Vayehi 5772

Rabbi Gustavo Kraselnik
Kol Shearith isarael - Panama

The image of the patriarch Jacob blessing his grandsons with his arms crossed (Gen. 48:14), which appears in our parashah, contains a great injustice.  I am not referring to the adoption of Joseph’s sons as his own (5 and 12), nor to the preference (justified or not) of Ephraim over Manasseh (19), but rather to the underlying principle – obvious to all the characters involved and even to the reader – that blessings lay in the right hand (and not in the left).

Sad discovery for the left-handed.  It is not enough that we know we are a minority (an estimate of only 10% of the population are left-handed) nor that life is designed for the right-handed – from cars to musical instruments, passing through latches and can openers –; we have to witness as well how even the Torah, and actually the entire Jewish tradition, share the vision of associating the right side with what is correct.

We find a clear example of this in the world of sacrifices.  Special consideration was granted to the right leg of the offering (Ex. 29:22, Lev. 7:32, 8:25, 26 and others), blood was rubbed on the lobe of the right ear or on the priest’s right hand thumb or right big toe (Ex. 29:20, Lev. 8:23, 24 and others), and even Rambam states that a left-handed priest was automatically disqualified to perform offerings at the Temple (Hilchot Beit HaMikdash 9:16).

The right side prevails in other rituals as well.  The Halachah establishes that, when we dress, we must first put on the right shoe (Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 2:4).  On Sukkot, the Lulav is held with the right hand, while the Etrog is held with the left (Id. 651:2); remember that although we have to shake the four species together, the blessing is called Netilat Lulav.  The Mezuzah is placed on the right doorpost (Id. Yoreh Dea 289:2), and when reciting the Kiddush, we must hold the cup with our right hand (Rambam, Hilchot Shabbat 29:7).

Some could argue that the Tefillim constitute a good exception for this principle, since they are placed on the left arm.  Wrong.  That is the provision for right-handed people; we left-handed use them on our right arm, for the Talmud (Menachot 37a) explains that they should be placed on the weaker arm.

The predominance of the “right” (correct) over the “left” (sinister, evil) can also be seen in symbolism (and the language is a good example).  According to the Psalmist (18:15-16), “the right hand of the Lord”, Yemim Adonai, performs heroic deeds and is sublime; God “marches” at “thy right hand” in war (Is. 63:12, Ps. 110:1,5), and holds man’s right hand as a signal of His choosing (Is. 41:13; 45:1, Ps. 73:23).  The Talmud (Berachot 62a) maintains that God delivered the Torah with His right hand.

In case there are still doubts about it, Kohellet reminds us that “a wise man's understanding is at his right hand; but a fool's understanding at his left” (Ecc. 10:2),  and in the famous Talmudic saying, “You thrust away with one hand and draw near with the other”, the one that obviously rejects is the left (Sotah 47a).  Though it sounds unlikely, there are even those who believe that the name Samael, the angel of death, means “God’s left hand”.

What could we, left-handed people, put forward in our defense?  In the biblical world, the character of the Judge Ehud ben Gera, of Benjamin’s tribe, who precisely because of his left-handedness succeeded in hiding a dagger inside his robes, finally killing Eglon, king of Moab, giving rise to a long period of welfare for his people (Judges 3:12-20).

We can mention as well the 700 left-handed marksmen of the Benjamite tribe, “every one could sling stones at a hair-breadth, and not miss” (Jd. 20:16), notwithstanding their unfruitful participation in the fratricide war against Israel.

The fact that the two biblical stories involving left-handed people relate with Benjamin’s tribe (which literally means the “son of my right hand”) is interesting.  As much as that the author of the well-known text “A Petition of the Left Hand”, a brief protest essay written from the perspective of this hand (“… and more than once I have been beaten for being awkward, and wanting a graceful manner”), is the famous Benjamin Franklin.

It is likely that the only comfort for believers lies in knowing that Maradona scored his goal against England, in the 1986 World Cup, with the hand of God, and it was done with his left.  Though perhaps it was actually this what the revisionists used as the main argument to maintain that it never happened.

Shabat Shalom,
Gustavo