Parshiyot Vayechi and Shmot

1Following Jacob’s death the brothers sent Joseph the following false report. “Your father commanded before he died that we say to you ‘please forgive your brothers for they have done badly to you’.(Bereishis 50:17) “ The brothers then follow up in person “and they fell before him and said ‘Behold, we are prepared to be your slaves.” (50:18). This language mirrors the exact language that they used back at the end of Mikeitz. There Benjamin is caught with Joseph’s goblet in his saddlebag. The brothers stand before Joseph. The language is nearly identical “And they fell before him onto the ground” (44:14). “Behold we are prepared to be slaves to the master.”(44:16). 17 years have passed since the great REVEAL and yet nothing has changed! In fact the story still reflects earlier tensions. Jacob continues to favor Joseph over his brothers. He gives Ephrayim and Menashe both Joseph’s children preferred status elevating them to equal the brothers. Joseph presents a similar argument to the one that he used 17 years earlier saying that it was Hashem’s plan and it ended up ok. The only real change is that now they know that Joseph is in power and they are at his mercy.

2Shmot

3Structural changes to the family dynamic occurred in Shmot. The change happened after the death of Joseph and his brothers. In the book of Shmot the family of the house of Jacob became the nation of the children of Israel. The first person to recognize this phenomenon was Pharaoh “And he said to his people “Behold the NATION of the children of Israel is larger and stronger than us”. (Exodus 1:9) In the book of Shmot the tribal rivalry between Joseph and Judah seemed to fade into the background. In fact neither tribe produced the next great Jewish leader. Moshe was from the tribe of Levi. The Torah very carefully notes;”And a man went out from the House of Levi and took a daughter of Levi”. (Exodus 2:1) Moshe, named by Pharaoh’s daughter, raised in the palace was the ultimate outsider. It was G-d who chose Moshe not Jacob. Jacob blessed Judah that he will have the kingship. The fulfillment of that blessing wasn’t realized until King David ascended the throne many hundred years later. At the burning bush Moshe was appointed by G-d to be the leader. G-d decided to ignore Jacob’s blessing. Possibly Jacob’s blessing was only operative when Judah’s descendant was the most worthy. However if a more worthy individual was from another tribe that person would be selected to lead. In our case Moshe was the most worthy. Sometimes a person totally unexpected but totally worthy becomes the leader e.g. Deborah. Here is my blessing: May the most worthy person always be our leader from whatever tribe he or she comes from.

4Have a good Shabbat