Sermon for Vayechi 5773

A large section of today’s Sidra is devoted to Jacob’s blessings to his children and grandchildren. Indeed, it is a Sidra with lots of beautiful blessings and I only wish that they will be fulfilled for us. Nevertheless, when we read Jacob’s messages to some of his sons, we realize that they are far from being blessings. We realise that they are prophecies about the future of their tribes, and, in several instances, they are not pleasant at all. So, today, I would like to comment on some of those prophecies and see what lessons they might teach us. Let me begin, therefore, by contrasting Jacob’s prophecy to Re’uven, his firstborn son, with the prophecy which he gave to Joseph, who was his eleventh son. In actual fact, both Re’uven and Joseph were firstborn sons of their respective mothers, Leah and Rachel. But only Re’uven was Jacob’s firstborn son. In the days of the Patriarchs, the firstborn son was granted family leadership and a double portion of the inheritance.

Re’uven’s prophecy, with which Jacob begins his address to his sons, is very sad indeed. We read that the Re’uven lost his privileges as the firstborn. He was disinherited and the family leadership was taken away from him. This is what Jacob said to him: “Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel for you went up onto your father’s bed, onto my couch and you defiled it.”

The question which we ask is: What offence did Re’uven commit? What did he do wrong? When did he upset his father so seriously that he deserved to be reprimanded and punished so severely? On the surface, it appears that he was not such a bad person. Indeed, in one of the most tragic episodes in the family’s history, when Joseph was threatened with murder and sold as a slave, he acted very courageously. It was he who tried, very bravely, to save his poor younger brother. He had compassion on him and felt that he was responsible for him. He was determined to return him to his father, when his brothers were about to murder him. But, he was just one person against nine. He had a plan. He suggested that Joseph should be cast into a disused well whilst he separated from his brothers and went to have his meal somewhere else. The problem is that when he returned to the well, Joseph was not there and he had no idea what had happened to him. He was extremely upset and tore his garments. But the bottom line is that he failed in his attempt to save Joseph and it seems that Jacob was not at all impressed. And the reason seems to me that he was too hasty and did not think out the best thing to do. If you have a responsibility for the safety of your brother, you cannot afford to fail. If you aspire to be a leader, there are definitely occasions where trying is just not good enough. Our rabbis say that there are times when good intentions are very worthy and God counts them as actions. But in this instance, Re’uven proved that he did not have the leadership. Here we see his first extremely tragic failure as a firstborn.

Many years later, the family faced another deep crisis. The brothers went to Egypt, where Joseph was the ruler. Joseph demanded that the 10 brothers should bring Benjamin with them on their second trip to Egypt. But when the time came to go down to Egypt, for the second time, to buy food, Jacob was adamant in his refusal to let Benjamin go. He didn’t want to lose another of his beloved Rachel’s two sons. In those days travelling to Egypt was extremely dangerous. But the brothers insisted that they couldn’t go down and face Joseph again without Benjamin. They were truly scared of Joseph. At that point, Re’uven said to his father: “Let us take Benjamin with us. I guarantee his safety”. And then he said to his father something extremely hasty and unwise: “If I don’t bring Benjamin back with me, you can kill my two sons.” Jacob ignored him completely. He was even more determined not to let Benjamin go. How could Re’uven even contemplate this cruel idea of his father murdering his two grandchildren, whilst guaranteeing Benjamin’s safety?  What kind of father was Reu’ven? How could his own children ever trust him again, if he was prepared to make such a horrendous offer?

So, on his deathbed, Jacob began by criticising Re’uven for his overall character. He said about him that he was hasty, as I said unfaithful and untrustworthy. He compared him to a wadi, which sometimes has water and at other times is bone dry, and when it has water, its water flows too fast.  And then he referred to what Jacob thought had been his worst offence. Jacob told him that he was a usurper.  He accused him of trying to seize the family leadership by having relations with one of his father’s wives, Bilhah, at the most tragic moment for Jacob, just after Benjamin’s birth Rachel’s death, at the very moment when Jacob was in deep distress. For these three terrible failures Re’uven was denied a blessing, and received, instead, a most serious rebuke.

On the other hand, there was Joseph. Time and again, he showed himself to be loyal and trustworthy. Wherever he was, he found favour and demonstrated upstanding character and competence to lead. It was the pattern of his life. Therefore, Jacob gave him a most beautiful blessing and called him the Prince of his brothers. This is what he said to him:

“Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall. With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility.But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel.May your father’s God, help you, Almighty God bless you with blessings of the skies above, blessings of the deep springs below,
blessings of the breast and womb.Your father’s blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers.”

We learn some magnificent things from Joseph’s life. His life was packed with challenges, but he overcame them in a most extraordinary way. The first lesson we learn is that it depends on us how we cope with the difficulties which life brings to us personally. It is absolutely amazing how Joseph succeeded in interpreting the most tragic events in his life in an extraordinarily positive manner. Because he had this phenomenal quality, he was able to forgive his brothers with absolute sincerity and, eventually, help all of them to settle in Egypt. There was not a trace of any malice in anything he did for them. The third lesson we learn is this: Joseph showed tremendous loyalty to his family and to people who mattered in his life. He was utterly dependable and trustworthy. His word was his bond and he worked tirelessly to please. First he succeeded Potiphar’s house, then he succeeded in Pharaoh’s Palace and finally he succeeded in reuniting his family.  His fourth great characteristic was that he cared for everyone. We see the most wonderful example when he was in prison together with the Butler and the Baker. One morning, he saw that the Butler and the Baker when very sad.  He was concerned about them and wanted to help them. They were upset about the dreams they had, which seemed more like nightmares. He empathised with their predicament and he told them his interpretations of their dreams. He was sincere and warm to them. The fifth lesson, which we learn from Joseph, is that, just as he remembered that everything that he achieved came from the Almighty, so we also have that duty. We remember Joseph’s humble words as he stood in front of the mighty Pharaoh in fear and trepidation, offering him his services as an interpreter of dreams: He said to Pharaoh: “Remember Pharaoh! All the interpretations, that I will tell you, come from God alone. They are not mine. Joseph succeeded in becoming a world leader, more than anyone else in biblical history, because he was loyal and faithful and feared the God of his fathers every single day of his life.