Our Parshah provides the link between the book of Genesis and the rest of the Torah, and indeed Jewish history. While detailing the deaths and burial of Jacob and Joseph, its main focus is on looking to the future. This is done by the way of the blessings Jacob gives to his sons and grandsons. By means of prophetic insight Jacob details the characteristics and to a certain extent the future progress of each of his descendents. Yet we find in this emphasis on predicting the future a strange anomaly. Precisely at the point when Jacob wishes to bless his sons and reveal to them their destiny, his prophetic inspiration leaves him. This happens twice. Once when Joseph brings his sons to be blessed and Jacob seems not to recognise them. Again, when intending to give his final blessing to his sons, he proposes to tell them what will happen ‘at the end of days’, a code in Jewish tradition for the messianic age. Yet, he in the end does no such thing. In both cases, the Rabbis tell us, Jacob lost his Divine inspiration and was at a loss what to say. Precisely when he most needs a Divine glimpse of the future it is denied to him. How shall we understand this phenomena? Jacob is departing this world with his descendants strangers in a strange land. He has great foreboding for both their physical and spiritual future. What will be their fate in Egypt: persecution or security, identity or assimilation? He seeks to alleviate these fears by using his prophetic ability to peer into the future. He above all wants to give his descendants a glimpse of their fate, so they can be strengthened in their ability to deal with it. But the Divine inspiration he is relying on is suddenly withheld from him. G-d has other ideas. Jacob’s proposal, though admirable in its intention, is wrong in practice. Jacob believes that by revealing the future to his children they will become stronger. G-d knows that the opposite is the case. Knowing what is in store for them would cause them to become fatalistic and they would thus be weakened, not strengthened, in their ability to deal with future events. Furthermore, Jacobs desire presupposes that the future is fixed and not dependant on human action. He is again mistaken. While G-d may have an overall plan for the world it does not remove human responsibility. There are various ways of getting to G-d’s ultimate destination and the path that is taken is down to us. The Parshah thus teaches us an important lesson. Rather than worrying about what the future holds in store for us, we should ourselves be trying to shape it.
ALIYAH BY ALIYAH SYNOPSIS
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Rishon |
Jacob makes Joseph swear to bury him in Hebron. He adopts Joseph’s sons as equal inheritors. |
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Sheni |
Jacob blesses Joseph‘s sons; blessing the younger before the elder. |
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Shelishi |
Jacob tells Joseph that G-d will eventually return them home. |
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Revi’i |
Jacob blesses his sons: Reuben, Shimon, Levi, Judah, Zevulun, Issachar and Dan. |
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Chamishi |
Jacob blesses Gad, Asher, Naphtali and Joseph. |
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Shishi |
Benjamin is blessed. Jacob dies and is buried with great pomp in the Cave of Machpelah. Joseph’s brothers worry he will now get revenge. |
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Shevi’i |
Joseph reassures them. He dies and is buried in Egypt. |
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Haftorah |
I Kings: 2;1-12: David’s final instructions to Solomon. |
Sidra Statistics
Sidra Statistics: Parshat Vayehi
· has 85 verses ;
· is the 12th in Genesis, 12th in the Torah
· shortest in Genesis, 43rd longest in the Torah
· has no mitzvot.
· Genesis: has:
· 1534 verses, 12 parshiot, 3 mitzvot
