Parshat Vayechi; Genesis 47:28 –50:26 by Rabbi Denise L. Eger
This last Torah portion of the book of Genesis concludes the story of Jacob and his son Joseph. Jacob lives in the land of Egypt seventeen years before his death. Interestingly, Joseph had been under his father’s care for seventeen years when he was sold into slavery by his brothers and thought of as dead by his father.
Jacob before his death offers a blessing to Joseph in the form of a blessing upon Joseph’s children, Manasseh and Ephraim. These two children are adopted by Jacob as a tribute not only to Joseph’s mother, Rachel whom Jacob still mourns, but also indeed to Joseph himself and their amazing journey that reunited them in Egypt.
Jacob formally adopts Manasseh and Ephraim in a ceremony that reminds us of his own blessing by his father Isaac. The text tells us that “Israel (Jacob’s) eyes were dim with age he could not see” (Gen.48:10). This reminds us of Isaac who had similar eye problems and because his vision was so poor, Jacob was able to fool his father into receiving his older brother’s blessing. Esau should have received the blessing but Jacob took it away. And now when he, Jacob, is preparing to give Joseph’s sons his own blessing, he crosses his hands, placing his right hand upon the younger son, Ephraim and the left upon Manasseh the older son. His right hand is symbolic, in this case of strength and of receiving the first blessing.
Even when Joseph tries to stop his father’s blessing, pointing out the error, Jacob stands firm to his belief that the younger shall be the stronger one. Jacob says, “I know, my son, I know. He too shall become a people and he too shall be great. Yet his younger brother shall be greater than, he, and his offspring shall be plentiful enough for nations.” (Gen. 48:19). And to this day when we bless our sons, we say, “May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.” Indeed the younger comes before the older.
This theme of the older serving the younger child has played itself out through several generations now. Certainly, Isaac the younger brother to Ishmael became the way the people Israel traced their ancestry. And of course, Isaac’s youngest son Jacob, is the Israelite patriarch. Joseph dreams of his older brothers serving him and indeed they do. And now in Joseph’s own family, Ephraim takes precedence over Manasseh. This emphasis on changing the status quo, which typically meant the oldest male child, received the lion’s share of inheritance, family privilege and yes, blessing creates a thread that ought to inform us today.
As Jews, we ought not be afraid to examine convention. Our ancestors were able to break with tradition and surrounding cultures. It should give us strength to do the same when it doesn’t meet our needs and more importantly when it clashes with our covenantal responsibilities. We ought to be able to look closely at how we have done something and turn it on its side to gain a new perspective. That is what our tradition has done here. Just because birth order determined so much in the ancient world—our tradition is to turn that birth order literally upside down. It should give us comfort and some insight into ways of doing things now. Not just because we’ve always done so—but perhaps the creativity is what God really wants of us. Perhaps God wants us to look beyond birth order to talents, strengths, and individual traits in how we can best serve our families and communities and indeed how we can best serve God.
Posted by Lee at January 9, 2006 09:10 AM
