In zijn wekelijkse Jerusalem Post column vertelt rabbi Shlomo Riskin op intrigerende wijze over de Tora van de Week. Hier een prelude op de spreker tijdens de Jewish Identity Day, zondag 9 januari in het JCC in Amsterdam.
Parasha Vayehi: Living to tell the tale.
“And Jacob called to his sons and said ‘Gather together and I shall tell you what will befall you at the end of days” (Genesis 49:1)
The mesmerizing and majestic historical parable of Jacob and his sons comes to a riveting but peaceful climax: His 12 sons gather around the patriarch’s deathbed for a final assessment of their characters, and the blessings which will carry them into the future collectively as the Children of Israel. Jacob/Israel, wise and matured as a result of his years of suffering and struggle, has learned to honestly confront rather than circumvent, and so is starkly honest in his short but pithy charges: “As fickle, as quixotic as water… cursed be their anger, for it is fierce.” Nevertheless, he paints a broad canvas that concludes with: “And unto him shall be the gathering of the nations… until he shall apportion the spoils in the evening” when the enemies will be vanquished and the ultimate peace will arrive. The picture that emerges is nebulous, but it makes clear that at the end of days, the brothers together will realize the mission of the Abrahamic covenant.
Is it not strange, however, that a biblical portion whose central feature is Jacob’s deathbed scene with “Joseph falling on his [dead] father’s face weeping over him and kissing him” and “all of Egypt weeping [for Jacob] for 70 days” (Genesis 50:2-4) opens with the word by which this portion is identified “Vayehi” – “And he lived.” It is not true! Jacob-Israel, whom we have come to know and love and identify with, is now dead. Similarly, the earlier portion that deals with the death and burial of the matriarch Sarah – and tells how “Abraham eulogized her and wept over her” – is called “Hayei Sarah,” the Life of Sarah.
Is this not a strange pattern?
Lees HIER verder.
