Vayehi 5775 - English

by Rabbi Guido Cohen
Asociación Israelita Montefiore - Bogotá, Colombia

This week’s parashah is Parashat Vayehi, the last portion of the book of Bereshit – Genesis, where we are told about the death of our patriarch Jacob in the land of Egypt.  

The first verse of the parashah says, “Jacob lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt, so that the span of Jacob's life came to one hundred and forty-seven years.”

One of the details that stand out when reading this verse is that the Torah separates the years Jacob lived in Egypt from the rest of his life.  It’s not only that, but when referring to the years Jacob spent in Egypt, the Torah says ‘lived’ (‘vayehi’ which provides the name for this parashah) and when it speaks of his life before it simply says those years ‘were’. 

The Midrash (Sehel Tov Bereshit 47) points out this difference and teaches us that ‘living’ is not the same as our days ‘being’ or simply passing by.  According to this Midrash, these seventeen years of Jacob’s life were full of vitality, of pleasure, and peace.  These years were blessed, and thus, the Torah considers it correct to state that Jacob lived them.  This idea that these seventeen years were good and plentiful is strengthened by the fact that the numerical value of the word “TOV” (good) is exactly seventeen.  

Nevertheless, it is somewhat surprising that out of Jacob’s entire lifetime, the Torah would emphasize these years.  Let us remember that at different points of his life, Jacob went through other moments that were worthy of saying he ‘lived’.  Just to name a few, we can mention the dream of the ladder or the fight with the angel at Bet El.   

Our tradition claims that Jacob’s move to the land of Egypt marks the beginning of exile.  In fact, the word used to say that Jacob went to live in Egypt is ‘vayered’ which means ‘and he descended’.  Furthermore, the word ‘Mitzraim’ (Egypt) entails a negative significance since it comes from the word ‘tzara’ meaning narrowness or maybe anguish.  The wise men of our mystical tradition carry the symbolism even further, and they teach us that ‘being in Mitzraim’ is a synonym for being at a stage where the divine is limited and therefore hard to perceive.  Years later, when God wishes to reveal himself to Moses, He chooses to do it in the desert, not in the land of Mitzraim, where He prefers not to shine the light of His face. 

So, how come the Torah tells us that Jacob ‘lived’ precisely during those seventeen years in Mitzraim?

When commentating this verse, the Baal Shem Tov quotes from Psalm 4 and says, “In narrowness, you broadened me.” (BeTzar Hirhavta Li.)  In narrowness, in anguish, or we might say in Egypt, Jacob was able to feel full.  

This quote helps us understand why the Torah chooses these complicated seventeen years in Jacob’s life to say he ‘lived’.  In a situation where the ability to perceive the divine was limited, while he inhabited a strange land, in those times of anguish and narrowness, Jacob lived.  By dividing the verse in this way, the Torah points out that Jacob was able to live, even in a situation in which others might have simply let their days go by.  Even in Egypt, in the narrowness that hinders contemplating and perceiving the light, Jacob enjoyed vitality.  It would have been easier for the Torah to emphasize that Jacob lived during the days that God revealed Himself to him at Bet El, or when he received God’s blessing through his father Isaac.  However, what was worthy of praise was Jacob’s ability to live in Mitzraim, the land of narrowness, and find life there too.  Rabbi Najman of Breslov teaches us that even if we recognize the world is a narrow bridge, the important thing is to have no fear and to traverse the narrowness.  That was Jacob’s merit, to live within the narrow and still recognize in it the blessing of life, to be able to perceive the light even in a space or situation where that light appeared to be far away and unreachable.  

And what allowed Jacob to perceive this light of life, even in the land of exile?  It was probably his sense of wellbeing with himself and the harmony among his family.  Despite the fact that he was going through Mitzraim, Jacob finally saw his family reunited after so many years.  After believing for so long that wild animals had devoured Joseph, Jacob was able to embrace him again and to bless all his children.  Nothing held more life for him than this reunion with his own.  Jacob did not need to seek a blessing from above like he did in his youth, for now he received it from below, from the concrete reality of encountering his long lost son and seeing his family brought together.  The Torah points out precisely those seventeen years of his life as a time Jacob lived, because he was able to overcome the narrowness of life even at a time when others would have simply let the days go by.  The first verse of this parashah serves as an inspiration; at times when we feel we cannot contemplate that light, when we cannot receive the blessing from above, we may still find a purest and fuller blessing in that which surrounds us, that which we call life.