Introduction to Parashat Hashavua
Yeshivat Har Etzion

PARASHAT VAYECHI

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Dedicated by Aaron and Tzipora Ross and family

in memory of our grandparents

Shmuel Nachamu ben Shlomo Moshe HaKohen, Chaya bat Yitzchak Dovid, and Shimon ben Moshe,

whose yahrzeits are this week.

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Essential Lessons for the Jewish Future

By Rav Alex Israel

Yaakov called his sons, and he said: "Come together that I may tell you what is to befall you in the end of days.  Assemble and listen, O sons of Yaakov, and listen to Yisrael, your father."

(Bereishit 49:1-2)

These formal and poetic words of invitation form an opening, a prelude, to the chapter of the berakhot (blessings).  Yaakov invites his sons to listen to his final will and testament.  In the verses that follow, he gives each of his sons a parting message of praise, critique or blessing, delivered in rich lyrical language.[1][1] 

            These few lines of introduction have aroused the attention and curiosity of the commentators. 

            First there is the problem of the repetitive phraseology here.  They are told first to "Come together," and then they are told to "Assemble."  Why do we need two expressions for what appears to be the same thing?

"THE END OF DAYS"

            A second query relates to Yaakov's intent when he expresses his desire to reveal "what is to befall you in the end of days."

            What is "the end of days"?  Should this be translated as "the future," or alternatively, "the end of time," i.e., the Messianic era?

            Now, this can be clearly verified.  We can check the text of the blessings—Yaakov's last communiquי to his sons—and see what he discusses!  If we are looking for futuristic predictions, when we do inspect the verses, we are hard-pressed to find examples of Yaakov revealing secrets.  Whereas some of the berakhot might relate to futuristic events, many of Yaakov's comments relate to the past!  There are precious few phrases that could relate to eschatological events.  What "end of days" is Yaakov referring to in his usage of this expression?

THE ABSENCE OF HOPE

            Let us focus for a few moments upon Rashi's commentary.  Rashi resolves the problems in an ingenious but enigmatic manner: he suggests that, "Yaakov wished to divulge the time of the End,[2][2] but the Shekhina (Divine Presence) suddenly left him, so he began to talk about other matters."

Rashi embraces the following two ideas, which seem to be contradictory:

*    Rashi understands the phrase "the end of days" as referring to Messianic times; indeed that is the way in which this phrase is used later in Tanakh.[3][3] 

*    Rashi observes that the berakhot fail to contain any Messianic references.

            Hence Rashi concludes that Yaakov does in fact intend to reveal the advent of the Messiah, but his mind goes blank!  Yaakov invites his sons to listen in on the secret of secrets: the end of history, the future redemption.  However God is unprepared to allow Yaakov to divulge that "classified" information.  Hence, he has a memory lapse; his mind fails him.  He begins, therefore, to talk to his children about other things. 

            As for the double introduction, the repetition represents two attempts to transmit a final message.  The first fails; the second succeeds.

            Now, of course, Rashi's explanation solves the problem technically, but it is somewhat unsatisfactory from a narrative perspective.  From a textual angle, it solves the problems: it explains why there is no mention of the Messianic End of Days, and it gives a reason for the unusual introduction.  However, the reader is left wondering: did Yaakov truly want to reveal the secret of the coming of the Messiah to his children?  Why did God intervene here?  Moreover, why does the Torah inform us of Yaakov's failed plan?  Why not simply skip v. 1 entirely?

            The Sefat Emet[4][4] (Vayechi 5635) has a beautiful reading here.  He maintains that what Yaakov wishes to impart is NOT the date of the ultimate redemption; rather, it is something to do with the Egyptian exile (galut), which the children of Yaakov are imminently facing.  Yaakov wants to reveal the "end"—the end of what?  He wants his children to know that their exile in Egypt will have an end.  As the fledgling Jewish nation drifts into enslavement and many long years of oppression, Yaakov wishes to transmit to his children that there will be a termination to their Egyptian sojourn, that there will be a limit placed upon their suffering, that there is a historic future beyond the slavery of Egypt.  In other words, he wants to tell them that there is room for hope: there is order and a plan. 

            Nevertheless, even this is denied to Yaakov.  Why?  The Sefat Emet, with tremendous psychological insight, suggests that an essential ingredient, indeed the very definition of the exile experience, is the hopelessness and the sense of despair.  Exile (galut) is a psychological state as much as it is a national-physical condition.  God prevents Yaakov from giving his children even the basic comfort of the knowledge that the future will be a brighter one.  Were they to know that their suffering is limited, they would feel a sense of relief. 

PERSONAL OR NATIONAL?

            By this point, Rashi has shifted the balance of the text for us.  Traditionally, we view the chapter of the berakhot as an opportunity for Yaakov, the aged patriarch, to depart from each of his sons with a wise life-message.  He encourages, praises and critiques, leaving each of his sons with a personal lesson that will assist him in the future. 

            Rashi tells us that a "personal" good-bye was not the primary thing on Yaakov's mind at all.  Yaakov realized that his death would signal the advent of shibbud (enslavement).[5][5]  He is not so much focused on his personal connection with his family as on the covenantal future of the Jewish people, on their survival intact through the galut.  The future of Am Yisrael is that which dominates his consciousness at this specific hour.

LESSONS FOR EXILE

It is in this vein that the Midrash interprets the verses here.  We shall study a few of these midrashic passages together:

"He said: 'Come together,'" etc.—"Come together" from Egypt, and "Assemble" in Rameses;[6][6] "Come together" from the Ten Tribes, and "Assemble" together with the tribes of Yehuda and Binyamin…

The Rabbis offered a different interpretation: he commanded them as regards factionalism and family conflict.  He said to them: "Be a single collective (aseifa)."  That is the meaning of the prophecy (Yechezkel 37:16): "Take for yourself one piece of wood and write on it 'To Yehuda and to Benei Yisrael his companions'"…  When Benei Yisrael become a unified group, they have prepared themselves for the redemption.

(Bereishit Rabba 98:2)

            In general, every midrash needs to be decoded.  One of the classic techniques of the midrashic method is the use of biblical parallelism; by linking words and phrases, the scholars of the Midrash succeed in drawing connections to other passages in Tanakh.  In creating these links, these points of contact, they redraw the original parasha in a new dimension, a new matrix, shedding fresh light upon the original verses.

FIRST READING: The Awareness of Redemption

            This particular Midrash here offers two new readings of our textual difficulty, the double introduction to the Parasha.  The backdrop to them both is the notion of "the end of days," i.e., redemption: "He said: 'Come together,'" etc.—"Come together" from Egypt, and "Assemble" in Rameses."

This first explanation has Yaakov reminding his children to associate with their people.  He reminds them that in future times they will be spread far and wide; they will take on new identities.  He cautions them not to forget to join their people at the crucial moment.  In the Exodus from Egypt, the Jewish people are to gather together at the rallying point of Rameses (Exodus 12:37).  Yaakov exhorts them to abandon Egypt and to convene with their nation: "Come together from Egypt and assemble in Rameses."  Jews have always found it easy to feel comfortable in their various exilic abodes.  Yaakov reminds them: From Rameses the Exodus will begin; do not get left behind in Egypt!  In essence, Yaakov urges them that at the critical instant, they must know when to depart.  They must always recall their true identity; when the redemption arrives, all Jews must know where they truly belong. 

            At what historic juncture do Benei Yisrael stand?  They have just entered an era of galut.  Yaakov realizes that his death will herald the formidable Egyptian shibbud.  His last lesson to his sons as a group is that a Jew must know not only how to live outside of Eretz Yisrael, but he must also understand how to extract himself from it.  We must always know when it is time to pull ourselves out of the exilic mud and to reunite with our people.

SECOND READING: Jewish Unity

            Furthermore, this midrash refers to another possible resonance; the midrash states: "Come together from the ten tribes and assemble with Yehuda and Binyamin."

During the First Temple period, the Jewish kingdom splits, with Yehuda and Binyamin on one side and ten tribes on the other.[7][7]  The Ten Tribes are later exiled, but the hope is that they will return one day.  Yaakov is urging them to return, to turn the clock back and come back to a united nation rather than a fragmented one.  This too is a prophecy of "the end of days," and it is most beautifully expressed in the prophecy of Yechezkel.[8][8]  Yechezkel lives in Babylon at the time of the destruction of the First Temple and the great Babylonian Exile.  He knows that for 300 years, there have been two states: Yehuda (allied with Binyamin and Levi) and Efrayim (the Northern Kingdom or Ten Tribes).  Yechezkel predicts a period of redemption and reunification.

The word of God came to me, saying, "You, Son of Man,[9][9] take one piece of wood and write on it, 'For Yehuda and Benei Yisrael, his companions,' and one piece of wood and write on it, 'For Yosef, the wood of Efrayim and the entire House of Yisrael, his companions.'  Bring them together each to the other to become one piece of wood, and they will become one in your hands.  When they say to you, your people, 'What does this mean?' tell them, 'So says God: "Behold, I will take the tree of Yosef which is in the hand of Efrayim and the tribes of Yisrael, his companions, and I will put on them the tree of Yehuda and make them one tree, and they will become one in My hand."'"

(Yechezkel 37:15-20)

What does this symbolism mean? God explains:

I am going to take the Jewish people from amongst the nations to which they have gone and gather them from every quarter and bring them to their own land.  I will make them ONE nation in the land on the hills of Yisrael and ONE king shall be king over them all.  Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms.

 (37:21-23)

Now this midrash works at two levels.  In the narrative of Yaakov's family, we are just recovering from the schism of the sale of Yosef, just as in later history, there will be a family split.  Yaakov lies on his deathbed and sees his sons united, so he encourages continued family unity: "Come together," "Assemble."

            However, the Midrash, drawing on Yaakov's intent to inform us of the formula for "the end of days," sees this as the assurance of future redemption.  (Similarly, this is the message of Yechezkel.)  Yaakov's lesson, then, is simple: "When Benei Yisrael become a unified group, they have prepared themselves for the redemption."  The Midrash here picks up on the dual use of verbs of conciliation and unity: "Come together" and "Assemble" can be alternatively translated as "Become a single group" and "Reconcile yourselves."  For a family which has suffered from inner jealousies, hatred and rivalry, this message is one of the most crucial that Yaakov could ever leave his children:  that the key to redemption—which indicates harmony, national success, peace and religious fulfilment—is togetherness. 

"SHEMA YISRA'EL": Faith under Adversity

We shall examine one final Midrash, which has always attracted my attention.  However I am still unsure as what to make of it.  I will let you consider this one over Shabbat.

Elazar ben Achoi said, "From this, Yisrael merited Keriat Shema.  When Yaakov was about to leave this world, he called his twelve sons and said to them: "Listen (Shimu)! Is the God of Yisrael your father [yours as well]?  They replied: "Hear (Shema) O Yisrael" (Devarim 6:4)—"Dear father! Just as you have no doubts (lit. divisions, arguments) about God, similarly, we have no doubts."  He [responded and] whispered the words: "Barukh shem kevod malkhuto le-olam va-ed" (Blessed is the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever).

(Bereishit Rabba 98:4)

Shema (the classic formulation of Jewish faith) is what Yaakov concerns himself with as he dies.  This wonderful midrash portrays Yaakov and his sons initiating Keriat Shema as they surround Yaakov's death-bed.  At one level, we note Yaakov's religious focus, that in his final moments his primary concern is that his sons' faith be firm and intact.  On another level, this midrash might be the source-text for the age-old tradition that a Jew recites the Shema on his or her death-bed!

            Now clearly this midrash originates as a word-play on 49:2 where there is an obviously superfluous phrase:

Assemble and listen, O sons of Yaakov,

And listen to Yisrael, your father."

Why do we need the word "listen" or "shimu" twice? Why "Yaakov" and then "Yisrael"?  The Midrash re-reads the second phrase as a question, changing "el" from a preposition to a noun—not "to Yisrael," but "the God of Yisrael'!

Still, the philosophy here runs deeper; it is not merely about language.  Let us ask: did Yaakov truly doubt his sons' faith?  Was he concerned about his sons' belief in God?  Perhaps he was not; but then, what might the Midrash be attempting to transmit here?  I would like to suggest that the writers of this midrash, who lived under Roman oppression, knew precisely what Shema means.  They knew that the sovereignty of a foreign nation is synonymous with a regime of religious persecution and a ban upon the Jewish faith.  We simply have to recall the midrash of Rabbi Akiva reciting the Shema as he was tortured to death (Berakhot 61a).  It is not so easy to say Shema under Roman oppression!  As Yaakov's family descends deeper into the murky depths of exile, he teaches them the secret of Shema: that in the face of adversity, of crushing persecution, we still know that "Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem echad."  We persist in our belief and faith.

            Interestingly, this is not the first association of Keriat Shema with Yaakov.  In another enigmatic comment by Rashi, he proposes that at the moment in which Yaakov meets Yosef after twenty years of separation, Yaakov is reciting the Shema.  Rashi is puzzled by the language of the verse (46:29) which describes their reunification: Yosef cries, but Yaakov seems to be silent.  What is Yaakov thinking about as he meets his son Yosef?  It is here that Rashi takes a rather peculiar position: that while hugging Yosef, Yaakov is reciting Shema.  What is it with Yaakov and Keriat Shema?

            We must realize that this is not simply a family reunion: it is also the moment in which Yaakov first treads upon Egyptian soil.  I would like to suggest that for Yosef this is a reunion after two decades of separation from his beloved father, and hence Yosef encounters his father and weeps; but for Yaakov, this is a genuinely frightening moment.  Yaakov is fully aware that he is leading his sons and his family into a centuries-long galut!  He knows that in the slavery and persecution of exile, their faith will be sorely tested. 

            Yaakov recites the Shema when he meets his son as he accepts upon himself the yoke of the Egyptian exile.  He knows that only with strong faith can a person or a nation endure galut.  Now, on his deathbed, he passes on that message of faith: if we remain true to our belief in God, then we will survive the tribulations of exile.

Shabbat Shalom!