בס"ד
The main themes of parshas VaYechi are the deaths of Ya'akov avinu and Yosef. When Jacob senses that his passing is near he calls for his son Yosef and tells him that it is important to him to be buried in Canaan in Machpela Cave. Sometime after this Ya'akov takes sick and is on his deathbed. Taking his two sons, Yosef goes to visit him. Jacob rallies and his thoughts turn to his prophetic dream about the ladder between heaven and earth. He recalls how the Holy One blessed be He appeared and blessed him that he would father a nation who would live in the Holy Land. Part of the blessing was that each of his sons would be important too as the father of an individual tribe. Jacob gives Yosef a special blessing saying that his two sons would also be tribes. His thoughts then turn to his beloved wife, Rachel, and how he buried her outside of Bethlehem.
Ya'akov is overjoyed to see Yosef's sons Menashe and Ephraim and he blesses them and says that it should be a tradition among his descendants to bless their children saying they should be like Ephraim and Manashe. He unexpectedly mentions the younger one first and explains his brother will do well but Ephraim will obtain greatness. The blessings are interspersed with appeals to religion and conclude with the certainty that G-d will bring his descendants back to the land of their fathers.
Jacob then tells his children to gather together and gives each of them a unique blessing. Reuven, Shimon, and Levy are rebuked for impetuous licentiousness and violence. Judah conjures up a vision of a healthy happy lion and is blessed with leadership, probably because of his willingness to face an angry Yosef and defend Benyamin. The blessing of Yosef is almost stream of consciousness with themes of beauty, forbearance in the face of adversity, elitism, prosperity, and everything good. The others tend to be vignettes somewhat poetic. Zebulon is a sailor. Issachar is a hard worker. Dan comes across as a subversive. Gad seems to be a counter puncher. Naftali is a poetic free spirit. Benjamin is a ravenous, but generous, hunter.
Concerning Yosef, the Chumash emphasizes that his final years were good. He was at peace with his brothers and saw his children to the fourth generation. When his end is imminent he expresses his certainty to his brothers that G-d will bring the children of Israel to the land He promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Also that he should be reinterred there.
The haftorah is about the last words of King David. He only speaks to Solomon, the crown prince, and the son of his beloved wife Bathsheva. He starts by giving him advice to be strong and show himself to be a man. Next he says to live according to the Torah and assures him that this will make him wise and successful in life.
After that David basically tells Shlomo to kill his general Yoav and Shimi ben Gera. He condemns Yoav because he killed Avner ben Ner and Amasa ben Jether. This is difficult because both men had been generals in rebellions against David. Attempting a reconciliation, David appointed both of them to be his general, replacing Yoav. However in subsequent rebellions, they only listlessly defended him. When King David's life was actually in danger, Yoav killed them in order to seize command and win the war. Yoav did obey David's orders to set up Uri the Hitite, Bathsheva's husband, to be killed in battle. Generally David was hostile to Joav for no explicable reason.
Shimi ben Gera was basically bad. David was very kind to him because he was from the house of King Saul. However he never accepted David as king and was hostile. When David was fleeing from his son Absalom's rebellion, Shimi viciously cursed David. David was very insulted. When the rebellion was put down, Shimi exploited the spirit of reconciliation to manipulate David into promising not to harm him. Hashem, however, wanted him to be killed along with all of the men in Saul's household, but David was loathe to do this.
David also instructs Shlomo to frequently have the family of Barzillai the Gileadite as guests at the royal table. This is to repay them for his kindness to David when he was fleeing from Avshalom.
A number of lessons can be gleaned from this. Importantly a person's last words make an impression on those close to him. As such it is appropriate to give advice and to strengthen their faith in G-d. This would include giving rebuke for the times they were really hurt. Generally though when death is approaching a person turns to love especially towards their wife. Experiences of children and the kindness of others that touched their heart are also recalled.
לע"נ האמא מלכה בת חיים ז"ל נלב"ע טז ניסן תשנ"ח
העלון ניתן לקבל בדואר אלקטרוני וגם באתר http://dyschreiber.blogspot.com
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