JTS Torah Archive

Living a Poetic Existence

Jan 2, 2010 By Andrew Shugerman | Commentary | Text Study | Vayehi

For many—if not most—of us, death arouses great anxiety. Much of our emotionality regarding the end of life comes from the way that death changes how we perceive ourselves. This midrash about Jacob’s deathbed scene presents ancient rabbinic wisdom about mortality based on insights from key passages in the Hebrew Bible.

Realizing Our Blessings

Jan 9, 2009 By David Hoffman | Commentary | Vayehi

I want to tell you about a person close to me, whom I think some of you may recognize, not in name but in disposition. Let’s call him Uncle Lenny. 

Blessings From a Deathbed

Nov 22, 2007 By Charles Savenor | Commentary | Vayehi

Laying on his deathbed, Jacob beckons for his grandchildren, Ephraim and Manasseh.

Memorials of Healing

Jan 6, 2007 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayehi

On the surface, Parashat Vayehi, the concluding Torah reading of both Genesis and the Joseph narrative, is about death.

Returning to Joseph’s Pit

Jan 6, 2007 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayehi

On the surface, Parashat Va–y’hi, the concluding Torah reading of both Genesis and the Joseph narrative, is about death. Both Jacob and Joseph come to their respective ends; and the haftarah that we read turns to the final hours of King David’s life. And although this parashah ostensibly throws us a “curve ball,” the essence of this reading is found in the title, va–y’hi, meaning and “he (Jacob) lived.” Va–y’hi is more about life, than it is about death.

Seeing the Forest Through the Trees

Jan 14, 2006 By JTS Alumni | Commentary | Vayehi

By Rabbi Ronald J. Shulman

It depends how you look at it. Some of us see the problem; others of us see the solution. Some people look at life and see only the facts. Others are able to look at life and see the meaning. Some of us will read this week’s Torah portion as the story of Jacob and Joseph’s deaths. Others of us will read the narrative in Parashat Va-y’hi as the story of their lives.

Hereafter and Here Now

Dec 25, 2004 By Matthew Berkowitz | Commentary | Vayehi

Zebulun, Issachar and the Importance of Jewish Education

Dec 25, 2004 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Vayehi

The enterprise of Jewish education, on which the future of the Jewish people rests, has always been a partnership between educators and patrons.

Sources of Comfort

Dec 10, 2004 By Melissa Crespy | Commentary | Vayehi

Some things, it seems, are not just coincidences. As I write these words, I am still in the sheloshim – the 30 day mourning period – for my 38-year-old brother Jonathan, who died suddenly of a massive heart attack. And our parasha deals with the end of the life of Jacob, who, though he lived one hundred and forty-seven years, described his “years of sojourn” on earth as “few and hard.” (Genesis 47:9)

Genesis and Death

Jan 10, 2004 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Vayehi

Though the name of this week’s parashah is Va-y’hi (and Jacob lived), it deals entirely with how Jacob died. Yet, the name is not a misnomer: how we handle the inevitable onset of death impacts deeply on the conduct of our lives. Thus the story of Jacob’s demise has given rise to a font of midrashic wisdom on both life and death.

The Need to Sojourn

Dec 21, 2002 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Vayehi

The book of Genesis ends as it starts, with its lead characters in a state of exile. The existential human condition is to be out of place, far from home. Jacob’s clan no longer resides in the land promised to his father and grandfather. Yet the narrator makes it unmistakably clear that their final destination was not Egypt, but Canaan, the land that would eventually bear Jacob’s other name, Israel, the one who “strove with beings divine and human and prevailed” (Genesis 32:29).

Memories

Dec 21, 2002 By Melissa Crespy | Commentary | Vayehi

The death of a parent is, for most of us, a profound loss. When we lose our mother or our father, we lose the people who have known us most deeply from the very inception of our lives. For many of us, we lose the people who have been our most ardent advocates, our biggest fans, our most loyal supporters. We lose the anchor in our lives, the people who have nurtured and loved us, counseled and guided us through problems small and large. When a parent dies — though we may have love from partners, children and friends — the special love, the intense love of that parent dies with him or her. And we are left bereft.

A Model of Restraint

Dec 29, 2001 By Lewis Warshauer | Commentary | Vayehi

The end of the Book of Genesis also marks the end of the stories of Jacob and Joseph. Though separated for many years, their life—courses moved together. Both were younger sons who gained primacy over older brothers. Jacob, in his last days, is determined to bequeath to his son, Joseph, directly that which he had gotten from his father Isaac stealthily. He begins by adopting Joseph’s two sons as his own, thus giving Joseph the double portion of inheritance that usually goes to the oldest son. Jacob then gives his testament to all his sons.

Portraits of Grief

Dec 29, 2001 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Vayehi

At the end of a tumultuous life, Jacob dies what was once called “a good death.” Two things are granted him: the time to prepare for his death and the comfort of dying in the midst of family. In his 147th year, as his life forces ebb, he exacts a promise from Joseph not to bury him in Egypt, but in the ancestral burial ground in Hebron. He bestows on Joseph an extra portion over that of his brothers by elevating his sons, Ephraim and Menasseh, to a status equal to that of Joseph’s brothers. And he shares with each of his own sons portents of things to come, concluding with the repetition of his wish to be laid to rest in the cave of Machpelah. In short, Jacob dies unwracked by pain, with his wits about him and nothing left unsaid. The final verse of his biography conveys a sense of closure and completion: “When Jacob finished his instructions to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and breathing his last, he was gathered to his people” (49:33).

Children’s Blessings

Jan 13, 2001 By Melissa Crespy | Commentary | Vayehi

There’s a beautiful custom the Jewish people have on Friday evenings, of blessing our children before making kiddush. We place our hands on the head of each child, and for boys we say, “May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.” For girls we say “May God make you like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah.” And for all the children we add the Priestly Blessing which asks for God’s protection, blessing, and grace. As the mother of a much-longed-for child, I know the power of feeling that sweet child’s head under my fingers as I bless him and thank God for his existence in my life. I imagine that parents in many centuries before me have had the same depth of feeling as they paused each Shabbat to touch each child, bless him or her, and to thank God for the miracle in their hands.

Meaning in the Torah’s Layout

Dec 25, 1999 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Vayehi

Everything is susceptible to midrashic interpretation, including the physical appearance of the Torah text. As you know from aliyot to the Torah, the text of the Torah scroll is not divided onto chapters or verses, as it is in our printed edition of the Torah, but rather into units separated from each other by empty space. When the Torah scroll is raised to be bound and the text is turned to the congregation for viewing, these breaks in the written script stand out conspicuously. The ancient text contains neither vowels nor punctuation, only words arranged in passages of different sizes defined by their context and set off by gaps in the writing.

The Archetype of the Firstborn

Jan 2, 1999 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Vayehi

As the book of Genesis daws to a close, it circles back to the beginning. The displacement of the firstborn, the theme which has dominated the narrative throughout, is reiterated one last time. And this final reiteration is as arbitrary as the first. At the dawn of human history, it was the sacrifice of Abel, the younger son of Adam and Eve, that found favor in God’s eyes and not that of Cain, even though Cain was the first to turn to God in a spirit of thanksgiving (Genesis 4:3-4). Divine rejection quickly led to human aggression. The episode foreshadows the pervasive preference for the younger brother which becomes the connective tissue of all the patriarchal stories.

Finding Peace at Home and Abroad

Jan 10, 1998 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Vayehi

Sometimes the point of a passage hinges on what is missing rather than on what is said. I find this to be the case in the final exchange between Joseph and his brothers. The family has just returned to Egypt after burying Jacob in the cave of Machpelah in Hebron, and the brothers are overcome with fear of Joseph’s intentions. With their father gone, might Joseph now seek to punish them for what they had done to him years before? Was it only Jacob’s presence that had stayed his vengeful hand? The Torah uncharacteristically tells us what ran through their minds: “When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, ‘What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrong that we did him!’ (Genesis 50:15)”

Judaism and the Afterlife

Jan 6, 1996 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Vayehi

The title of this week’s parasha is full of irony.

Mercy and Truth

Dec 25, 1993 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Vayehi

My father’s synagogue in the small Pennsylvania town of Pottstown was known by the name “Congregation Mercy and Truth.” As an irreverent youngster, more interested in sports than in matters of the spirit, I always thought it an odd name for a synagogue. Learning Hebrew befuddled me still more, because the Hebrew name of Hesed shel Emet (a merciful act of truth) didn’t fully correspond to the English. It was only years later that I discovered that the Hebrew name was based on a sage bit of midrash on a phrase used by Jacob at the beginning of this week’s parasha.