Living
the Life
Parshas Vayechi
Posted on January 10, 2025 (5785) By Rabbi Label
Lam | Series: Dvar
Torah| Level: Beginner
And Yaakov lived in the
land of Egypt for seventeen years, and Yaakov’s days, the years of his life,
were a hundred and forty-seven years. (Breishis 47:28)
The Midrashic tells us
that these were very productive and golden years for Yaakov, those last 17 years
in Egypt. Therefore it says, “And Yaakov lived…” He saw his family grow to
incredible numbers and he was playing an instrumental role as a grandfather, a
teacher, and a guide preparing his children and grandchildren for a long and
challenging history and more immediately, for a bitter exile. What exactly the curriculum was, may remain a
mystery but for sure his years of ceaseless learning, his life’s experiences,
and his personal wisdom was being sewn into the hearts and minds of all future
generations. We see that he was working right up to the very end of his life,
till the very last breath, instructing and blessing his children. We can remain
wondering, “What could he have possibly been imparting?”
Here is a story I heard
recently that might be helpful to possibly understand what YAAKOV was so busy
doing the last 17 years of his life.
Two buses of boys, seventh
and eighth grade classes in Israel arrived after a long trip at a waterpark. It
became apparent immediately to the Rebbes in charge that the waterpark was not
reserved for male clientele only as they had planned.
Now, both the seventh and
eighth grade Rebbes had the difficult task to break the news to the boys on
each bus. When the eighth grade Rebbe told
his class, there was a giant collective groan and as can be expected, everyone
started to fount with expressions of disappointment and complaint. “No fair!”
There wasn’t much for the Rebbe to say to quiet the
crowd.
One boy asked the Rebbe if he could take the microphone for a
moment and he announced to all the other students that we should be happy. We
are doing the will of Hashem. There is nothing
greater than that! Rather, we should be celebrating. He started singing and
incredibly so did they!
When the 7th grade Rebbe called the 8th grade Rebbe to find out how the boys took the bad
news, he told him that it actually went well. The 7th grade Rebbe said, “Don’t tell me. One boy took the
microphone and told everyone they are doing the Ratzon HASHEM and
they should be happy and everyone started singing ASHREINU!” “Exactly!”
answered the Rebbe. “How did you know?” The 7th grade Rebbe told him the same thing happened on his
bus too. Astonishingly they were two brothers.
When they got back to
school, both Rebbes called up the mother of these two boys to share the
unbelievable news and to ask her an important question. “What’s in the water at
your house? How did you teach them or train them to do this? “The mother
answered that she had no idea and she thought for a while then she remembered
that a few years earlier, she took her children for a trip that didn’t work out
and they were disappointed. So, they came back to a local ice cream shop in
Jerusalem and when the ice cream was being served to them, she discovered that
it’s not their standard of HEKSHER.
Again, they were
disappointed, and when they came home with downcast faces, their father asked
them what happened. When they explained how disappointed they were, he got all
excited, and told his children that instead of being sad, they should be happy.
The father told them to get dressed up in Shabbos clothing,
and to set the table for a major celebration. The father went out and bought a
giant meal. He spared no expense. They sat and they sang together as a family.
“ASHREINU…”
What an impact a father
can have on children. With quick thinking and the right attitude, he created
nothing less than a revolution. Those boys on the bus won’t forget so soon.
There is nothing more profitable or pleasurable than doing what HASHEM wants. I don’t know what Yaakov was
teaching way back then, but he did a good job, because here we are many
thousands of years later, still teaching and living the life!
Stolen
Crafts
Parshas Vayechi
Posted on January 6, 2025 (5785) By Rabbi
Naftali Reich | Series: Legacy | Level: Beginner
How terrible the
disappointment must have been for Simon and Levi! How crushing! They had come
to their father’s bedside together with all their brothers with the expectation
that they would receive the old patriarch’s blessing, but all they received was
a sharp reprimand.
As we read in this week’s
Torah portion, Jacob, sensing the end of his life drawing near, summons his
sons to his side and blessed them. But this is far more than a father’s
deathbed blessing to his children. Jacob, the third and final of the
Patriarchs, has completed the work of laying the foundation for the Jewish
nation, and now, his twelve sons, patriarchs of the individual tribes, are poised
to build the rich, multi- hued edifice that would stand forever upon that solid
foundation. To help them achieve this transcendent goal, Jacob’s blessings
define the characters of each of the tribes, their strengths, their
obligations, their contributions to the overall tapestry of Jewish peoplehood.
His holy words empower them to fulfill their particular roles in the greater
scheme of Jewish destiny.
At this critical juncture,
when Judah is assigned the crown of royalty, Isachar the role of scholar, Zebulun
the role of philanthropist and so on, what does Jacob say to Simon and Levi? He
reminds them of the outburst of bloody rage in which they destroyed the city of
Shechem.
“Their weaponry is a
stolen craft,” he declares, behavior unfit for the exalted family of Jacob, a
page stolen from the book of Esau.
And that is it!
Where is their blessing?
Are they to be deprived for all eternity of the patriarchal fortification which
the other tribes received? How could Jacob leave them standing their without a
kind word, a compassionate gesture of conciliation?
This is how the scene
appears to us at first glance. The commentators, however, have an entirely
different perspective on it. Jacob did not exclude Simon and Levi from his
blessings, they explain. On the contrary, Jacob gave them a very great and
critical blessing, a blessing that would facilitate their participation in the
formation of the Jewish people.
During the Shechem
incident, Simon and Levi had displayed a dark and violent side to their
natures. They had shown themselves capable of underhanded conniving and a
disregard for human life. With such decidedly un-Jewish traits, how could Simon
and Levi take part in building a nation whose very existence is predicated on
spirituality, kindness, truth and the nobler traits of the human character, a
nation to which violence and deceit are abhorrent? Simon and Levi, fully aware
of how they had dishonored the Jewish ideal through their own shortcomings,
were heartbroken at the prospect of losing for all the eternity the opportunity
to take part in the building of the Jewish nation.
But Jacob was a loving
father, and in his blessing to his two headstrong sons, he gave them profound
reassurance. Your self-image is wrong, he told them. Do not think of yourselves
as violent, deceitful people. Violence and deceit are an aberration to you, a
craft stolen from Esau.
Do not despair. You have
it in your power to purge yourselves of this contamination and resume your
honored place among the other tribes of Israel. It is an undoubtedly a
difficult thing to do, but I give you my blessing that your efforts should be
blessed with success.
Two boys were expelled
from school for pulling a nasty prank on one of their teachers. As time went
by, one of them became a notorious criminal, while the other became a great
sage.
Years later, the principal
had occasion to meet the sage. “Tell me,” he said. “You both started from the
same point. How come you are a sage, and your friend is a criminal?”
“It’s very simple,” the
sage replied. “When we were expelled, my friend’s father ranted and raved at
him and punished him severely. But my father was wiser. He said to me, ‘You are
such a fine, good boy. What got into you to do such a cruel thing? It’s so out
of character!’ You know what? I realized he was right, and I never did such a thing
again.”
In our own lives, we are
often overcome with remorse and mortification over some terrible misdeed we
committed, whether in the conduct of our relationship with Hashem or with friends and family. Remorse can
be a very positive reaction, but not if it drags us down into despair and self-
loathing. Let us take heart in Jacob’s reassurance that as descendants of the
holy patriarchs we are essentially good and decent people, that any misdeeds of
which we may be guilty are the product of stolen crafts, alien influences we
can and will eradicate from our hearts.
Text Copyright © 2007 by
Rabbi Naftali Reich and Torah.org.
Rabbi Reich is on the
faculty of the Ohr
Somayach Tanebaum Education Center.
Aging
Gracefully
Parshas Vayechi
Posted on December 14, 2021 (5782) By Rabbi
Pinchas Avruch | Series: Kol
HaKollel | Level: Beginner
“And it came to pass after
these matters that [the messenger] said to Yosef (Joseph), ‘Behold, your father
is ill.’…(Beraishis/Genesis 48:1) This is the first time in the history of
the world that someone became sick.
Yalkut Shimoni (1)(Chayai Sarah 105) narrates that Avraham requested from G-d the
phenomenon of visible aging, for he feared that when father and son entered a
room people would not know whom to give honor first, so G-d granted
him his wish, with him as the first recipient.
Yitzchak (Isaac) requested
suffering before death, for he feared the result of the process of Divine
judgment if one never had the warning to do teshuva (regret one’s misdeeds and
resolve to return to G-d’s path), so G-d granted
him his wish, with him as the first recipient.
Yaakov (Jacob) requested
illness, for he feared the consequences of not having a few days to resolve
outstanding issues between one’s children. G-d granted
him his wish, with him as the first recipient.
Michtav Me’Eliyahu (2)
explains that each of our saintly forefathers made requests consistent with his
most pronounced character trait. Avraham, known
for his acts of chesed (loving kindness), appreciated the need
for giving genuine honor to his fellow human. G-d concurred
to the great impediment this indistinguishability placed on one’s Divine service
through chesed.
Yitzchak’s focus was on
justice, and he recognized the great tragedy in the afterlife that awaited one
who did not do teshuva. Therefore, he beseeched a mechanism in this life that
would awaken the consciousness to this inevitability so that the requisite
correction could be made.
Yaakov’s pursuit was
perfection and completion, seeking resolution between opposing forces. Prior to
death, a simple declaration of one’s will was insufficient; efforts needed to
be made to ensure that the children accepted the determination. He understood
that there would continue to be jealousy unless everyone genuinely felt his
interests had been served, that there could be no peace (shalom) between parties without feeling a sense of
wholeness (shleimus). This could not be accomplished with the suddenness that
accompanied natural death at that time. G-d’s accommodation was extended
illness.
Rabbi Akiva taught us
(Tractate Berachos 60b) that one should regularly remind himself that all that G-d does is for the good. There are tragedies
that challenge our faith in this maxim, such as the difficulties that comes
with aging. But our Sages remind us often that trials are given to us as growth
opportunities (see Kol HaKollel Parshas Lech
Lecha 5764), and G-d, in his infinite kindness and love for us,
granted our forefathers’ requests for the growth opportunities of aging. Our
challenge is to maximize our utilization of them.
Have a Good Shabbos!
