This week’s Torah portion,
Vayechi (Gen. 47:28-50:26) concludes the book of Genesis. Jacob, knowing that he will soon die, gives a
blessing to each of his sons, and to Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manassah. He gives his sons instructions to take his
body out of Egypt and bury it in the cave of Machpelah in Canaan, where his
parents and grandparents and his wife Leah (but not Rachel) are buried.
After his death, his sons comply
with his wishes. After they have
returned to Egypt, Joseph’s brothers begin to worry. Now that their father is dead, they wonder if
Joseph will finally take revenge upon them for the way they treated him so many
years ago. So they tell Joseph that, before he died, Jacob had told them “Say
this to Joseph: Forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin,
though they inflicted harm upon you”. It
is a most unlikely story. First of all, Joseph
and his brothers had all tacitly conspired to be sure that Jacob did not know
what they had done to Joseph. Secondly,
why would Jacob say such a thing to his other sons, rather than to Joseph
directly? But Joseph does not contradict
them. Instead, he sees their fear and
comforts them. He says, “Am I in place
of God? You intended harm but God
intended it for good…have no fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.”
Thus did he comfort them and speak straight to their hearts (Gen. 50:21).
Joseph understands what his
brothers fear and he addresses it directly.
He states that they meant to harm him.
He tells them that he can’t and won’t judge them, and he assures them
that he will continue to care for them, and for their children. He doesn’t sugarcoat things or sweep them
under the rug. His acknowledgement of
the truth, speaking straight to their hearts, is indeed true comfort.
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