ON THE PARSHA Parshas VaYechi by Dovid Lipman, Israel Year 2, No. 12 Introduction This parsha, which concludes the story of Yaakov and his family (in Egypt), has five parts: 1) Yaakov's Burial Plans [WON] 2) Blessings Switched [RAUW] 3) Blessing the Tribes [FTG] 4) Yaakov's Death & Burial [DYR] 5) Yoseif: Last Words [TWOTS] 1. Yaakov's Burial Plans -- 47:28 [Beg.] to 47:31 Yaakov calls Yoseif and binds him in an oath to bring Yaakov's body for burial to the cave of Machpelah, where his parents and Leah are buried. Worthy of Note (47:28) "...the years of his life..." -can also be read, "his two lives", since Yaakov's life in this world was so much oriented toward the World to Come, it was as if he lived "two lives" at once. We also read of "the two lives of Sarah". 2. Blessings Switched -- Chap. 48 Yoseif hears Yaakov's final illness has arrived, and he brings his two sons for Yaakov to bless, which he does, but with his right (main) hand on the younger son's head, which, he explains, was purposeful, since the younger's future is greater. Rare and Unusual Words (48:19) "VaYeMa'ein". Lit. 'And he refused', in the case to prefer the older son, but the term connotes refusal with no reason given, which is hard to see here, since Yaakov does explain. So what Yaakov didn't explain is WHY Efrayim will become greater. The reason, in fact, is that the family of Yoseif needs great humility, to submit to the higher authority of Yehuda, and Efrayim's humility was greater, which led to the total submission of Yehoshua to Moshe. Efrayim's name hints to humility - "for Hashem gave me fruit in the land of my poverty": Yoseif's humility made him call a land he ruled one of "poverty", for it's all Hashem's, and he gave it over to Efrayim. 3. Blessing the Tribes -- 49:1 to 49:28 Yaakov gathers his sons and gives a final message to each, some of rebuke and some of blessing. From the Gemara (49:24) Sota 36b - The language 'the stone of Israel' hints that only because Yoseif controlled his temptation did he have a stone in the Choshen worn by the Kohen Gadol.(more on this pasuk there) 4. Yaakov's Death & Burial -- 49:29 to 50:14 Yaakov's death is heavily mourned in Egypt and on the way to C'na'an where he's buried in the Cave of Machpelah by all his sons; Yoseif included. Do You Remember? - from the files of On the Parsha 1. "Yehuda is a young lion" refers to whom? 2. Was burying Yaakov a "kindness" or a "truth"? 3. How "difficult" are people's livelihoods? 4. What "good words" did Naftali bring? 5. What 3 rebukes did the word "Pachaz" hint to? 5. Yoseif: Last Words -- 50:15 to 50:26 [End] Yoseif reassures his concerned brothers that he won't avenge their selling him, and he then binds them in an oath to bring his bones out of Egypt when the exile is over. He then dies and is embalmed in Egypt. The World of the Supernatural (50:20) "And, while you thought of evil for me, in Hashem's mind it was for good..." This hints to the principle of the gemara (Kidd. 39b) that a bad thought is not reckoned, if the bad deed is not also done. Here, too, "while thought of evil for me," and you might have expected punishment for that, since the deed itself "in Hashem's plan was for good," and the thought alone isn't punishable.