Vayechi 5773
Through death, it is possible to argue, that we come
to best understand life's essence. In this week's Parsha, Vayechi, Yaakov, our
forefather from whom our nations receives its name Yisrael, passes away. It is
at this momentous turning point in our people's history that he, Yaakov,
blesses each and every one of his twelve sons leaving them a legacy through
which they can lead their lives in the most divine of ways. What we will focus
on this week is not so much the last will and testament that Yaakov imparts to
his sons but rather, the complexity posed by the death of a man as great as
Yaakov. Through analyzing what different Torah commentators say about Yaakov's
longevity and the meaning nestled within, we can gain greater understanding of
Yaakov's spiritual level and how elevated we are as his direct descendants.
In beginning our journey, we'll begin with Rashi who
relates that Yaakov's passing was not only in a manner of speaking "a
point of no return" but also the end of an era and the transition to a new
one. This, Rashi relates, is manifest in the ink and parchment layout on a
Torah scroll; there's no break or space between the end of last week's parsha Vayigash
and this one (as normally would be the case) conveying that the sorrows and
throes of servitude were closing in on the people of Israel, muddying their
vision and sealing the case against them that would block their hearts from the
joy of freedom and autonomy. Alternatively, shares Rashi, the lack of
separation between the two Torah portions conveys that Yaakov wanted to reveal
to his sons the glimmer of hope of redemption at the end of days before they
fell into the morass of slavery-yet Yaakov's mind went blank, preventing him
from doing so.
It is clear already at this point that Yaakov's
import to the entire nation was monumental and that after his death, life would
take on a totally different form. The scholar, Rashi, further expounds that
when the verse states, "Yaakov's day(s) of death approached," the
specific words, "death approached" connote that the person on the
verge of death has had a life span shorter than his forebear. That, relates
Rashi is the case with Yaakov and Isaac, Yaakov the son living to the age of
147 and the father, Isaac, to the age of 180. Furthermore, King David's father,
Yishai outlived him by 10 years, the latter living to the age of 90 and the son
to the age of 80. The presumption in Rashi's reading of the text was that longevity
among Torah leader lineages bespoke righteousness, with a son, were he to
follow in his father's righteous ways, destined to live the same number of
years as his father or outlive him. The fact that Yaakov's life was not testament
of such, seems to suggest that Hashem held Yaakov accountable for a particular
action he had performed in a way that curtailed the years "originally"
apportioned to him.
Such a logic perhaps would seem antithetical to a
modern Western perception that favors liberalism which cuts people slack for
hardships they endured and the extenuating circumstances which are seen as much
a part of their deeds as the deeds themselves. After all, Yaakov's brother out
to kill him, he had to flee for his life. Thereafter he labored for an employer
who also became his father-in-law, who pulled a bait and switch on him on his
wedding day, betroathing him to a woman he had no intent of marrying. His
father-in-law, Lavan, then continued to cheat him right and left; when Yaakov
finally absconded with his family, Lavan ran after him threatening to kill him,
boasting that he would be more than happy to do so if not for a divine
imperative that forbade this act of murder against him. Thereafter, Yaakov
makes the long journey back to his father, and hears that his brother has
amassed an army to leave him for dead before he can returns to his parents'
home after an absence of 36 years. By the good grace of Hashem, Eisav, Yaakov's
evil brother does not kill him. Then, on the ensuing arduous journey, Yaakov's
beloved wife Rachel, mother to Yosef and Binyamin, dies suddenly, leaving
Yaakov without his first love, the love of his life. When Yaakov finally seeks
to settle peaceably in tranquility, Yosef, his eldest son is sold by his other sons (save Reuven and
Binyamin) into slavery and from this point on, for the duration of 22 years
Yaakov no longer knows serenity until his monumental reunion with Yosef. On the way to that denoument, a crippling
famine strikes Yaakov's home, Canaan, Yaakov sends all of his sons except for
Binyamin to Egypt to bring back nourishment, at which point all of the brothers
return except for Shimon who has been jailed because of accusations of
espionage, with the only way to rescue him being to risk the life of his youngest
and last "living" son from his beloved Rachel.
In brief, Yaakov's life was not easy; some slack
could have been accorded him yet the Torah commentators state the very
opposite; in light of his extreme righteousness, he would be held all the more
accountable for misdeeds and any form of mis-speech. "Eh tu brute"
or a catch 22 of the Highest proportion. Would that only be the same of the standards
expected of our leaders!
The last leg of this dvar Torah will suggest two
different interpretations as to what Yaakov did/said that was the reason behind
his life being shortened. The commentator, Baal Haturim, seems to
suggest that we can see the dictate of an "eye for an eye" in both of
the reasons recorded. First, teaches the Baal Haturim, if we look at the
way in which the Torah records the duration of Yaakov's life, it states,
"And the days of Yaakov, the years of his life, were seven years and forty
and a hundred years." States the Baal Haturim, seeing that when Yaakov
met Pharoah, his face had a downtrodden air about it and he complained about
his life having been "short and bad," thus, in recounting the years
of his life-in contrast to the way the verse reads regarding Avraham and
Yitzchak-here, in our Torah portion, the verse starts first with the seven
years of Yaakov's life, connoting what Yaakov referred to as their
"short"ness or brevity. What's fascinating is that were one to count
the words in the conversation between Pharoah and Yaakov, one would find that
there are exacty 33 words in the dialogue, parallelling the numbers of years
Yaakov's life fell short of reaching the duration of his father, Yitzchak.
Based on the Baal Haturim, Rabbi Polakoff, the rabbi of the Great Neck
Synagogue in Long Island, N.Y., insightfully adds that Yaakov is not only held
to account for the words he spoke but also the fact that his sad countenance
engendered or gave way to Pharoah needing to ask him his age, symbolic perhaps
of the pain and tragedy Yaakov wore on his face.
The second interpretation in the Baal Haturim also
conveys a significant message regarding speech and an optimistic, positive
attitude. When Lavan pursues Yaakov with a throng of his brothers to murder
him, Lavan accuses Yaakov of having stolen his miniature idols. Yaakov deplores
the suggestion and says, "The person with whom you find your Gods shall
not live." Were one to calculate the gematria of the Hebrew word, ychye
or live, it has the numerical value
of 33, y (10)+ch (8)+ y(10) + e(5). This
vow on the part of Yaakov led to Rachel's premature death, teaches the Baal
Haturim, and as such Yaakov's life was shortened by the numerical value of
the word ychye.
The take home message here is the supreme stature of
our forefather Yaakov which can be intuited from the standard to which he was
held. According to both reasons recorded by the Baal Haturim we see the
importance of speaking in a gentle, humble way, even in the most trying of
times. The equanimity and composure of our forefathers is reflective of their bitachon,
and unwavering faith that continually serves as inspiration for Jew and non-Jew
alike at times of trial and tribulation.
