Monday, January 08, 2007

DVAR TORAH: Vayechi (it's a Greek Tragedy when everybody dies)

This is going to be yet another short one because I am raring to go on a jog and I want to go before it gets too hot. This past week's parasha, Vayechi, is the final one of Genesis. It is the parasha where we wipe the slate clean of the remaining patriarchs, Jacobs and all of his sons die at the end of the parasha in order to perpetuate the next main character of the Torah who will remain its main human for the remaining four books, Moses.

This portion, like many others that come before it discredits the policy of primogeniture. Jacob says, "Ephraim and Menashe are to me like Reuven and Shimon", and unless this is a chiastic structure (fascinating article at wikipedia!), Jacob just put the secondborn before the firstborn (just like he did in regards to his own brother, and just as Peretz did when he was coming out of the womb). Indeed, though Joseph tries to avert it, Jacob gives Ephrayim the stronger hand and stronger blessing, crossing right hand over left (so much for it not being a chiastic structure, he makes his hands looking, in fact, like a greek chi (X)). From this exchange we gain two important blessings for children: "Yesimcha Elokim K'Efraim U'kiM'nashe", confered by parents upon their sons at the sabbath table, and "HaMalach HaGoel Oti" (not only used during the penultimate aliyah of the Torah on Simchat Torah when we call up all the children, but also makes a handy-dandy seudah shlishit melody and is nice to hum when you say the Sh"mata, my contraction of Shema al HaMita when you are going to bed). What does Menashe get, by the way? His name was given to one of the, if not the, worst king of Judah. The name was also placed upon the grandfather of an idol-worshipper, replacing probably the name of Moses, because little old Menashe can take more punishment...

There are so many pearls in this final parasha of Bereishit. Jacob is about to reveal escatological events but then blanks and begins his blessing of Reuven. When Jacob dies, Joseph mummifies him (kind of cool, I guess). When the brothers think Joseph will finally get his revenge after their father dies, he says that it wasn't them but God that orchestrated the events that led him down to Egypt. So much for Caesar Trajan (yemach shemo!) using that against us (see Eleh Ezkera if you get bored on Yom Kippur, and perhaps As A Driven Leaf). And Joseph dies, he gets embalmed, made into a mummy, and then is he buried? Yeah, at the bottom of the Nile under a heavy gold plate because pharaoh didn't want the Jews to leave hundreds of years later when they had to fulfill their promise to bring back the bones of Joseph to Canaan. Ah Midrash...

Remember the password: "Pakod Yifkod". It will be important later.

Speaking of the bones of Joseph, you should read this article. It makes me sick... After 4000 years they destroy it now...

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