Jewish academic and Hebrew scholar Irene Lancaster offers her insights into the final chapters of Genesis.
It is the turn of the year in many different ways. Days get longer. Nights get shorter. And the weather is freezing!
And this is also the time of year when the Jewish community finishes reading the Book of Genesis in shul and turns to Exodus.
Despite the colder-than-ever weather, snowdrops are coming through, a harbinger of spring despite the icy frosts. And it is at this time between Chanukah and Tu B’Shvat (New Year for Trees) that many of us break the back of the house clear-out in preparation for Pesach cleaning.
I’ll come back to this subject later but, in the meantime, what’s the last chapter of Genesis actually about?
It’s called ‘Va-Yechi’: And Jacob lived ….’. For, although it is about death, it’s also about life. Jacob lived until the age of 147 and asked Joseph to bury him in Israel. But it’s Jacob’s life and heritage that is celebrated in this final section of Genesis (Genesis 47:28-50:26).
First, Jacob blesses Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Menashe, the younger one first, as had been the case with Jacob himself with his own father.
Later, Ephraim will become the generic name for the Northern Kingdom after the split when Solomon dies. Ephraim will be conquered in 722 BCC by the Assyrians and dispersed into the Assyrian Empire. Menashe’s territory spans both sides of the Jordan, but in future they aren’t mentioned much at all.
In chapter 49, Jacob then turns to his own sons. Reuben, the first-born, is ‘unstable as water’, and therefore not cut out for leadership.
Shimon and Levi had jointly used ‘weapons of violence’ to stealthily wreak vengeance on Shechem for the rape of their sister Dinah (Genesis 34).
They were also behind the sale of their brother Joseph (Genesis 37 and 43).
In Moses’ later blessings of the tribes before his own death (Deuteronomy 33:17) he states of Shimon and Levi that ‘at their whim they maimed an ox.’ This ‘ox’ is Joseph, their brother.
As a result, Shimon and Levi will be ‘dispersed among Israel.’ This means that they do not acquire their own territory. Simon lives in a part of Judah, and the tribe of Levi is divided among the other tribes, being devoted to learning and, later, Temple service. It is important to remember that priesthood does not imply ethical behaviour. That is the realm of the prophets.
The fourth son, Judah, lives up to his name and is ‘acknowledged’ by his brothers, even though he is also far from blameless. However, Judah ‘acknowledges’ his wrongdoing and is therefore worthy of leadership. Judah also lends his name to the term for ‘Jew’. Jews are supposed to lead by example and acknowledge when they are wrong.
Jacob likens Judah to every aspect of the lion, from cub to adulthood, encompassing the courage of youth and the maturity of old age. From Judah stem David and Solomon, who are the subjects of the accompanying Haftorah, 1 Kings 2:1-12. Here the dying David hands over the monarchy to Solomon, who will later go on to build the First Temple and unite the country for a short time.
These four were the children of Leah. Jacob now turns to two children of her handmaiden, Zilpah. He blesses the younger, Zebulon, before Issachar. This is for the very important reason that Zebulon enables Issacher’s Torah learning and teaching by engaging in trade at sea. Zebulon’s profits pay for Torah teaching and learning. As it says in Pirke Avot (Ethics of the Fathers 3:17): ‘If there is no flour, there is no Torah.’
This seminal Tirah teaching was taken literally in the life of Rambam, Moses Maimonides (1135/8-1204), who was financially supported by his seafaring brother, David, until the latter was drowned in a shipwreck. From then on Rambam became the court doctor to the Caliph of Fustat (Old Cairo).
After these six children of Leah and Zilpah, Jacob next turns to Dan, son of Bilhah, handmaiden to Rivka. Dan is likened to a serpent and a viper. His attributes are seen in his descendant, Samson, who defeated the Philistines single-handedly. Later the snake epithets were used to describe a number of daring battles in the history of modern Israel.
Zilpah’s sons, Gad and Asher, both mean ‘happy’ and these two tribes willingly support the other tribes, while Naftali, Bilhah’s younger son, is ‘a hind set free’. He is nimble, swift and alert, and is particularly helpful to Deborah in her war against Sisera (Judges 4:4-5:30) and as messenger and go-between for the other tribes.
Jacob turns to his youngest two, the sons of Rachel, his favourite wife. Joseph is both charming and able, a fine administrator and generally admired. However, he attracts envy and is therefore not chosen to assume the mantle of Jacob. In the end it is Judah who was regarded as a more fitting leader for the Jewish people, even though Joseph was a zaddik, a righteous man.
Finally, Benjamin is ‘a predatory wolf’ whose descendants will be warriors. Examples are King Saul and, in exile, Queen Esther of Persia, together with her kinsman, Mordechai. Esther even has a Megillah reading named after her at Purim, and her life demonstrates how Jews can deal with the iniquities of diaspora living.
With the death of Jacob, who is buried outside of Egypt, and of Joseph himself, we now turn to the Book of Exodus.
Turning to the present day at this time of year, the news is grim. More Jews have been massacred - this time during the Chanukah summer celebrations of Bondi Beach in Sydney. The murdered rabbi was related to people here in Manchester. These included members of Heaton Park Shul, site of the Yom Kippur massacre, as well as to one of the rabbis and members of our own Shul, about a mile away from Heaton Park Shul.
At the same time, the Jews of Prestwich, half a mile the other way, were threatened with the greatest-ever terrorist attack on British soil. This was foiled. Simply being Jewish, descendants of Judah, causes these murderous schemes.
But as I was clearing out the house in preparation for Pesach cleaning, I came across a small challah cover, embroidered by one of my children when they were small. I thought that at the right time this would be a wonderful gift for Ahava, my youngest grandchild, who turned eighteen months on January 4th. She started nursery school in Israel on January 1st.
Imagine my joy therefore when I was just sent a photo of a small challah, kneaded by Ahava for her first lesson at Israeli nursery school.
She ate this first challah she made herself for Shabbat meal, with her proud Mum and Dad sitting next to her.
To survive in this increasingly hostile age, when not a few pundits are stating publicly that it’s now open house on Jews, what is needed more than anything is Jewish education, more Jewish educators, more willingness to fight on all fronts if necessary, and more love for the State of Israel.
As immigration to the Jewish State increases, more people than ever are landing daily at Ben Gurion airport from the USA, Canada, Australia, France and the UK. Israel’s population has now reached well over 10 million, with fertility high among all sectors.
A country which teaches challah baking as its first lesson for toddlers is the best preparation for Jewish life, and for flourishing and thriving as a people.
However welcome we think we may be in diaspora, Jews must always remember the first words of Exodus in which ‘there arose a new king over Egypt who knew not Joseph.’ And this factor led to the eventual Exodus out of Egypt and into the Promised Land.
