removes the status of the first-born from Reuven. As Yaakov is blind from old age, Yosef leads his sons close to their grandfather. Yaakov kisses and hugs them. He had not thought to see his son Yosef again, let alone Yosef's children. Yaakov begins to bless them, giving precedence to Ephraim, the younger, but Yosef interrupts him and indicates that Menashe is the elder. Yaakov explains that he intends to bless Ephraim with his strong hand because Yehoshua will descend from him, and Yehoshua will be both the conqueror of Eretz Yisrael, and the teacher of Torah to the Jewish People. Yaakov summons the rest of his sons in order to bless them as well. Yaakov's blessing reflects the unique character and ability of each tribe, directing each one in its unique mission in serving Hashem. Yaakov passes from this world at the age of 147. A tremendous funeral procession accompanies his funeral cortege up from Egypt to his resting place in the cave of Machpela in Chevron. After Yaakov's passing, the brothers are concerned that Yosef will now take revenge on them. Yosef reassures them, even promising to support them and their families. Yosef lives out the rest of his years in Egypt, seeing Ephraim's great-grandchildren. Before his death, Yosef foretells to his brothers that Hashem will redeem them from Egypt. He makes them swear to bring his bones up out of Egypt with them at that time. Yosef passes away at the age of 110 and is embalmed. Thus ends Sefer Bereishis, the first of the five Books of the Torah.
Commentaries
Contents
"And Yaakov lived..." (47:28)
The Parsha of Vayechi is unique in the whole Torah in that it is 'closed' - there is no extra space between the final word of last week's Parsha and the beginning of this week's Parsha. Similarly, the eyes of the children of Yisrael were 'closed' to the spiritual enslavement by the Egyptians, which started imperceptibly with Yaakov's death. Another reason that the Parsha is 'closed' is that Yaakov wanted to reveal to his children the end of the final exile of the Jewish People and the coming of the Mashiach, but his prophetic vision was closed, and he was not able to reveal it.
We are living now in the time of "footsteps of the Mashiach."
Our Sages teach us that this will be a time of immense confusion,
when it will appear that events have gone haywire, and it will
seem that Hashem does not, or cannot, run the world. The entire
reason for this total hiding of Providential guidance is to test
our faithfulness to Hashem; that even when tragic events do occur,
we do not, even for a second, question Who is running the world.
We live in the final chapter of world history. The gods of materialism
and self-centeredness never close their eyes, relentless in their
media barrage. Our eyes must never be closed to the
vision that every day the Redeemer will come to Zion.
"...with my sword and with my bow." (48:22)
The strategy of a regular war is to attack the enemy first with
a long range weapon - like a bow - and if that fails
and he gets close to you, to resort to the sword.
From the order of the verse - the sword preceding
the bow - it is clear that the Torah is not talking
about an ordinary enemy, rather a person's life-long enemy - his
own yetzer hara (negative drive). The nature of a person
tends towards self-centeredness. A baby starts life with no other
thought than its own gratification and employs all available means
to gain its desires. Only after many long years can a person eventually
overcome his natural selfishness. In the constant battle with
the yetzer hara, one starts off with hand-to-hand combat
using the sword at close quarters to oust the natural
impulse for selfishness from the heart, but even when the enemy
is out of range of the sword, you still need to
keep his head down by constantly firing salvos of mitzvos and
positive actions from your bow.
"...In you shall all Yisrael bless, saying 'May Gd make you as Ephraim and as Menashe." (48:20)
The real 'generation gap' is between the spiritual
attainments of one generation and its predecessor. From that moment
of supreme encounter at Sinai history has marched to lower and
lower spiritual depths. On Friday nights throughout the world
the first thing a father does on returning from shul is
to bless the children with the words of this verse - "May
G-d make you as Ephraim and as Menashe." Why of all our
towering spiritual giants, are Ephraim and Menashe singled out
to be the paradigm of blessing? Why don't we say "May
G-d make you like Avraham or Moshe?" The answer is to
be found in what Yaakov says to Yosef - "Ephraim and Menashe
will be to me as Reuven and Shimon." (48:5) Ephraim
and Menashe, although Yaakov's grandchildren, had reached the
level of the previous generation, the level of their uncles Reuven
and Shimon - they had not descended the spiritual ladder.
Thus, on Friday nights, a father blesses his children that they
should absorb all the spiritual attainments of the preceding generation
and escape that downward spiritual spiral - the generation
gap.
Haftorah
I Melachim 2:1-12
Contents
THE HEAD THAT WEARS THE CROWN
Insights into the Zemiros sung at the Shabbos table throughout the generations.
Baruch Hashem Yom Yom
"Blessed is Hashem for each day..."
The two great Talmudic sages, Shammai and Hillel, had different approaches to preparing for the Sabbath. If Shammai found an animal fit for a feast he would purchase it for the Sabbath meals. If a more fitting animal appeared in the market he would purchase it for the Sabbath and consume the first one in the weekdays. Thus all of his meals were in honor of the Sabbath.
But Hillel had another approach, one based on a perfect faith that Heaven would provide him with his needs for the Sabbath without the strenuous efforts made by Shammai. His slogan was King David's praise (Tehillim 68:20) "Blessed is Hashem for each day by day," which expresses the need to thank Hashem each day as we enjoy what he has provided us and to trust that he will provide us with our Sabbath needs as well.
Written and Compiled by Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair
General Editor: Rabbi Moshe Newman
Production Design: Lev Seltzer
HTML Design: Michael Treblow
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