Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hello my friends, and welcome back to this week's episode of the Practical Parasha Podcast. This is Rabbi Shlomo Cohen and I hope you are well. For this week, it's Parshas Vayechi, the Parsha Vayechi, which finishes off the book of Beratius, the first of the five books of the Torah. And next week, God willing, we will start Shemos Exodus, which will take us into the slavery in Egypt and our eventual redemption before we begin. As always, if you have any questions, comments, or would like to say hello, don't be shy, send me an email at Rabbi shlomokon k o h nmail.com Every email is seen. I, uh, look forward to hearing from you.
[00:00:50] Just to give a quick overview of Parshas Vayechi. The parsha begins with Yaakov Jacob calling his sons together to bless them. He realizes. Jacob realizes. Yaakov realizes that his time is coming to an end. He's about to pass on to the next world.
[00:01:12] And he puts into motion that his sons should come to him to, I guess, say goodbye and to receive a special blessing to each and every one of them, to each and every one of the 12 tribes.
[00:01:29] And Yaakov gives a special blessing to all his sons, his 12 sons, and makes arrangements for his own burial.
[00:01:41] It happens to be in many communities.
[00:01:44] This Shabbos, Parashas Vayechi. This Torah portion of the week is always, uh, a lot of times the rabbi, the congregation will talk about the importance of Jewish burial to be buried as a Jew and actually as I do every year, I'll, uh, put a resource into the footnotes of this show that if you want to find out more information about proper Jewish burial, you take a look in the show notes, there'll be a link there posted.
[00:02:15] Now just continuing with the parsha, the parsha talks about Yaakov blessing all his children, giving them a special blessing.
[00:02:25] And actually in this week's Parsha, the blessing that we give to our children every Friday night is from this week's Parsha.
[00:02:35] Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Yosef are blessed.
[00:02:39] And after that, Yaakov summons the rest of his sons where they each get a special blessing that's tailor made to who they are and their abilities. Parasha continues with Yaakov's death as well as Yosef, who's the viceroy of Egypt getting permission from Pharaoh to take his father out of Egypt to be buried in the land of Israel.
[00:03:05] Finally, the parsha finishes with Yosef reassuring his brothers that, uh, even though Their father has passed. He tells them that he is not going to be taking revenge on them. He forgives them for what they have done to him in the past.
[00:03:19] And the parsha tells us how Yosef lives out his years and gives over the signs of the redemption to the Jewish people. The first idea I wanted to, uh, share with you today takes us to the beginning of the parsha.
[00:03:39] Now it's very interesting.
[00:03:43] There's a lot of talk in this week's parsha about the lack of a gap between last week's Torah portion and this week's Torah portion that usually every Torah portion is separated by a blank space.
[00:04:01] And for Parshas vayechi, there's no blank space.
[00:04:05] It's continued. There's no gap in the words. And we know everything in the Torah is exact. Everything in the Torah is divine, and there's a reason for everything.
[00:04:17] And the sages tell us that the reason why there's a stuma, it's referred to as, it's a closure, that the words just continue, is because it's sort of signifying to us, it was portending to the future that was about to happen that, uh, just like the eyes of Jacob closed, that he passed on. So in a way the soul of the Jewish people also closed up at that time.
[00:04:48] And the beginning of the exile into Egypt began then, that even though there wasn't any slavery at that time, they wouldn't begin to a later point. But sort of this moment of Jacob passing was sort of the beginning of this process of going into exile in Egypt because the hearts of the Jewish people became closed.
[00:05:15] And you know, if you look into that, the commentaries have different understandings of exactly what that means.
[00:05:20] And I think one idea that we could take out of it is that which I saw brought down by a commentary is that when Yaakovinu, uh, passed away, when Jacob passed away, the father figure of the Jewish nation passed on.
[00:05:38] And you know, I'm sure many of us can relate that, you know, when our father or grandfather is alive, we act in a certain way.
[00:05:48] We're able to, uh, take in certain ideas, we're more careful with certain things because our father, our grandfather is here. And when the grandfather or father passes on, we become more lax in certain areas, maybe specifically in our Judaism, in our spirituality, in different things that we would do. It doesn't even have to be religious based. We just maybe would do certain things that our father or grandfather wouldn't necessarily approve of. And when Jacob passed on, it seems like this happened to the Jewish people as well, that, uh, the spiritual father of the Jewish people, Yaakov Jacob, passed on. And now their hearts closed and they weren't able to sort of absorb exactly what happened, that the, uh, they didn't take in the message that they needed to continue who they were and the legacy of Jacob as well. And that sort of started their, their downfall. I should say that, you know, at this point when the Jews were in Egypt, they started becoming more assimilated, more influenced. They started becoming more influenced by their surroundings, by their non Jewish surroundings. And it started having a negative effect on the people. And that began at the moment that Jacob passed.
[00:07:09] And that's what it means. Their hearts became closed. And that's why the Torah, when it comes to starting this parsha, it's also a closed parsha, that it doesn't have that gap in there. It's sort of showing us that message that because Jacob passed on, it had this effect on the people as well.
[00:07:32] And I think this idea really takes us into the next part or next idea that I wanted to share with you today. The message that we could take out of this lesson in the Torah, the lack of a gap in space.
[00:07:45] Because the Gemara, the Talmud teaches us that Yaakov, Lomais, Yah Jacob never died.
[00:07:54] Now if you look, I'm not gonna go read inside the actual wording of the Talmud, but there's a discussion of the Talmud that one of the rabbis, the tanoim in the Talmud state, yaakov didn't die. They say, what do you mean he didn't die? It says clearly in the Torah, he was embalmed, he was buried.
[00:08:12] How could you say that he didn't die?
[00:08:14] And the Gemara, the Talmud goes through it back and forth, and it comes out that it's referring to his, you know, just like his offspring continues, so too Yaakov continues, Jacob continues. And the understanding of that is that the way that Yaakov never died, that Jacob never died, is because of his offspring, because of the spiritual legacy that he leaves on to his future generations, that his children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, us as Jews, live on the legacy of Yaakov, Avino, of Jacob.
[00:08:51] So it's as if he never died. Because the values that he represents and what he lived for, right, is continuing. So in essence, he's still going, it's continuing, it's forever.
[00:09:05] And I think this ties, this lesson ties very well into the beginning part of the parsha.
[00:09:12] Because the Jewish nation at that moment, they failed to realize that they needed to continue that legacy of Yaakov, of Eno, of Jacob, that their heart became closed because he passed on. They didn't, they weren't able to absorb that message, that they needed to continue that, that, uh, Yaakov, his essence needs to continue.
[00:09:30] He needs to live. And the way that he, we accomplish that is if his offspring, us continue his mission, which is doing mitzvahs, doing good deeds, learning Torah, getting closer to God. That's how his legacy continues forever. And, you know, if you think about it for a moment, you know, what is a legacy of somebody?
[00:09:54] You know what, you know, when we talk about someone, um, passing on what is something, you know, sure, there's a lot of good traits about people, but we also have to remember that things. A real legacy is the principles, the morals, the guiding light that we're gonna leave to our future generation.
[00:10:16] And a person who lives with Torah values, who does mitzvahs, who strives for spirituality, strives for something greater, is leaving over a true legacy. Sure, it's nice if someone had, you know, a sense of humor, they had a certain hobby, but a real legacy of leaving something over, it's not money, because money could be gone.
[00:10:40] It's not possessions, because possessions could also be taken away.
[00:10:43] But a true legacy is when we take the value and the morals of that of the person that has passed, and we imbibe it into ourselves. And that's why it's important for us to have the correct ideals, correct morals, correct principles, that, uh, God willing, after 120 years, when we pass on, will have that true legacy, which is based on doing the right thing, getting closer to God, fulfilling the mitzvahs, studying the Torah, and God willing, in that way, when we do that, we're still living. We're living eternally. There's a part of us that continues, and it's not just that it continues that we actually get credit for the good things that we accomplish in our lives. If there's people in the world that are following in our footsteps, they're doing mitzos because of us.
[00:11:34] So then we get credit for it. And our fathers, if we're doing something good because our fathers taught us to do something good, so then they get credit for that, it gets passed back. And actually, many of you might be familiar with the, uh, Jewish custom that when you go to a grave, you take a rock and you put it on top of the gravestone. I mean, if you go to a Jewish cemetery, you'll see rocks on top of the gravestones all over the place. And if you ask most people, why do we do that?
[00:12:11] People won't know.
[00:12:13] They won't know the reason.
[00:12:15] Maybe they'll give different thoughts. But one of the reasons that I heard, I think it ties into this idea beautifully, is that when we take that rock and we take it from the ground, we put it on top of the gravestone of the person that's passed. We're sort of signifying a message to, I guess, the soul of the person and to us.
[00:12:37] We know that a person has an opportunity only in this world to acquire mitzvahs, to do good deeds, to learn Torah. Once a person passes, they reap their reward in the next world. That's when they enjoy all the hard work that they put in, but they're not able to do anything else at that point.
[00:12:56] Whatever they did is done, and now they have to deal with the consequences. Hopefully it's good consequences. They did the good thing and not bad because we have to deal with the bad consequences too.
[00:13:08] But at that point in time, it's over, we're done. Whatever we have to our account, in our account, as far as good deeds is there, and that's it.
[00:13:19] So when we pick up that rock, we're signifying to the person that even though you can't do this right now, I'm, um, going to do it for you.
[00:13:28] I'm taking the rock and putting it on your grave. Which is in essence saying that even though you can't do anything spiritually at this moment, or you can't do anything at this moment, I'm going to do it for you, that I'm going to continue do a mitzvah, uh, for this deceased person. I'm going to do a good deed for you. We have the ability to do that. And certainly children, grandchildren, have even stronger ability when they do something good. It surely gets credited back to the father and the grandfather, to their neshama, because they're responsible for us being here.
[00:14:03] So this is that idea that when we pick up the rock, we put it on the grave. We're signifying that it's our turn to continue their legacy. It's up to us now to continue their mission. I think this all ties very nicely into this parsha, these three different ideas, the closure of the words, why there's a gap in the words, this concept that Jacob never died.
[00:14:25] And it really brings out, uh, clarity for us, our focus, what is a legacy, what our mission in life needs to be, and the fact that what we do now and how we conduct ourselves can affect our Eternity.
[00:14:44] So that's one idea I wanted to share with you today. A second thought I wanted to bring out from the parsha is that we see, when Yaakov called his sons together, he used a specific wording.
[00:14:58] It says, as Vayik ra Yaakov el banav vayomer heyosfu va gidlochem esasher yikra es chem ba achrasayamim um. Before Yaakov passed away, he said to his children, and Yaakov, Jacob called to his sons and he said, gather together, and I will tell you what will befall you in the end of days.
[00:15:19] And Rashi, the great commentator on the Chumash, on the Torah, tells us that what Yaakov wanted to do, what Jacob wanted to do at that moment, he wanted to reveal to his children what will be at the end of days, that when Mashiach, when the Messiah will come.
[00:15:34] And God concealed it from him at that moment, and he didn't. Wasn't able to give it over to his sons.
[00:15:42] But if you look at the wording of the verse, everything in the Torah is exactly. If you look at the wording, it says a word which I think gives us a key into what it takes to accomplish redemption.
[00:15:59] What does it say?
[00:16:00] It says, vayik vayakov abanav vayomer hey as fu va giddalachem. And Yaakov called to his sons, and he said, gather together, and I will tell you what will be before you in the end of days.
[00:16:13] Meaning the first step in order to getting redemption to be redeemed is having unity.
[00:16:23] Having unity. Having akhtus. Akhdus is the Hebrew word for being together.
[00:16:29] And one thing that we need to know as people, Jewish people, is that we need to get along. We need to have, yes, unity, Jewish unity.
[00:16:41] And this is something which is so integral that this was what, uh, Jacob was telling his sons before he passed on, that there's 12 sons, and these 12 sons were going to formulate the Jewish nation.
[00:16:54] And the sons are different. They had different strengths, different weaknesses.
[00:16:58] And Yaakov, Jacob was stressing to them, you need to gather, you need to be together as one.
[00:17:06] Nothing can hold you back.
[00:17:08] And I think this is very important for us to realize that when we have unity, it creates love and just, uh, something for us to think about. You know, you might think about this for a second. Like Jewish people.
[00:17:21] You know, there's many different types of people listen to this podcast. Many types of Jews listen to this podcast.
[00:17:27] So I would tell you, you know, maybe some of you think t yourself. I am a conservative Jew. I am a reformed Jew, I am an Orthodox Jew, whatever it may be.
[00:17:40] We have to realize that we're all Jewish.
[00:17:46] And the world around us, the non Jewish world, they don't look at us as conservative, Reform, Orthodox, they look at us as Jews and that we're the same.
[00:18:00] And in one aspect, this aspect, they're right.
[00:18:03] We are. And if you think about this for a minute, you know, think about it. On October 7, when Hamas did that brutal attack against, you know, Israel, they weren't trying to kill Israelis, they wanted to kill Jews.
[00:18:20] And it didn't make a difference to them if they were religious or not religious or conservative or Reform or secular, or even if they said they didn't believe in God, they were Jews to them, they didn't care.
[00:18:34] And I think we need to look at ourselves in that way as well, to identify as Jews that we're all the same, we're all together. We need to have that akhdus. Maybe we have different outlooks and different ideas. And you don't have to, uh, know, agree with each other, right? You're allowed to have your own opinion, everyone. But at the same time, we have to have this certain unity to realize that we're all Jews. And this is what Yaakovinu is telling us.
[00:19:01] When he gathered his sons, that when you gather together, it's crucial to have that unity, to be as one, to look at yourself as one.
[00:19:11] And when we do that, this love creates redemption, creates forgiveness. And it sort of makes us into this, you know, unstoppable force.
[00:19:21] The last idea I want to share with you takes us to one of the blessings that Jacob gives to his sons. Now it's interesting. Each one of these blessings was tailor made to each one of his sons, their strengths, their weaknesses, their essence of who they were.
[00:19:39] And for the Reuven and Shimon and Levi, the first three sons, the blessing, at first glance, seems like a sharp rebuke to his sons for how they acted during Yaakov's lifetime, during Jacob's lifetime. And what I want to focus on today is the blessing that Jacob gave to his oldest son, Reuven Reuben.
[00:20:06] The Torah says that when Yaakov gave the blessing, he said, pachaz kamayim altosar.
[00:20:13] Part of the verse reads that unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence. And the commentaries teach us that Reuven, as the firstborn of Yaakov, was destined to be the king of the Jewish people, that from his tribe would be the king and Also from his tribe would be the priests, the kohanim as well. But because of an action that he did, he lost them both because he switched his father's bed, that when Rachel. Rachel passed on, he moved the bed of Yaakov from Rachel's tent to the tent of Leah of his mother. And because of that act, it was taken away from him the kingship and the priesthood.
[00:21:07] Now, the blessing here that Yaakov gave to his son seems to be inferring to the act that he did. That because he didn't act in haste, he was, quote, unquote, impulsive because of what happened when Rachel passed away and he just moved the bed. He figured that's what his father wanted. And he didn't ask his father, consult his father, ask permission from it. He lost the kingship and he lost the priesthood. And it's interesting that when the Torah describes this act that he did, you know, regarding his haste, it says, pachaz Kamayim, I'll tell you. Sorry, it uses a metaphor. The Torah uses a metaphor comparing his act or his character trait to water flowing.
[00:21:53] That just like water flows very quickly, so too Reuven acted. You know, for us, it's hard for us to understand, but he acted too impulsively to deal with the bed of his father, to move it, and he made a mistake.
[00:22:09] Now, the Torah doesn't use metaphors. It's very rare that we see a situation where we're using a metaphor. And Rabbi Rukham Levavitz brings down that we see from this that the. The fact that the Torah uses this example to teach us about haste and impulsivity, it shows us how damaging acting without thinking can be.
[00:22:31] That just like water, it goes and it's moving and it doesn't stop. So too, when a person doesn't think about their actions and just does it without thinking of the outcome, it can cause all of us to make mistakes that we'll regret later on. Meaning how many people, if you look at the jail system, go to a jail? People, they just acted irrationally.
[00:23:00] They did something without thinking. There's so many people. Not every single person who's in jail is because they're career criminals. There are plenty of those, too, but there are a lot of people.
[00:23:11] They did something out of anger, out of haste, without thinking. And because of that impulsive action, they ruined their lives. They ruined their lives. And I think this is a very powerful lesson to us.
[00:23:26] And also, when Yaakov Avinu Jacob was giving this blessing to his son, he wasn't necessarily. He was giving him a rebuke, but it seems like he was telling him, maybe you're not a bad person.
[00:23:37] It's only because of this impulsiveness that you're like water, that you made that mistake and you need to work on that. And he was giving, you know, he wasn't telling you're bad. He was telling you it's just because of that point in your character, that flaw in your character, that you're not able to be the leader, the king or the priest, that your children will not be that. And I think this is a very important idea for us to think about the outcome, to not just be in the moment, to think a little bit further out. How will my, uh, actions affect me? How will it affect others? To not just be in our own little bubble, but rather to think things through and not be impulsive. It's a key to a successful and happy life. So with that, I'm going to finish with today's podcast. I hope you all enjoyed. If you have any questions, comments, or would like to reach out, feel free to send me an email at Rabbi Shlomokon kohnmail.com have a great day.
