Parshat Vayechi: Ya’akov’s Blessings

The importance of a b’racha, a blessing, is prominent throughout the book of Bereishit.  All of the patriarchs are blessed and give blessings multiple times and these blessings are a vital part of the patriarchs and their families’ lives.  It therefore seems appropriate for the concluding parsha of Bereishit to contain numerous blessings, if indeed they can all be called that. 

The first blessings are given to Yosef and his two sons, Ephraim and Menashe, by Ya’akov, and it is the ending of this blessing that Jewish fathers use to bless their sons each Friday night before Shabbat dinner (daughters are blessed using a different version of the blessing):

So he [Ya’akov] blessed them that day saying, By you shall Israel invoke blessings, saying: “God make you like Ephraim and Menashe.”

Many have asked and answered the question of why specifically this blessing is the one permanently used, in every generation, to bless Jewish sons.  One answer comes from the Netziv in his book Ha’amek Ha’Davar: “Ephraim and Menashe were each great in different ways: Ephraim was great in Torah and adhering to the Lord, while Menashe was great in the ways of the world and caring for the community.”  I do not know the reasons why Ephraim and Menashe represent these two different ways of living a Torah-driven life but the blessing shows the importance of both.  We typically focus on one, but one should not exclude the other.  A working man such as Menashe must also make time for Torah study and mitzvoth observance; likewise someone studying in Kollel, dedicated to studying Torah, must still provide a livelihood for his family. 

The blessings that follow this in the Torah, where Ya’akov “blesses” his twelve sons, is where the blessings get more interesting.  Ibn Ezra comments on Ya’akov’s words: “Those who say that they are blessings, are mistaken…Where is the blessing in what was said to Reuven, Shimon, and Levi?”  Indeed many of his parting words seem more properly labeled as a rebuke, or perhaps as a parting teaching to each. 

To Reuven:

Reuven, you are my first-born, my might and first fruit of my vigor, exceeding in rank and exceeding in honor.  Unstable as water, you shall excel no longer; for when you mounted your father’s bed, you brought disgrace – my couch he mounted.  (v. 49:3-4)

While this starts out positively it quickly turns downward.  It is not an outright blessing; on the surface it appears closer to a curse (“you shall excel no longer”). 

To Shimon and Levi:

Shimon and Levi are a pair; their weapons are tools of lawlessness.  Let not my person be included in their council, let not my being be counted in their assembly.  For when angry they slay men, and when pleased they maim oxen.  Cursed be their anger so fierce, and their wrath so relentless.  I will divide them in Jacob, scatted them in Israel.  (v. 5-7)

Again, it is not clear how to take Ya’akov’s words.  It appears to be a testament to their character and a punishment of sorts (“divide them in Jacob”) for their past actions to prevent them from negatively influencing each other to such bad action again. 

Zevulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, and Binyamin merely have something related to their personality or temperament said to them, or a brief and cryptic insight into their future.

Only Yehuda and Yosef appear to be spoken to in a directly positive manner that could reasonably be considered a blessing. When speaking to Yehuda, Ya’akov beings: You, O Yehuda, your brothers shall praise….  And with Yosef he concludes: The blessings of your father surpass the blessings of my ancestors, to the utmost bounds of the eternal hills.  May they rest on the head of Yosef, on the brow of the elect of his brothers. 

The blessings of these sons set them apart from the others, but not because they were “favored” (although Yosef is known to be Ya’akov’s favorite) or because they were inherently deserving.  Ibn Ezra says of the apparent discrepancy: “And this is what their father said to them as he bade them farewell, addressing to each a parting word appropriate to him.”  Ya’akov knew the nature of each of his sons and this is what prompted him to impart his final words of “blessing” with a goal of having them improve on their flawed character traits or embracing them for the right purpose instead of misusing them (as Shimon and Levi did).  The Or HaChaim agrees with this, stating:  “Even though we see that he did not bless Reuven, Shimon, of Levi, Scripture would say that his harsh words to them was their blessing.”  This is most prominently shown through the tribe of Levi that elevates themselves to being worthy of the Temple service, while Shimon does not heed his blessing and rise up to be a leader of Israel.  It is much harder to take, but we can learn as much – if not more – from criticism, as we can from praise.  Sometimes, as in this parsha, a blessing can be a harsh one. 

Parshat VaYigash: Yosef and Yehuda

The only brother’s with any significant individuality assigned to them throughout Bereishit are Reuven, Yehuda, and Yosef.  Fairly little is known about the other brothers without referring to other Jewish texts.  And among the “big three,” Reuven is largely relegated to a tertiary role in both the length of time the Torah spends related to his speech/action and the impact he has over his brothers.  So we are left with Yehuda and Yosef as the most prominent of the twelve sons, descended from Ya’akov, who are to become the Twelve Tribes of Israel.  Rav Ya’akov Medan points out here that Yosef and Yehuda are the most important sons both in the Torah and in other Jewish writings.  Of all the things he mentions, the one thing that really stood out to me as separating them from the other brothers is, quoted directly:

…Yosef and Yehuda resemble the forefathers, concerning whom the Torah details the circumstances of their marriages, the names of their wives, the circumstances of their children’s births, and the reasons for the name given to them.  As for the rest of the tribes, we have no idea what Yissakhar’s wife’s name was, or why Zevulun called his children Sered, Elon, and Yachle’el.

My initial question based on this is: What is it about these two brothers, more than then others, that demands so much attention?  But without knowing the details of the 10 “minor” brothers’ lives this is impossible to answer.  So I must instead ask the question of “why these two brothers”, without posing any comparisons to nine of the other ten brothers about whom too little is known.  As for Reuven (the tenth “other” brother), however, I think that my parsha blog from last week (which asks and answers the question: “why did Ya’akov allow Yehuda (and not Reuven) to be the caretaker of their youngest brother Binyamin in Egypt?”) sufficiently answers why Yehuda is important.  His transformation as a leader of his brothers to do evil (selling Yosef to Egypt) to true repentance and winning over his father’s faith and trust is certainly a captivating storyline with many lessons to be learned.  I also think that understanding Yosef is fairly simple.  Two weeks ago I wrote about a little about Yosef’s progression as a person, evidenced by his speech, which provides some explanation as to why he is an important figure.  But even more fundamentally, Yosef is the foundation of the Jewish people.  His descent into Egypt is the catalyst for the Jewish people (a mere “seventy souls” at the time of this week’s parsha) who become slaves in Egypt and ultimately experience the Exodus from Egypt. 

Another question that arises about these two brothers is: Why two?  There was Avraham.  He had multiple children, but only Yitzchak was selected by God to carry on His covenant.  Yitzchak also had multiple children, but only Ya’akov was the chosen one.  Ya’akov then has 12 sons and all of them are included in the Twelve Tribes of Israel (Levi is separated for the Temple service and Yosef’s sons – Menashe and Ephraim – become two tribes, leaving us with twelve).  Not only are all of them a part of upholding God’s covenant, but two of them take on a special prominence similar to that of the three patriarchs.  What is the reason?

We know that in Judaism there is Moshiach ben Yosef (a messiah to be descended from Yosef) who will essentially prepare the way for Moshiach ben David (the messiah to be descended from Yehuda, though Kind David).  I discussed the two messiahs and the essence of each last year, based on the Vilna Goan’s idea that Moshiach ben Yosef will bring about Tikkun Olam, a rectification of the world, while Moshiach ben David will bring about Tikkun Adam, a rectification of man/mankind.  Given this thought, I think we have an explanation as to why Ya’akov has two prominent sons that will ultimately produce the leaders of the Jewish people in the messianic time (and we already see their leadership abilities in the Torah with Yehoshua from the tribe of Yosef and Kalev from Yehuda).  It appears that it is necessary for two individuals to accomplish two specific tasks.  Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya’akov perhaps contained the ability to accomplish one element, perhaps even possessed an element of both messiahs…but ultimately even they were unable to wholly unite the tasks of tikkun Olam and tikkun adam into one goal.  May the Moshiach by Yosef and the Moshiach ben David that are able to accomplish these tasks come speedily and in our days. 

Parshat Mikkeitz: Why Yehuda? Why not Reuven?

In this week’s Torah reading, parshat Mikkeitz, ten of Ya’akov’s sons face the task of convincing their father to release Binyamin from his care.  Only by taking Binyamin, their youngest brother, down to Egypt with them will the brothers be able to receive food from the storehouses of Egypt in order to survive the seven year famine they are in the midst of.  But as Binyamin is the only remaining son of Ya’akov that was born to him from Rachel – his most beloved wife – Ya’akov resists departing with him out of fear that a tragic death may befall Binyamin, similar to the one that (he believes) befell Yosef.  Therefore it is up to the two brothers that seem to be the leaders of the pack to try their hands at convincing Ya’akov to let them descend into Egypt with Binyamin.  These brothers are Reuven, the eldest, and Yehuda. 

First, Reuven offers to be the protector of Binyamin on their journey, but Ya’akov rejects his offer unequivocally: My son must not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left.  If he meets with disaster on the journey you are taking, you will send my white head down to Sheol in grief (Bereishit 42:38).  Yehuda then, in a much longer conversation with his father, makes an offer similar to that of Yehuda: to be personally responsible to watch over the wellbeing of their youngest brother, Binyamin.  Despite the similarity of the offers, however, Yehuda succeeds where Reuven did not.  He successfully convinces Ya’akov to let Binyamin travel to Egypt with his brothers: Take your brother too; and go back at once to the man [Yosef, in Egypt].  And may El Shaddai dispose the man to mercy toward you, that he may release to you your other brother [Shimon, who is held in captivity], as well as Binyamin.  As for me, if I am to be bereaved, I shall be bereaved (Bereishit 43:13-14).

A cursory reading of the Torah’s text makes one wonder why Reuven was rejected, while Ya’akov accepts Yehuda’s offer.  But, I believe, the answer to this question can clearly be seen by looking at the specific actions of each brother.

First, let us look at Reuven’s short and simple promise to his father: You may kill my two sons if I do not bring him [Binyamin] back to you.  Put him in my care, and I will return him to you (Bereishit 42:37).  In context, it appears that Reuven is recognizing the grief his father feels at losing Yosef, having Shimon held in captivity, and the thought of losing Binyamin.  Therefore he offers his own sons as collateral of sorts, so that Ya’akov will realize how dedicated he is to ensuring Binyamin’s safety on the journey to Egypt.  Of course Reuven guards the lives of his sons as precious, but he seems confident that their lives are not at stake since his mission will ultimately be successful.  But this is not soothing to Ya’akov, who has been promised offspring as numerous as the stars.  He does not want his own grief – that of losing a child – to be shared with others but rather to be limited as much as possible.  He doesn’t want Reuven to experience his own grief, or to see his own grandchildren dead.  He wants an end to the loss of sons – whether through death or captivity.  Therefore Reuven’s offer is unappealing to Ya’akov.  But I think this, coupled with Reuven’s role in Yosef being sold into Egypt, shows us why Ya’akov ultimately rejected Reuven.

Earlier in the Torah, when the brothers are planning the killing of Yosef, Reuven speaks up to save his younger brother.  As the Torah says:

He [Reuven] said, Let us not take his life.  And Reuven went on, Shed no blood!  Cast him into that pit out in the wilderness, but do not touch him yourselves – (he was) intending to save him [Yosef] from them and restore him to his father.  (Bereishit  

But when Reuven separates from his brothers and later returns to find Yosef missing from the pit, we are told:

Reuven rent his clothes.  Returning to his brother, he said, The boy is gone! Now what am I to do? (37:30)

We see from these verses that at this point Reuven has, unlike his brothers, a sense of right and wrong.  He has feelings of remorse and understands that even though Yosef is the favored child and sometimes gets on the nerves (to put it lightly) of his brothers, these are not reasons to warrant his killing.  But we also see that despite Reuven’s moral conscience, he is not a leader amongst his brothers.  He doesn’t stand up to his brothers and say: No!  We cannot kill our brother.  He is our brother and we must treat him as such.  Instead he tells his brothers that, yes, disposing of Yosef is the right thing to do, but let’s just do it another way.  [This could be reminiscent of Aaron who tries to delay the sin of the Golden Calf at the foot of Mt Sinai but doesn’t outright tell the people it is wrong, as he is afraid the people would kill him for disagreeing with them.  Perhaps Reuven also thought his brothers would kill or sell him into slavery with Yosef if he was perceived as not sharing their hatred of Yosef.]  So despite his good intentions, Reuven was not the strong leader that his brothers needed to unite them (i.e. to unite the 10 brothers with the "other" two, Yosef and Binyamin).  And because Ya’akov was able to see this weakness in Reuven’s leadership he was unwilling to entrust him with Binayamin’s life. 

So now the original question becomes: what about Yehuda gave his father Ya’akov the faith (even if very begrudging) that Yehuda was capable of being entrusted with the mission of guarding Binyamin, while Reuven was not.  After all, it was Yehuda’s idea to sell Yosef into slavery (after Reuven convinced them to spare his life):

…They saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, their camels bearing gum, balm, and ladanum to be taken to Egypt.  Then Yehuda said to his brothers: What do we gain by killing our brother and covering up his blood?  Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let us not do away with him ourselves.  After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.  His brothers agree.  (Bereishit 37:25-27)

Here it is Yehuda that is the lead thinker in the group.  He seems to be the progenitor of the actions of the majority of brothers, leading them in their hatred towards Yosef.  Yehuda seems to be the last son that Ya’akov should trust to watch over Binyamin’s safety!  But Yehuda appears to be a transformed man when, years later, he must convince his father to let Binyamin go into Egypt with the rest of the brothers:

...Their [the brothers’] father said to them, Go again and procure some food for us [from Egypt]. 

But Yehuda said to him: The man [Viceroy of Egypt] said to us, ‘do not let me see your faces unless your brother is with you.’  If you will let our brother [Binyamin] go with us, we will go down and procure food for you; but if you will not let him go, we will not go down, for the man said to us, ‘Do not let me see your faces unless your brother is with you.’ 

And Israel [i.e. Ya’akov] said, Why did you serve me so ill as to tell the man that you had another brother? 

They replied, but the man kept asking about us and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still living? Have you another brother?’  And we answered him accordingly.  How were we to know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother here’?

Then Yehuda said to his father Israel, Send the boy [Binyamin] in my care, and let us be on our way, that we may live and not die – you and we and our children.  I myself will be surety for him; you may hold me responsible; if I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, I shall stand guilty before you forever.  For we could have been there and back twice if we had not dawdled!

Then their father Israel said to them: If it must be so…

Ya’akov (who is also called Israel) clearly does not find it easy to part ways with Binyamin, even in a situation of necessity to avoid starvation.  But, when pressed by his son Yehuda, he is convinced.  Why?  Yehuda offers himself as the assurance that Binyamin will return safely – not his life, nor his son’s life, but his honor.  Yehuda already shares the pain of a lost son with his father.  Yehuda has already lost two sons – Er and Onan – to death, just as Ya’akov lost Yosef (who he believes is dead) and Shimon (to captivity in Egypt).  Yehuda does not offer his third son, Shelah’s, life as Reuven offered his sons’ lives because Yehuda understands the suffering of a parent who has lost a child.  This understanding has radically changed the way he feels towards his brothers. Through his words, he tells his father that he is not willing to give up life, to leave any of his brothers behind.  He shows that he feels it is his duty as a brother, as a leader of his brothers, to guard the life of Binyamin and return him safely to Ya’akov.   A loss of pride and being forced to stand guilty before his father – that is the most severe punishment for Yehuda; it shows the ultimate value of life and deeply-felt familial obligation that he feels.  In this, Ya’akaov is able to trust. 

Parshat VaYeishev: The Progression of Yosef’s Speech

In Parshat VaYeishev, the twelve sons of Ya’akov begin to take center stage in the Torah’s narrative.  With so much drama going on between the brothers, one thing that stood out to me was something that didn’t take place in the Torah.  When Yosef’s brothers essentially kidnap Yosef, throw him into a pit, and ultimately sell him to Ishmaelites, he does not speak once!  What’s more is this is on the heels of a section where Yosef doesn’t seem able to keep his mouth shut!  Yosef has two dreams that appear to imply his brothers and parents will bow down to him and serve him.  And despite the fact that these are quite obviously not dreams his brothers would enjoy hearing, Yosef all too eagerly shares them with his brothers.  This seems to be the last straw of his brothers’ tolerance of him and the catalyst that causes them to want to kill him (although they settle for selling him into slavery, thanks to Reuven’s moral conscious).  So why is it that the brother who was so talkative, is all of a sudden at a loss for words? 

First, let us look at Joseph’s speech prior to being sold into slavery.  The first time he is directly quoted in the parsha he tells his brothers of a dream:

Hear this dream which I have dreamed: There we were binding sheaves in the field, when suddenly my sheaf stood up and remained upright; then your sheaves gathered around and bowed low to my sheaf.  (Genesis 37:6-7)

The second time Yosef speaks, he relays another dream to his brothers:

Look, I have had another dream: And this time the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.

Soon after these dreams, Yosef, who speaks so much when he should keep silent, doesn’t say a single word to his brothers when they capture him.  Although he very well may have had some sort of plea to his brothers to have mercy on him, the Torah doesn’t mention him begging for forgiveness, crying for help, or doing anything else to try to save himself.  The Torah instead portrays Yosef as silent throughout this ordeal.  This also appears odd given the importance of dialogue throughout Bereishit: Isaac and Avraham during the Akeidah (“The Binding of Isaac”), Jacob and the Angel, Jacob and Esav, Tamar and Yehuda, Rebecca and Eliezer, Eve and the Snake, Adam and Eve, Lavan and Jacob….   But in the text at hand it is only Yosef who is silent and only his brothers who have a voice – primarily Yehuda and Reuven. 

The answer as to why may come in the form of one word: Hineni (“Here I am”).

This is Yosef’s answer to his father, Jacob, when Jacob calls him to send him on a mission to find his brothers in the fields, the mission that will result in Yosef being sold into slavery.  The mission is to search out his brothers.  And Joseph’s acceptance of the mission – as implied by the word hineni – is unconditional.  Indeed Yosef’s last words before he encounters his brothers and becomes silent are: I am looking for my brothers.  Could you [a passerby] tell me where they are pasturing?  This has been interpreted as a loving mission, where Yosef is seeking the brotherhood that his brothers have denied him…and perhaps, I might add, also the brotherhood he partially deserved to lose due to his own actions. 

But the very mission itself, of searching out his brothers who “hated him so that they could not speak a friendly word to him” and “hated him even more for his talk about his dreams,” shows a maturity and a brotherly connection that was not apparent in the beginning of the parsha.  Perhaps the familial connection is something that was not internalized by any of the brothers in their early years, but that Yosef grew into as he learned from his youthful mistakes.  And perhaps this is why he was silent when his brothers – who had not yet achieved a feeling of kinship with Yosef – sold him into slavery.  Rav Zvi Shimon says:

It is the will of God, then, that Yosef be taken down to Egypt.  While man functions independently and is responsible for his actions, he is nevertheless a tool for the accomplishment of God’s will.

Yosef is responsible for his actions, for the negative consequences that result from relaying hurtful dreams to his brothers.  And this is cause for his being mistreated by his brothers and sold into slavery – although certainly not an excuse for his brothers’ actions.  And at the same time, Yosef is being used to fulfill God’s will which requires him to descend to Egypt, the land where the Jewish people will ultimately emerge from.  If Yosef recognized this two-fold reason for why he was being kidnapped by his own brothers and sold into slavery – that is was partially his own fault and partially a part of a divine place – his silence make sense.  If he recognized God’s hand in his situation and even views this as a part of the mission his father sent him on, it is must easier to accept his silence.  Indeed his mission was to find his brothers, not just in the physical sense which he has already accomplished, but in the spiritual sense which is only accomplished later, in Egypt, when his brothers discover that Yosef is still alive and finally embrace him as a true brother.  At that point, not at any point in this week’s parsha, Yosef will have accomplished the mission Jacob sent him on. 

So we can see Yosef progress from a young man (na’ar) who careless used his speech at the beginning of this parsha, to someone who recognizes the time to remain silent at the time of his kidnapping and sale, and further (as shown later in this week’s parsha and throughout the rest of his life) to become a person who only uses the gift of speech – a gift only given to man – in a much more thoughtful, meaningful, and righteous manner.