Quick Thoughts on the Parsha

In the third aliyah of Parshat Vayechi, we learn of Yaakov’s bracha to Menashe and Ephraim. At the end of the aliyah, we read ואני נתתי לך שכם אחד על אחיך אשר לקחתי מיד האמרי בחרבי ובקשתי, ‘And I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow’. On a pshat level, this must refer to the bracha that Yaakov stole from Esav. Chazal traditionally clarify this by explaining that the Torah refers to Esav here as ‘the Amorite’ because his deeds were like those of the Amorites. Reflecting back on this interaction between Yaakov and Esav, Rashi comments on our pasuk that ‘my sword’ refers to ‘my wisdom’ and ‘my bow’ refers to ‘my prayer’. His clever mind and God’s ear made it possible for him to take the bracha from Esav. But when we step back from the drama associated with this context, we can begin to decode Yaakov’s bracha to Menashe and Ephraim. Drawing from his experience, Yaakov is sharing the tools necessary to receive additional blessings, additional portions in our lives. We must know when to use our swords, our sharp minds that distinguish between right and wrong, make sense of the world around us, and allow us to learn, and when to use our bows, the prayers that like a bow, bend and are flexible and have the ability to shoot our concerns straight into God’s heart. We can hear Rashi playing with ובקשתי, ‘my bow’, and בקשה, the petitions that are unique to prayer. May we have the ability to discern when to use our swords, our sharp wisdom and cleverness, and when to use our bows, our flexible and direct prayers, so that we may merit to receive additional blessings.

--Rabbanit Alissa

At the beginning of the fourth aliyah of Parshat Vayechi, Yaakov begins his blessings to his sons at the end of his life. We read, ויקרא יעקב אל בניו ויאמר האספו ואגידה לכם את אשר יקרא אתכם באחרית הימים, ‘And Yaakov called to his sons, and he said, ‘Gather yourselves together that I may tell you that which shall befall you at the end of days’’. Rashi, quoting the Midrash, famously teaches that Yaakov really did have the intention of revealing what would happen at the end of days, at the end of time. But the Shechinah intervened and stopped him, leading him to say other words, namely the blessings that follow. We can relate to the instinct that Yaakov has. At the end of our lives, wouldn’t we all like to say to our loved ones, ‘Here is what is going to happen. Everything will be ok. You and I are equipped with the knowledge of the future, and that will help us as I move on to the next world’? Wouldn’t we all like to hear this said to us? But it is clear from Rashi and the Midrash that Hashem had a different plan. God teaches us that though our instinct might be to predict the future— to know everything that is to come— in reality, what we need is not to know the future but instead to bless each other in the present. It is also for this reason that we have very little literature about olam habah and the end of days in our tradition. If we actually knew what would happen in the future, we would no longer have free will, and we would lose the ability to hope and change what currently is. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks poignantly writes, ‘Jewish time always faces an open future. The last chapter is not yet written. The Messiah has not yet come. Until then, the story continues— and we, together with God, are the co-authors of the next chapter’ (Covenant and Conversation, Parshat Vayechi 5777). Not knowing what will be at the end of days gives us the ability to be partners with God is creating and bettering the present and the future. May we merit to be present in the moment and to be God’s co-authors in writing both the chapters ahead and the final chapter when its time comes.

--Rabbanit Alissa