by Rabbi Avi Billet
One of the more chilling promises we hear given to our forefather Yaakov happens when he is on his way to Egypt, with very mixed emotions over the coming reunion with his beloved Yosef. In the brief stopover in BeerShava, God tells him “I will bring you down to Egypt, and I will also bring you up from Egypt. And Yosef will place his hands over your eyes.” (46:4)
While neither of these images directly tell Yaakov he will be dying in Egypt, nor do they indicate the immediacy of either prospect (Yaakov’s travels and Yosef’s role with the hand and Yaakov’s eyes), the implication remains rather obvious. YOU will go down. I will have to bring you up… because you will have died. Yosef will put his hand over your eyes – a fitting tribute from the second in command in the land – your final passage in this world will be complete.
Perhaps this is why Yaakov has mixed emotions. He has seen his own decline in the wake of Yosef’s disappearance 22 years earlier, and he knows that in a way he is at death’s door. But the news of Yosef being alive has, in a way, given him something to continue to live for.
And as it turns out, as we learn from the opening of next parsha, he will end up living in Egypt for 17 years. One wonders about those promises. They seemed to be coming true in the relatively near future – and while they are fulfilled in due course, one wonders if we have understood them completely.
As far as Yaakov going down and God bringing him up, certainly we can point to Yaakov’s burial taking place before the family is trapped in Egypt.
The idea that Yaakov receives a proper burial at the hands of his sons is nothing short of miraculous.
Another possibility is that Yaakov feared that his family would remain stuck in Egypt forever, and thus the Exodus was a different kind of fulfillment of this promise: God will bring you (your family at whatever stage it finds itself) up from Egypt.
There happen to be many interpretations of the “hands on the eyes” image – let us explore the brilliant suggestion of Rabbi Baruch HaLevi Epstein in his “Tosefes Bracha.” Noting that the word yad (hand) is often a metaphor for strength (note Bereshit 31:29, Devarim 5:17), he posits that Yosef’s hand in this promise would be the employment of Yosef’s power. As far as Yaakov’s eyes go, he brings examples of where einaim (eyes) reference “vision.” (see Tehillim 119:18, or when we say in davening והאר עינינו בתורתך).
The Talmud (Brachos 58a) tells a story of Rav Sheshes who set his eyes against a Sadducee who died. The Gemara wonders how Rav Sheshes could do that, since he was blind! What is understood is that “his eyes” doesn’t refer to his actual sight, but his intention and his feelings – perhaps even his prayers (that story requires its own analysis, not for this space).
The Talmud tells us in Shabbos (33b) that when Yaakov would come to a new place, he would institute new systems for the benefit of the inhabitants of the region. His arrival in Shechem is particularly noted as accompanying new currency, markets, bathhouses. Certainly, Rabbi Epstein argues, he intended to do the same when he would arrive in Egypt! However, the reality of the time, in the middle of a famine, dictated what kinds of needs could be properly followed through with, and which were as yet inappropriate under the circumstances. Not to mention that his economic position would pale in comparison to that of his son, at whose table he would now be a dependent.
And so, comes God’s promise to him. You want to make a change? You want to have the impact you normally have on a new place? You won’t really be in a position to do that? “Yosef will put his power behind your vision.”
This interpretation removes all of the uncertainty of what Yaakov is feeling concerning his demise because it doesn’t even hint at Yaakov’s death. It indicates that Yaakov will be there for some time – for all that Yosef knew, based on Paroh’s dreams, there were to be 5 more years of famine. So at the very least, Yaakov would be reliant on Yosef for those 5 years, and what then? Is he supposed to sit on his hands waiting for an infrastructure to be set up? No! Yosef will put his power behind your vision. It will get done, God tells him. And then what?
Maybe Yaakov will have the opportunity to return to the Land in his lifetime, maybe he will only return their for burial, but one way or another, God will see to it that he doesn’t remain in Egypt, “I will bring you up.”
It is a glorious kind of partnership when people bring different strengths to the table, and collaborate and work together to make magic happen.
Over the course of the last few parshas of Bereshis, there seems to be a clear shift from the story being about Yaakov to really being about Yaakov’s sons.
Rabbi David Zvi Hoffman points out that until the death of each patriarch is actually recorded, all of the narrative is included in the “Toldot” of the still-living Patriarch, even if he doesn’t seem to be the central character. That’s why Vayetze and Vayishlach – while heavily focused on Yaakov – are actually part of Yitzchak’s story, because Yitzchak’s death is recorded at the end of Vayishlach. Yaakov’s “Toldot” are first introduced to us in Vayeshev, when the story shifts to Yosef, but as Yaakov’s death is only recorded in Vayechi, he is still the central figure, even if his sons get much attention in the Torah’s text.
This reorienting our focus back to Yaakov reminds us that even at an advanced age, Yaakov allowed himself a vision. Maybe he was no longer in the position to bring it to actuality due to various circumstances, but God’s promise to him was that Yosef would see to it that his vision for the future of his children in a strange land would be fulfilled as much as humanly possible.
May we all be so lucky to see our visions fulfilled, and when necessary, with the help of others skilled in making things happen in a way that may sometimes be beyond our own limitations.
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