* TORAH WEEKLY * Highlights of the Weekly Torah Portion and Haftorah. Plus Ani Ma'amin - The Rambam's 13 Principles of Faith. Parshas Vayechi For the week ending 14 Teves 5755 16 & 17 December 1994 =========================================================================== This issue is dedicated by Israel & Chaim Neustadter, on the occasion of the first Yahrtzeit of wife and mother Sarah Golda bat Chaim Eliezer Alter, Zichronah Livracha. =========================================================================== Summary After living seventeen years in Egypt, Yaakov senses his days drawing to a close, and summons Yosef. He makes Yosef swear to bury him in the cave of Machpela, the burial place of Adam and Chava, Avraham and Sarah, Yitzchak and Rivka. Yaakov becomes ill and Yosef brings to him his two sons, Ephraim and Menashe. Yaakov elevates Ephraim and Menashe to the status of his own sons, thus giving Yosef a double portion which removes the status of the first-born from Reuven. As Yaakov is blind from old age, Yosef leads his sons close to their grandfather. Yaakov kisses and hugs them. He had not thought to see his son Yosef again, let alone Yosef's children. Yaakov begins to bless them, giving precedence to Ephraim, the younger, but Yosef interrupts him, indicating that Menashe is the elder. Yaakov explains that he intends to bless Ephraim with his strong hand because Yehoshua will descend from him, and Yehoshua will be both the conqueror of Eretz Yisrael, and the teacher of Torah to the Jewish People. Yaakov summons the rest of his sons in order to bless them as well. Yaakov's blessing reflects the unique character and ability of each tribe, directing each one in its unique mission in serving Hashem. Yaakov passes from this world at the age of 147. A tremendous funeral procession accompanies his funeral cortege up from Egypt to his resting place in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. After Yaakov's passing, the brothers are concerned that now Yosef will take vengeance on them. Yosef reassures them, even promising to support them and their families. Yosef lives out the rest of his years in Egypt, seeing Ephraim's great-grandchildren. Before his death, Yosef foretells to his brothers that Hashem will redeem them from Egypt. He makes them swear to bring his bones up out of Egypt with them at that time. Yosef passes away at the age of 110 and is embalmed. Thus ends Sefer Bereishis, the first of the five Books of the Torah. =========================================================================== Commentaries "And Yaakov lived..." (47:28). The Parsha of Vayechi is unique in the whole Torah in that it is "closed" - - there is no extra space between the final word of last week's Parsha and the beginning of this week's Parsha. Similarly, the eyes of the children of Yisrael were "closed" to the spiritual enslavement by the Egyptians, which started imperceptibly with Yaakov's death. Another reason that the Parsha is "closed" is that Yaakov wanted to reveal to his children the end of the final exile of the Jewish People, and the coming of the Moshiach, but his prophetic vision was "closed", and he was not able to reveal it. We are living now in the time of "the footsteps of the Moshiach". Our Sages teach us that this will be a time of immense confusion, when it will appear that events have gone haywire, and G-d does not, or cannot run the world. The entire reason for this total hiding of providential guidance is to test our faithfulness to Hashem; that even when tragic events occur, we do not, even for a second, question who is running the world. We live in the final chapter of world history. The gods of materialism and self- centerdness never close their eyes, relentless in their media barrage -- Our eyes must never be closed to the vision that every day the Redeemer will come to Zion. (Based on Rashi) "And Yisrael stretched forth his right hand and placed it on the head of Ephraim...and his left on the head of Menashe" (48:14). Yaakov was the first to give a blessing by placing his hands on the head. Why did he originate this practice? For, if the recipient was worthy of blessing, what need was there of this physical demonstration? Rather, Yaakov saw the exile beginning, and he realized that the Jewish People would be living outside of Eretz Yisrael, distant from the source of kedusha. Placing his hands on the head symbolized a spiritual pipeline -- that just as his arms connected him to Ephraim and Menashe physically, so would his blessing reach the Jewish People, giving them a lifeline to the wellsprings of holiness even in the bleakest and most remote exile. (HaFlaoh) "...In you shall all Yisrael bless, saying `May G-d make you as Ephraim and as Menashe'" (48:20). The real "generation gap" is between the spiritual attainments of one generation and its predecessor. For, from that moment of supreme encounter at Sinai, the march of history has been relentlessly and consistently downward spiritually. On Friday nights throughout the Jewish world, the first thing that a father does on returning from shul is to bless the children with the words of this verse, "May G-d make you as Ephraim and as Menashe." Why from all our towering spiritual giants, are Ephraim and Menashe singled out to be the paradigm of blessing? Why don't we say "May G-d make you like Avraham or Moshe?" The answer is to be found in what Yaakov says to Yosef, "Ephraim and Menashe will be to me as Reuven and Shimon. (48:5)" Ephraim and Menashe, although Yaakov's grandchildren, had reached the level of the previous generation, the level of their uncles Reuven and Shimon -- they had not descended the spiritual ladder. Thus, on Friday nights, a father blesses his children that they should absorb all the spiritual attainments of the preceding generation and escape that downward spiritual spiral -- the generation gap. (Adapted from Rabbi Michoel Schoen -- "Prisms") Haftorah: Kings I 2:1-12 As in the Parsha where we read the final will and testament of Yaakov Avinu, so the Haftorah deals with the final words of one of the greatest figures in History, David HaMelech. David commands his 12 year-old son, Shlomo, to act as a man of wisdom and piety despite his tender years, and to guard and uphold the Torah. If Shlomo will serve Hashem in truth, with all his heart and soul, he will merit that all the kings of Yisrael will descend from him. In the same way that Yaakov Avinu illuminated the path to make his children into a people, David HaMelech illuminates the path that will make Shlomo the father of Kings. (Rabbi S.R.Hirsch) =========================================================================== Ani Ma'amin The Rambam's 13 principles of faith Principle #10: "I believe with complete faith that the Creator, Blessed is His Name, knows all the deeds of human beings and their thoughts, as it is said `He fashions their hearts all together, He comprehends all their deeds.'" Everything that exists with the exception of Hashem Himself, exists only because Hashem gives it the power to exist. This is true from the highest angelic being to the smallest insect. Hashem knows Himself, and is aware of His own greatness, glory and reality. Therefore He must know everything else, and nothing can be hidden from Him. Hashem knows His true nature and recognizes it exactly as it is. This knowledge is not something that can be separated from His essence. Our knowledge, however, in not the same as our identity, but in the case of Hashem, both He and His knowledge are One. Rambam -- Yesodei HaTorah He scrutinizes and knows our hiddenmost secrets; He foresees the end from the beginning; As are a man's deeds - so is his recompense; Yigdal =========================================================================== Can't make it to Israel for the Winter JLE program? There is still another option available: The Ohr Somayach WINTER LEARNING RETREAT held in our Monsey New York campus from December 22-29. This FREE program is open to college students who are interested in experiencing a taste of Jewish learning. 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