Rabbi Jon’s Reflection on This Week’s Torah Portion
12.29.2023
Vayechi 2023: Not Allowing Ourselves to be Enslaved
A short reflection on Vayechi (Genesis 47:28 - 50:26)
Time to do some math, calculators or even paper and pencil will do.
In this week’s Torah portion, Vayechi, we learn that “Jacob lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt.” If he arrived in the second year of a seven year famine, how many years past the famine did he live in Egypt? If you did the math correctly, you should arrive at the number twelve. Jacob spent an additional twelve years in Egypt before finally dying at the age of 137. Given that God promised him and his ancestors the land of Canaan, it seems he was in no rush to return. Yet, on his deathbed, he makes Joseph swear that he will bury him at the Cave of Machpelah with the words, “please do not bury me in Egypt. When I lie down with my ancestors, take me up from Egypt and bury me in their burial-place.”
After Jacob’s passing, Joseph, his brothers, Egyptian dignitaries and even Egyptian chariots, accompanied Jacob to his burial place. Children and flocks were left behind. Joseph and his brothers were back in their homeland, the land promised to them by God. Yet after the burial was complete, they turned around and returned to Egypt without a second thought.
The question arises as to why they didn’t take their children and herds with them and remain in Canaan. While our commentators would like to make the Egyptians responsible for our return, our biblical text seems to be ignorant of Egyptian involvement. Without or without manipulations by the Egyptians, nowhere in the Torah does it state that the Israelites had an urge to return to the Promised Land. Perhaps, the Israelites knew their fate – that they were to become slaves. After seventeen years in Egypt, they could no longer perceive themselves as free people living in their own land.
Immediately after Jacob’s burial, Joseph’s brothers were concerned that Joseph’s anger towards them would take shape, and they would finally be punished for selling him into slavery so many years prior. We see the mental attitude of Joseph’s brothers when they say to him, “We are prepared to be your slaves.” Instead of punishing them or enslaving them, he reassures them that he will protect them. But, their mental attitude has been revealed – they are prepared to be slaves in order not to be killed. While they don’t become Joseph’s slaves, in a few generations, they will belong to Pharaoh.
Jacob’s brothers neither voiced a desire to return to Canaan nor a willingness to live as freemen. Their road to the lowest rung of society was determined not by a future pharaoh, but by their attitude, one that they passed to future generations.
How often have we locked ourselves into a position that is unhealthy for ourselves by believing that we were something we were not? How often have we viewed ourselves as being “less than” others because of circumstance? How often have we failed at living to our fullest potential?
Many of our limitations are caused by our own insecurities and self-doubts. As we enter a secular New Year, it’s time to look at who we are capable of becoming. Let us live life to its fullest potential and not view ourselves as slaves to ideas and tasks that lessen our role in society.
May 2024 be filled with optimism as we throw off any shackles that hold us back from becoming our best selves. May this be a year of believing in ourselves and living to our fullest potential.
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VAYECHI SUMMARY FROM THE URJ
- Jacob blesses his grandchildren Ephraim and Manasseh. (48:1-20)
- Jacob's twelve sons gather around his deathbed, and each receives an evaluation and a prediction of his future. (49:1-33)
- Joseph mourns his father's death and has Jacob embalmed. Jacob is buried in Hebron in the cave of the field of the Machpelah in the land of Canaan. (50:1-14)
- Joseph assures his concerned brothers that he has forgiven them and promises to care for them and their families. (50:15-21)
- Just before he dies, Joseph tells his brothers that God will return them to the Land that God promised to the patriarchs. The Children of Israel promise Joseph that they will take his bones with them when they leave Egypt. (50:22-26)
For more on this Torah portion from the URJ go to:
https://reformjudaism.org/torah/portion/vayechi
