Vayechi - וַיְחִ֤י - Genesis B'reisheet 47:28 - 50:26 Making Torah Personal ~ Emet

(28) Jacob lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt, so that the span of Jacob’s life came to one hundred and forty-seven years.(29) And when the time approached for Israel to die, he summoned his son Joseph and said to him, “Do me this favor, place your hand under my thigh as a pledge of your steadfast loyalty: please do not bury me in Egypt.

ויחי יעקב בארץ מצרים, “Yaakov lived in the land of Egypt;” all the years of Yaakov until he settled in Egypt could not truly be described as חיים, “life,” seeing that they were all clouded by different kinds of anguish. It was only during his last seventeen years in Egypt that his mind was at rest and not beset by serious worries of one kind or another. In fact, this whole verse has been inserted in the Torah as a compliment to Joseph who was the cause of Yaakov’s last seventeen years being happy years. During those 17 years he repaid his father who had sustained him for the first seventeen years of his life, by providing for him during the last 17 years of his life. He had been seventeen years old when he had been sold.

אל נא תקברני במצרים, even temporarily, in a coffin, as was done with Joseph (50,26). Yaakov reasoned that if he allowed himself to be interred even temporarily, Joseph would never be allowed to take his remains to the land of Canaan at a later date. They would argue that the honour done to him and burial in the soil of Egypt was adequate as it had been for the most outstanding kings. [we must understand the preoccupation the Egyptians had with the cult of death and what they presumed to be their afterlife. The whole culture of that people revolved around burial, hence the pyramids. Ed.]

לא יעקב [THY NAME SHALL] NO MORE BE CALLED JACOB [BUT ISRAEL] (literally, “not Jacob — supplanting — shall any more be said to thee”) — It shall no longer be said that the blessings came to you through supplanting and deceit but through noble conduct (שררה) and in an open manner.

חסד ואמת MERCY AND TRUTH — The mercy shown to the dead is “mercy of truth” (true, disinterested kindness) since one cannot hope for any reward (Genesis Rabbah 96:5).

ועשית עמדי חסד ואמת, “and perform for me an act of kindness and truth.” Wherever we find the expression חסד ואמת, it refers to giving someone more than he is entitled to expect, or asking him to do something beyond what he is entitled to demand. One such example is found in Samuel II 15,20: שוב והשב את אחיך עמך חסד ואמת, “go back and take your kinsmen with you and perform an act of loyalty and kindness (with them).” [David was in dire straits and staying with him was likely to result in the death of Ittai and his men. He was not obligated to remain faithful to David. Ed] Yaakov reminds Joseph that while it is his duty to bury his father, he is not entitled to demand of him to bring him to burial in the cave of Machpelah. He therefore pleads with him not to bury him in Egypt.

(30) When I lie down with my ancestors, take me up from Egypt and bury me in their burial-place.” He replied, “I will do as you have spoken.”(31) And he said, “Swear to me.” And he swore to him. Then Israel bowed at the head of the bed.

(1) Some time afterward, Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.(2) When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to see you,” Israel summoned his strength and sat up in bed.(3) And Jacob said to Joseph, “El Shaddai, who appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, blessed me—(4) and said to me, ‘I will make you fertile and numerous, making of you a community of peoples; and I will assign this land to your offspring to come for an everlasting possession.’(5) Now, your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, shall be mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine no less than Reuben and Simeon.

(6) But progeny born to you after them shall be yours; they shall be recorded instead of their brothers in their inheritance.(7) I [do this because], when I was returning from Paddan, Rachel died, to my sorrow, while I was journeying in the land of Canaan, when still some distance short of Ephrath; and I buried her there on the road to Ephrath”—now Bethlehem.(8) Noticing Joseph’s sons, Israel asked, “Who are these?”(9) And Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” “Bring them up to me,” he said, “that I may bless them.”(10)Now Israel’s eyes were dim with age; he could not see. So [Joseph] brought them close to him, and he kissed them and embraced them.(11) And Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see you again, and here God has let me see your children as well.”

לא יוכל לראות, he could not see clearly. In order for a blessing to take hold it is necessary for the one bestowing the blessing to see the party whom he blesses at the time the blessing is pronounced. [the same is true of a curse, this is why Balak took Bileam to a vantage point from which he could see the people of Israel whom he had been hired to curse, clearly. (Numbers 23,13). G’d also took Moses to a point from which he could see the land of Israel clearly so that he could bless the land. Something similar occurred in Kings II 2,24 where Elisha turned around to face the lads mocking his baldness before he cursed them.

(12) Joseph then removed them from his knees, and bowed low with his face to the ground.(13) Joseph took the two of them, Ephraim with his right hand—to Israel’s left—and Manasseh with his left hand—to Israel’s right—and brought them close to him.(14) But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head—thus crossing his hands—although Manasseh was the first-born.(15) And he blessed Joseph, saying,
“The God in whose ways my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
The God who has been my shepherd from my birth to this day—
(16) The Messenger who has redeemed me from all harm—
Bless the lads.
In them may my name be recalled,
And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,
And may they be teeming multitudes upon the earth.”(17) When Joseph saw that his father was placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head, he thought it wrong; so he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s.(18) “Not so, Father,” Joseph said to his father, “for the other is the first-born; place your right hand on his head.”(19) But his father objected, saying, “I know, my son, I know. He too shall become a people, and he too shall be great. Yet his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall be plentiful enough for nations.”(20) So he blessed them that day, saying, “By you shall Israel invoke blessings, saying: God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.” Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh.(21) Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die; but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your ancestors.

(28) All these were the tribes of Israel, twelve in number, and this is what their father said to them as he bade them farewell, addressing to each a parting word appropriate to him.

(33) When Jacob finished his instructions to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and, breathing his last, he was gathered to his kin.

(1) Joseph flung himself upon his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him.(2) Then Joseph ordered the physicians in his service to embalm his father, and the physicians embalmed Israel.

(2) The soul is created from the place of the Holy Spirit, as it is said, "And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life" (Gen. 2:7). And it is hewn out from a place of purity, and it is created from the supernal radiance, from the Throne of Glory. And in the realm above, in the place of the Holy of Holies, there is no falsehood. There everything is truth, as it is said, "But the Lord God is the true God" (Jer. 10:10). I have found written, "I am that I am" (Ex. 3:14). And it is also written, "And the Lord God is the true God, He is the living God and everlasting king" (Jer. 10:10).

373. Truth establishes all things, falsehood overthrows them.

(1) A psalm of David. LORD, who may sojourn in Your tent, who may dwell on Your holy mountain?(2) He who lives without blame, who does what is right, and in his heart acknowledges the truth;

(8) Do not rebuke a scoffer, for he will hate you;
Reprove a wise man, and he will love you.

§ The Sages taught: How does one dance before the bride, i.e., what does one recite while dancing at her wedding? Beit Shammai say:One recites praise of the bride as she is, emphasizing her good qualities. And Beit Hillel say: One recites: A fair and attractive bride. Beit Shammai said to Beit Hillel: In a case where the bride was lame or blind, does one say with regard to her: A fair and attractive bride? But the Torah states: “Keep you from a false matter” (Exodus 23:7). Beit Hillel said to Beit Shammai: According to your statement, with regard to one who acquired an inferior acquisition from the market, should another praise it and enhance its value in his eyes or condemn it and diminish its value in his eyes? You must say that he should praise it and enhance its value in his eyes and refrain from causing him anguish. From here the Sages said: A person’s disposition should always be empathetic with mankind, and treat everyone courteously. In this case too, once the groom has married his bride, one praises her as being fair and attractive.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.