A CUB [AND] A GROWN LION IS JUDAH. FROM THE

PREY, MY SON, YOU WITHDREW. HE CROUCHED, RESTED LIKE A

LION, AND LIKE A LION, WHO WILL ROUSE HIM?

(Bereishit 49:9)

A cub [and] a grown lion

is Judah.

You combine within yourself the

valor of youth (a cub) and the sobriety of old age (a grown lion).

You do not seek war and booty for their own sake. You

are not a wolf or a hyena; you are a lion. Base murder for the sake of booty is

beneath you.

He crouched, rested – Judah's strength is not in the din

of war and battle and not in blazing power that inspires awe in the hour of

danger but is later extinguished. Such is not your character; even when he

rests, he remains a lion. He inspires awe in times of repose, and thus

he provides outward security. Under his leadership peace is assured that allows

for development of the inner mission.

(Rabbi

S.R. Hirsch ad loc)

There is no such thing as a "fighting

nation" or a "fighting army," and the terms "brave nation"

and brave army" are meaningless. The point of such expressions is that the

nation referred to contains many human beings who fight courageously or

that many of the soldiers belonging to the army in question fight courageously.

Any courage is an individual quality. I repeat myself and claim

that the courage of the battlefield is the cheapest form of courage. It is

found in many people of all nations, in all societies

and cultures. Generally speaking, it does not indicate human worth – be it

moral or intellectual – in those who posses it. Just as upright and wise people

can be war heroes, so can scoundrels and fools. In contrast, the courage of one

who passes a test when seduced by acquisitiveness, or by the passion for honor

and power, or by lust is sure evidence of human worth, and it is very rare.

(From a response written by Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz in his book, Ratziti

Lishol Otkha, Professor Leibowitz, pg. 38).

This Parasha is Closed

Ariel Picard

If

you check a Torah scroll or a complete volume of TaNaKh

you will find that parashat Vayehi

begins differently from other parashiyot. Parashat Vayehi is setuma or "closed." That is to say: there

is no break in the formatting of the text between the end of parashat Vayigash and the

beginning of parashat Vayehi.

The Sages addressed this fact and found symbolic significance in it.

Rashi writes in

the name of the midrash: "And

Jacob lived – Why is this section [completely] closed? Because, as soon

as our father Jacob passed away, the eyes and the heart of Israel were "closed,"

(i.e., it became "dark" for them) because of the misery of the

slavery, for they (the Egyptians) commenced to subjugate them. Another

explanation: That he (Jacob) attempted to reveal the End [of the exile] to his

sons, but it was "closed off" (concealed) from him" (all Rashi quotes from Judaica Press

translation). According to the first interpretation, the Israelites were "closed

off" from what was happening to them in Egypt. We readers know how the

story continues, but the participants in the divine drama are unaware of what

the future has in store for them. Rashi's second

interpretation ("Another explanation…") describes Jacob's

predicament as he tries to reveal future history to his children but is stopped

from doing so by God.

The

basis for the second interpretation appears later in the parasha:

Jacob called for his sons and said, "Gather and I will tell you what

will happen to you at the end of days (49:1). Rashi explains in the name of the Sages: "And

I will tell you, etc. He attempted to reveal the End, but the Divine

Presence withdrew from him. So he began to say other things."

What

is the meaning of this comment? What did Jacob wish to reveal? Why was he

prevented from doing so?

Jacob's

death was the moment of the Jewish People's birth. It marked the passage from

family to nationhood. This was the nation's foundational moment; from this

point forward it would roll through the maze of history until the Messianic

age. Jacob wanted to tell his children everything that would happen to them

until the End of Days, what awaited them on their long journey.

Why

was this denied him?

Knowledge

of the divine plan grants people strong hope for the future. However, it also

has a great disadvantage; one who knows how things will end is, apparently,

freed from the need to think out his path and to plan his actions in accordance

with immediate reality. After all, he knows that present reality is false and

fleeting, and that, in any case, redemption will come. This kind of mind set is

very dangerous and liable to engender severe catastrophes.

Those

who are sure of their knowledge of the divine plan tend not to pay attention to

human implications and earthly considerations. What are the mundane

difficulties and distress of one person or another compared to the gleaming

light of redemption, of the end of days? Disinterest in details leads to severe

moral distortions and to serious misreadings of

reality.

This

is how the RaMBaM put it in his discussion of the

Messianic Era:

But no one is in a position to

know the details of this and similar things until they come to pass. They are

not explicitly stated by the prophets. Nor have the rabbis any tradition with

regard to these matters. They are guided solely by what the Scriptural texts

seem to imply. Hence there is a divergence of opinion on the subject. But be that

as it may, neither the exact sequence of those events nor the details thereof

constitute religious dogmas. No one should ever occupy himself with the

legendary themes or spend much time on midrashic

statements bearing on this or like subjects. He should not deem them of prime importance,

since they lead neither to the fear of God nor to love of Him. Nor should one

calculate the end. Said the rabbis: "Blasted be those

who reckon out the end." One should wait (for his coming) and

accept in principle this article of faith, as we have stated before." (Mishneh Torah,

Hilkhot Melakhim

12:2, Hyamson translation)

Those who "reckon the end" may know the end, but

they do not understand the process which leads to it. The Sages teach us that

the path towards redemption is not so simple: "My lover is like an

antelope – just as the antelope can be seen and then is hidden, and is

again seen and yet again hidden, so the first redeemer is seen and hidden and

seen again… (Shir HaShirim Rabba 2) We must

not engage in reckoning the end, we must not observe and judge reality as if we

possessed sure knowledge of God's ways regarding redemption.

The end of parashat

Vayehi offers an interesting example of human

inability to understand God's hidden ways. The parasha

reaches its climax in the reunion of Joseph with his brothers in which they

express their fear of his possible vengeance. Joseph answers them with these

words: But Joseph said to them,

"Don't be afraid, for am I instead of God? Indeed, you intended evil against me,

keep a great populace alive (50:19-20). "You brothers wanted to force the end, you wanted to keep my

dreams from being realized and because of that you planned evil against me. However,

God's plans are hidden from human beings and we and our children only posses

knowledge of that which has been revealed to us."

Like

Jacob and his brothers, we also want to uncover the end and know what the

future holds in store for us. However, we know that, as the RaMBaM

states, preoccupation with such matters leads to neither fear nor love, but

rather to disappointment and failure. We only have what our eyes can see; our

judgment must relate to reality as it looks to us, and not as it should look. This

insight requires us to see reality's complexity, the shades of grey as well as

the black and white.

Parashat Vayehi is a closed parasha. The

life of the individual and the life of the nation are sometimes closed off and

hidden from us. We cannot penetrate the world's depths and yet we must live our

lives with the human tools we posses. The Sages brought a tradition in the name

of Ben Sira: "Do not inquire into that too great

for you, do not investigate that which is too powerful for you, do not [try to]

know that which is hidden from you, do not ask about that which is covered up

from you; contemplate that which is permitted to you and have no truck with

mysteries" (Bereishit Rabba, 8)

Ariel Picard

teaches and researches at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem

and in Bar Ilan University.

In the past he serves as the rabbi of Kibbutz Sheluhot.

In Issachar that disposition is described

which works gladly but only in such a way, and with such an idea, as has worth

in the true Jewish nation. While in Judah the ruling tribe and in Zevulun the commercial tribe is presented, in Issachar the

real backbone of the Jewish nation appears – the Jewish land-worker. He does

not work to go on and on and earn more and more wealth, the Jewish man of the

people, and does not wear himself out in the pressure of his work,

he works to earn leisure for himself. He is content to allow Zevulun to earn millions with his products, prefers to stay

quietly at home, and sees that leisure, so won, won by one's own independent

work, is the highest prize that man can strive for by his work. For it is in

his leisure that a man really comes to himself. For that he bends his shoulder

to take on burdens, leaves the ruler's scepter to Judah, the prize of commerce to Zevulun; he is not tempted by military glory nor by the wealth to be made in trade. He knows other

conquests and other treasures that can only be won and only nurtured in

leisure. It was just this tribe that became thereby cultivators of the

spiritual treasures of the nation. When, after the fall of Saul, all the tribes

gathered about David, thousands and hundreds of thousands came from them all.

Issachar sent only 200 and there the heads of the tribe, – the others stayed at

home and did not leave their work. But these 200 were all philosophers and

scientists, who understood the signs of the times,

they brought "binah" – understanding

– with them. Binah is really discrimination,

recognition of the true relation of men and matters to each other and the

result of their constant reaction on each other. This insight Issachar had won

in its leisure for which it had worked, and indeed had bina,

practical knowledge, not mere sophistic cleverness, but that practical

understanding of the real relationship of men and matters which the true Torah

wisdom gives, and indeed applied it to a just estimation of the special meaning

and implications of any moment.

(Rabbi S. R.

Hirsch, Bereishit 49:15, translated from the original

by Isaac Levy)

The "Sword" Which Destroys the World Needs

to be Distanced and Scattered

Their weapons [mekhoroteihem]

are tools of lawlessness (Bereishit 49:5). In Greek this means "their ruins." Jacob said: If these two

tribes live together as one they shall destroy the world, so I will scatter

them (as it is written): I will divide them in Jacob, scatter them in Israel

(49: 7).

(Midrash

Aggadat Bereishit 83)

Foe and Spoils: Even in War There is Necessary and

Unnecessary Violence

In the morning he consumes the foe [Hebrew: ad], and in the evening he divides the spoils [shalal]… and anything which is necessary for a

person, that is, what he needs to

consume to break the hunger of his

household, is something given cheerfully and he shall not want bread la'ad [forever] and for all eternity. But the luxuries that a person asks for beyond his own consumption will eventually be left to others and divided among

them – perhaps to his widow's new husband – while he is denied [meshulal]

and distanced from those luxuries

given him in the evening. That is why it says, In the morning [he

consumes his foe], speaking

of the thing given him cheerfully, of which he consumes only his fill and

which is given to him forever. Even though la'ad

also refers to spoils, the term la'ad was used in order to imply eternity. And in the evening refers to that which is given to him regretfully, things that he will

have to share with others, it is removed from him [meshulal

mimenu], since the term shalal can be used in the sense of removal, as in the verse the axe-head flies off [ve'nashal

habarzel] the handle (Devarim

19:5), in the sense of negation

and casting off.

This matter (In the morning he consumes the foe [Hebrew: la'ad], and in the evening he divides the spoils [shalal]) appears next to the blessing (Benjamin is)

a ravenous wolf (49:27) in order to warn the judges of Israel not to

ravage in war more than is necessary, as it says: Her judges are wolves of

the steppe, they leave no bone until morning (Zephaniah 3:3). The prophet accuses them of ravaging more than is necessary, therefore

he called them wolves of the erev

because they did not ask for the necessities given in the morning. Similarly,

Saul, who was of Benjamin is accused [of having] swoop[ed] down on the spoils (I Samuel 15: 19), for he did not remember Jacob's blessing to

Benjamin. However, of Abraham it is said [that he took of the spoils] nothing

but what my servants consumed (Bereishit 14: 24). They took only what was needed for their own consumption, and he did not divide superfluous spoils

among them. That was the inspiration for his comparison with the wolf who hunts for his

own consumption yet sometimes

needlessly kills and destroys, and this is a precious interpretation.

(Keli Yakar Bereishit 49:27)

Vindictiveness

and Suspicion vs. Forgiveness and Peace

When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead. What did they

see then that made them fearful? They saw that on the way back from burying

their father, Joseph visited the pit into which they

had sent him in order to say a blessing, as one is required to say a blessing

at a place where a miracle happened for one's sake: "Blessed is the

omnipresent who performed a miracle for my sake at this place." When they

saw this, they said, now that our father is dead, "What if Joseph still

father left this instruction… So shall you say to Joseph, Forgive…" (50:15-17). We have searched

and not found that Jacob commanded this thing. But come and see how great is

the power of peace, for the Holy One blessed be He

wrote these things in His Torah regarding the power of peace.

(Tanhuma Vayehi 17)

The midrash

tells us that Joseph the Righteous had acted for the sake of Heaven, he went to

fulfill the commandment taught him by his father, to recite the customary

blessing for a miracle which had occurred. Nevertheless, the brothers are

unable to shake off their suspicions. They were entrapped by their old

prejudice that had caused them to err even after the reunion; they were

incapable of understanding the reality that someone might be guided by

forgiveness, even for a terrible deed such as that which they had done to their

brother Joseph.

(Y. Leibowitz: Sheva Shanim shel Sihot al Parashat

Ha-Shavua, pg. 186)

When David's life was drawing to a close, he instructed his

not go down to Sheol in peace.

(I Kings 2:1-6, from the Haftorah for parashat Vayehi)

This must be said to all those

who view Jewish sovereignty as the realization of the highest religious and

moral ideals. Jewish sovereignty is a great and precious value, since it means

that the Jewish People is not enslaved by other nations. However, it is a great

mistake to raise up the state's power of sovereignty

to the level of a supreme value. This is proved by the contrast between Jacob,

who lacked any political authority or power, but who foresaw the end of days

before his death, and King David, who enjoyed sovereignty and power, but who, in his final days, is revealed to be a person whose

political interests push off all the great purposes. This is a lesson for all

generations, including our own.

(Y.Leibowitz He'arot le'Parshiyot ha'Shavua pg.

38)

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