The End is Nigh

Midrash indicates that during the time that Jacob thought Joseph was dead Jacob was like an empty husk; he was bereft of both his son and his connection to God. Woodenly walking through his days, Jacob’s devastation was complete. His son was gone. The Shechinah left him. This double-pain is connected.

When Jacob thought that Joseph was dead, he also believed that he had failed in his life’s mission: it had been revealed to him that if his sons died before him, he would descend to Gehinom 1. With Joseph apparently dead, Jacob spent his years awaiting his bitter fate in the "Next Universe." That is why when the message arrived that Joseph was alive, the Torah declares: The spirit of Jacob their father lived." 2 The Shechinah had returned to Father Jacob.

After twenty-two years, father and son reunite. The Torah describes this moment: "He (Joseph) saw him, he fell on his neck, and cried." 3

After twenty-two years Joseph could only weep. The tears of anger, regret and separation covered Joseph’s face and blurred his vision. What did Jacob do while Joseph cried? Rashi again provides an answer:

Jacob did not fall on the neck of Joseph. He did not kiss him. He did not weep. The Sages explain that Jacob was saying the Sh'ma. 4

Jacob's response to seeing his long-lost son was to say the Sh'ma? After not seeing his son for more than two decades -- remember that Jacob believed that Joseph was torn by wild beasts—Jacob had already come to terms with the death of his son and accepted his future consignment to Gehinom – Jacob uttered the Sh'ma! Why?

Why did Jacob say Shma Yisrael and not just cry like his son? Or why not simply give thanks to God? Even more, why did he add the words Shma Yisrael, “Listen Israel,” when Jacob could have just said, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. After all, who was Jacob speaking to (remember his new name was Israel)? Was he talking to himself?

No, Jacob is addressing a hopeful future. Until now, there was only a dismal end to the family line, a sudden end to his grandfather’s and father’s legacy. Having broken the line of transmission when Joseph died, Jacob expected only Gehinom for himself and a historical footnote for the nascent Jewish people.

That is why Jacob added the words "Listen Israel." He spoke to the future. Think of Jacob’s prayer as “Listen you yet-unborn-generations who shall be know by my name Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.”



D’var Aher:

The holy Torah reads as passages that flow from one column to the next. With no spaces or beaks in the long narrative they form a seamless line connecting passage streams. Invariably, when one Torah portion ends and another begins there is a space, a break in the rush of words. This is not true in Vayichi. There is no break. It is called satum, "closed."

In an oddity with the usual division of parshiot in the Torah last week’s portion ends and this one begins with no discernable break. Why is this portion satum? Rashi shares that the death of Jacob caused a closing of the eyes and hearts of Israel. The troubles of the oppression began. The nation that gave them sanctuary would now become their ruthless oppressor. As a result, Jacob wanted to reveal the end of days to his children to give them hope. As a seer he knew that he could decipher what would happen to his descendents. Jacob gathered his children around his bedside and share with them the future. As he opened his mouth to speak the prophecy evaporated, the future was closed to him. 5

The death of Jacob represented the end of an era. The patriarchal age was drawing to a close. A new generation would begin with no visible leader to guide them. Jacob felt an almost desperate need to reveal to his children what waited for them. He wished to give them hope.
“And Jacob called his sons and said 'Gather, and I will tell you, what will happen to you in the end of days’ ..." 6

Jacob gathered his children around his bedside. Ailing, weak and frail from the visage of the Angel of Death nearing, Jacob wanted to inform them of the future. A momentary pause. A lapse in memory. Jacob became disoriented, confused. Instead, he blessed them. At the moment this revelation is to take place, Jacob's vision eludes him. This is how the Talmud describes the scene:

Jacob wished to reveal the ketz, the end of time, but the Shechinah left him. He became bewildered. He was prescient just a moment before. What happened to him? Jacob said, "Perhaps there is a flaw in my children like Abraham who fathered Ishmael, or father Isaac who bore Esau." 7

In his blank confusion and emptiness Jacob did not fear dementia he agonized that there was something lacking in his children. Perhaps, Jacob thought, it was far more insidious than that, he had failed his life’s mission.

The Talmud then connects Jacob's fear with the errant offspring of his father and grandfather. Why should Jacob have expected that his children would be greater than the children of Abraham or Isaac? If Abraham could father an Ishmael and Isaac could father an Esau, why would Jacob expect that his family would emerge whole? If this was true then Jacob was the last of his lineage.

Jacob's sons respond to their father’s deep and real fear. They responded to his dumbfounded silence by saying, "Sh'ma Israel Adonai Elohenu, Adonai Echad, Listen Israel, the Lord is Our God, the Lord is One." What the children affirmed before their father, the last dying Patriarch, was that they would be true to his moral direction. Father Jacob would die but his tradition would extend beyond his life.

With these words, the next generation assured their father that they truly accept the One God. When Jacob realizes that his children were one nation, he utters the words the entire nation will later use to respond to the Shechinah. "Baruch Shem Kevod Malchuto L'olam Va'ed, Blessed be the honorable name of His kingship forever and ever." 8 Jacob’s life was complete, whole.

The resonance of that event sent ripples through the many generations to follow. Jacob’s declaration was later said every Yom Kippur by the Jewish gathering on the Holy Day. At the Temple, when they heard the Divine Name annunciated by the Kohen Gadol, it not only brought the presence of the Shechinah but initiated the response from the people, "Baruch Shem Kevod Malchuto L'olam Va'ed, Blessed be the honorable name of His kingship forever and ever.

Genesis comes to an end. Time and destiny will eventually bring the Jews to Mount Sinai. The Sh'ma will remain the most powerful declaration of unity of people and connection to God.
Why was Jacob refused the privilege of seeing and sharing the vision of the "end of days"? Jacob was not an unworthy father or careless inheritor of the tradition handed to him. There was no flaw. Some books must remain closed.




D’var Aher:

The Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto had a different reading on Jacob’s struggle to find the ketz, the End of Days. According to him, ligalot et haketz (which means to reveal the end) could also mean it as “liglot.” Liglot means “to expel”.

Why did the Torah not leave the regular gap or space before this week’s portion? The Warsaw Rebbe indicated that Jacob wanted to expel the ketz, the “end.” Jacob wanted to end the human pains this physical existence. Jacob wanted to share with his children the secrets of the white spaces of the Torah. It could not be. The world, God decided, was not yet ready for the Redemption. The way became satum, closed, to Jacob.

Still, we wait.


1 Rashi on 37:35
2 Genesis 45:27
3 Genesis 46:29
4 Rashi on 46:29
5 Rashi 47:28 and Bereshit Rabba 96:1
6 Genesis 49:1-3
7 Pesahim 56a
8 Pesahim 56a