Shalom.
This week’s Torah portion is parashat Vayechi, beginning with verse 28 of chapter 47.
This portion essentially focuses on the final years of Yaakov in Egypt, having now been
reunited with Yosef.
The portion of Vayechi concludes the book of B’reishith, Genesis, and also closes
the era of the patriarchs.
Yaakov, whose life began in the land of Canaan, ends his complex life in Egypt, having known
many troubles, but having been finally reunited with his beloved son Yosef, following which
he lived out his final years as his happiest.
On his deathbed he blesses his grandchildren, Yosef’s sons, and afterwards gathers all
twelve of his sons and bestows his blessing upon them.
This week I would like to focus on these blessings.
These blessings, poetic, veiled, and frankly, at times as perplexing as riddles, are more
mysterious than understood.
At least they are not readily understood.
But they reveal that Yaakov was aware, and possessed intimate knowledge, of the qualities
and inner nature, even essence, of each of his children.
His words also gaze into the future, and he sees, prophetically, each of his son’s descendants
through all the coming generations.
So his words also bespeak awareness of their Divine missions as well as their respective
challenges.
His words also feature both warnings, and assurances.
But first.
We can reflect upon the fact that this portion, which records with detail the death of Yaakov,
is called ‘Vayechi’ – ‘And he lived.’
Of course this is similar to, and immediately reminds us of, what we encountered earlier
in B’reishith regarding the portion of ‘Chayei Sarah’, ‘the life of Sarah,’ which in
reality recounts nothing about her life, but rather the story of her death and burial.
These people were truly alive and taught us so much about life and how to live.
Small wonder that our sages state cryptically, in the words of the Midrash, ‘Our forefather
Yaakov did not die.’
This is not to be understood literally.
But the man – and that’s the amazing thing, he’s only a man – yet he bested an angel
and had angels at his command – and this man was so much more powerful than death,
so that as is the case of the truly righteous, this illusory life could not contain him any
longer, thus our sages teach, ‘the righteous are even more powerful in death than in life,’
and they are called ‘alive’ even in death.
Thus our portion is aptly called, ‘Vayechi’ – ‘and he lived.’
So open up your heart and you can understand it as, ‘and he lived forever.’
This man, called by our sages ‘the perfection of the forefathers,’ certainly had the most
difficult life of all the three patriarchs, as attested to by Torah.
And this man has two names.
As opposed to Avram whose name was changed by G-d to Avraham and who after this change
was never ever referred to again as Avram, we may still freely refer to Israel as Yaakov…but
perhaps a more accurate appellation would be to refer to him as ‘Yaakov/Israel’
– for indeed, G-d Himself refers to him in this very manner.
After changing his name, G-d still alternates between both names when addressing Yaakov,
and later the prophets will do the same in referencing him.
On a level that is perhaps the most accessible to our paltry understanding, the two names
can be said to represent two distinct and different spiritual levels.
Simply put – even perhaps as an oversimplification – Yaakov represents the individual, and
a lower state of consciousness, while Yisrael represents both the national level of the
soul of the nation, and a higher level of inspiration, of consciousness, perhaps of
prophecy.
As a rule of thumb this formula works when applied to many verses throughout the Torah
and prophets.
But this dichotomy is also representative of the many layers and stages of Yaakov/Israel’s
life which reach their apex in our parasha, and thus we are not so surprised that in our
parasha he is referred to by both names, sometimes even within the same verse.
So approaching death, the patriarch blesses his grandchildren, Yosef’s sons, giving
the ‘preferred’ blessing to the younger one, perhaps thereby finally putting to rest
the tension which has manifested itself as the recurrent theme of battling brothers,
which we have been witness to throughout this book of B’reishith, beginning with Cain
and Abel, the first brothers, through Yaakov and Esav, and down to Yosef and his brothers.
Yaakov’s blessing to Menashe and Efraim became the blessing that is recited by every
father in Israel over his children, every Friday night at the start of the Sabbath,
as the verse (48:20) instructs: So he blessed them on that day, saying, "With you, Israel
will bless, saying, 'May G-d make you like Efraim and like Manasseh'.
"
But the more we attempt to understand the nature of the assembly of sons around Yaakov’s
deathbed, and the essence of the blessings themselves, the more perplexing it becomes.
In the blessing to Reuven we read (49:4): [You have] the restlessness of water; [therefore,]
you shall not have superiority, for you ascended upon your father's couch; then you profaned
[Him Who] ascended upon my bed.
And in the blessings to Shimon and Levi (49:7):
“Simeon and Levi are brothers; stolen instruments are their weapons.
Let my soul not enter their counsel; my honor, you shall not join their assembly, for in
their wrath they killed a man, and with their will they hamstrung a bull.
Cursed be their wrath for it is mighty, and their anger because it is harsh.
I will separate them throughout Jacob, and I will scatter them throughout Israel.”
Are these words of a blessing?
If that’s a blessing, then what is a curse?
In verse seven Yaakov says ‘cursed be their wrath,’ using the word ‘arur,’ which
is actually a curse.
So in the face of this confusion, this is an ideal opportunity for us to examine the
concept of a blessing: what does it really mean to bless someone?
Backing up, what does a ‘blessing’ really mean?
After all it’s a word that we use all the time, upon occasion rather mindlessly at that,
G-d bless you, you’re a blessing, a blessing on your head, I feel blessed, etc.
And in our prayers we ‘bless’ G-d every day.
For a word that we use so often, do we even know what it means?
On the simplest level blessing someone is generally understood as wishing them well.
Some of Yaakov’s statements to his children don’t seem to fit in with what we would
consider a blessing.
And if we ‘bless’ G-d, are we wishing Him well?
How does that usage fit in with ‘G-d bless you?’
We would assume that the meaning of G-d blessing someone is that we are voicing the wish that
He should bestow goodness upon that person.
So when I bless G-d am I bestowing goodness upon Him?
Bearing all this in mind, and these are just some of the questions we can consider if we
begin to seriously try and understand what a bracha, a blessing is all about, now OK,
some want to see the word ‘bracha’ as connected to ‘berech,’ ‘the knee;’
perhaps an allusion to bending the knee when uttering a blessing.
But further study substantiates that from ancient times, the word ‘bracha’ has been
interpreted as a gift.
So when we Google a definition for the word blessing, we find plenty…I quote: noun,
the act or words of a person who blesses…a special favor, mercy, or benefit: the blessings
of liberty... a favor or gift bestowed by G-d, thereby bringing happiness.
... praise; devotion; worship, especially grace said before a meal, as in: The children
took turns reciting the blessing.
Blessing is defined as G-d's favor, or a person's sanction or support, or something you ask
G-d for, or something for which you are grateful.
When God looks down upon you and protects you, this is an example of G-d's blessing.
When a father OKs a marriage proposal, this is an example of when he gives his blessing.
blessing.
A blessing is a prayer asking for G-d's protection, or a little gift from the heavens.
... "I give you my blessing" simply means "It's OK with me."
People give their blessings to ideas and actions when they agree with them.
Giving a blessing is often the same as giving permission.
G-d's favor and protection.
End quote from Google.
I find wholly these definitions to be incomplete, inaccurate, and mostly, contradictory.
So open up your hearts in the deepest way.
This is the deepest secret in the world.
The word Bracha is related to breicha, which means a pool, a source of ever flowing water.
When we ‘bless’ Hashem with the words, ‘Baruch Ata’ ‘Blessed are You,’ what
we are really saying to Him is, ‘You are the overflowing source of our lives, the giver
of life, eternally flowing, ever renewing, Melech HaOlam, not simply ‘King of the Universe,’
but the Hidden, Universal Majesty.
Not ‘blessed are you,’ – what would that even mean?
But ‘Baruch Ata’, You are the Source of all Life.
Baruch is about connecting to the source.
In the case of ‘blessing’ Hashem its about acknowling, thanking and connecting with Him
as the source of life Another example of this inner meaning of the
word, we can see in the Talmudic usage of the word breicha as describing a method of
agriculture in which a branch is replanted while it's still attached to the original
plant…bent over and planted into the ground, it grows forth from another point of origin,
but as itself…sprouting forth from the source.
.
Thus on a deeper level…now open up your hearts in the deepest way….blessing a person
such as when Yaakov blessed his children, requires an understanding of the person, because
this blessing is a calling to their inner higher essence, to strive to reach their highest
self, to connect to the source.
The blessing has to be tailor made for the individual.
Yaakov’s highly individualized blessings to his children reveals his intimate understanding
of the inner nature and essence of each one.
His intimate understanding of their source.
In his prophetic wisdom he designed the perfect blessing for each one that would encompass
the future generations of their descendants.
He knew who needed to be warned to be on guard, according to his particular character and
the challenges that could potentially trip him up and the tests that were bound up with
his mission and destiny according to the root of his soul.
As everybody knows, according to our sages this whole scenario of Yaakov delivering these
blessings was actually Plan B. The first two verses of Chapter 49: Jacob called for his
sons and said, "Gather and I will tell you what will happen to you at the end of days.
Gather and listen, sons of Jacob, and listen to Israel, your father.”
.But he never did tell them about the end of days, at least not directly.
We learn that Yaakov sought to reveal to his sons the secrets of the end of days but lost
the vision and thus was prevented from on High, from divulging this information.
There are so many reasons we can think of as to why Yaakov was prevented from giving
over this information… for example, if they had that information, if we all did, how would
it influence free choice?
Bringing about the Redemption, after all, should be left up to us, through good deeds.
If we knew when it was coming about would we not become lax?
But In a reflection of his original intent, to reveal all that would befall them from
now until the time of the Redemption , although that prophetic window was closed for him and
he was withheld from revealing the details of those secrets, He did include allusions
as to what their future holds.
But in keeping with our understanding of bracha as connecting to the source, it’s as if
he was saying to them: this is who you are, I know you…and this is who you could be.
This is what could go wrong, so be careful, and this is who you are called to be.
Just like the formula of ‘blessing’ Hashem, Yaakov was really saying to each son…you,
too, are overflowing…with your own potential.
Like the old slogan of the United States Army, ‘Be all that you can be.’
So we’re ready to conclude this first book of the Torah.
The mission of the people of Israel began with Hashem’s first words to the father
of the Jewish people, Avraham: He said ‘Lech Lecha,’ go for yourself.
Avraham went on a journey to the Land of Canaan, and that began a process which concludes in
our book of B’reishith, with the descent of Israel to Egypt.
Thus indeed the book of B’reishith concludes with the word’ Mitzrayim’, Egypt, which
literally means ‘the narrow place.’
Indeed, with the descent of all of Israel into the land of Goshen, there to survive,
where they more than survive, they flourish, they multiply in great numbers – temporarily
doing well – and all this facilitated by the great Yosef…but shortly, as we will
begin to learn next week in the book of Shmot, Exodus, this descent becomes a nightmare,
indeed a narrow place, constricted, a dark exile, of bondage, servitude, torture and
genocide.
Egypt is not only a geographical location or a reference to this time in history.
Throughout history, at times, as individuals and as a nation, we do, and will, find ourselves
in narrow straits, confined, and subjugated, whether physically or spiritually, whether
by others or by our own failings.
Each year we conclude this book of Genesis and then begin the book of Shmot, to relive
the descent into the darkness of Egypt.
There, each of us, again, as individuals and as nation, within our own Egypt, the narrow,
constricted and dark place where we call out to G-d ‘Where are you?’
there in that space each of us goes through what we need to go through to grow, to learn
to call out to Hashem, and to make preparations to leave Egypt behind forever, to finish the
walk that Abraham started, towards the final freedom of the final redemption.
Chazak Chazak v’Nitchazek, Be Strong, Be Strong, and let us Be Strengthened.