This Week’s sedra – Vayechi

17 Tevet 5854

Isaiah 52:2 

“Shake off the dust”

הִתְנַעֲרִ֧י מֵעָפָ֛ר ק֥וּמִי שְּׁבִ֖י יְרוּשָׁלָ֑͏ִ  

Arise!!, shake off the dust!!,

Many will be familiar with opening line from this section of Isaiah as Jewish people say this every Shabbat in Lecha Dodi – but what does this mean? What dust is it referring to? For this we shall look at the opening verse from this weeks Torah portion.

Genesis 47:28

וַיְחִ֤י יַעֲקֹב֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם שְׁבַ֥ע עֶשְׂרֵ֖ה שָׁנָ֑ה  

“Jacob lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt…”

What is the connection between these verses? 

Based on speech by Rabbi Issac Bernstein ZTL

“Maser Avot Siman L’banim (MASL)” loosley translated means that those events that happened to our forefathers are a sign of what is to to come. 

In the opinion of Karl Marx – “history repeats itself” – in Jewish philosophy M.A.S.L says otherwise – it is unique and unparrelled – in that according to this principle God judged the Avot (i.e. the founding fathers of Judasim – Abraham, Issac, Jacob and the sons of Jacob) exceptionally finely and that their actions within the Book of Genesis echoed/and echoes throughout Jewish history to the present day, as a consequence of the choices the Avot made the results would have ramifications for the Jewish people for all time.

For example, the Ramaban on Gen 16:6 concerning the episode when Abraham let Sarah do as she pleased with Hagar (another of Abrahams wifes) -  Sarah in turn sent Hagar away:-

“AND SARAI DEALT HARSHLY WITH HER, AND SHE FLED FROM BEFORE HER FACE”

Ramban on this states that:

“Our mother did transgress by this affliction, and Abraham also by his permitting her to do so. And so, G-d heard her [Hagar’s] affliction and gave her a son who would be a wild-ass of a man, to afflict the seed of Abraham and Sarah with all kinds of affliction.

From the above we see that our persecution at the hands of Ishmael’s (i.e. the Arabs) descendants is according to the Ramban a punishment for the actions of our forefather and foremother as a result of the way they mistreated Hagar.

The fate of the Jewish people and its ultimate salvation have all been dictated by our forefathers and foremothers.

It is for this reason that a study of the book of Genesis is very important – the stories of our forefathers are not just “stories” but specifically chosen episodes highlighed in order to teach us something about our predicament  – M.A.S.L.

From this weeks Torah portion we read:- 

AND JACOB LIVED IN THE LAND OF EGYPT SEVENTEEN YEARS.

On this the Ramban states:

Jacob’s descent into Egypt equates to our present exile at the hand of the “fourth beast” (in Daniel’s vision concerning the Four Kingdoms, the fourth beast symbolizes Rome. See Daniel 7:7) following the destruction of the Second Temple.

Jacob’s descent to Egypt parrellels the destruction of the 2nd Temple – how so?

These are the key events in Jacobs life at this point of the Torah:-

1. The sale of Joseph by his brothers caused them to go down to Egypt
2. Jacob went down to Egypt there on account of the famine, mistakenly Jacob thought the Egyptians would love him in the same degree as Pharaoh loved Joseph.
3. Jacob hoped to leave Egypt as soon as the famine would cease in the land of Canaan, just as they said, “To sojourn in the land we have come, for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks, for the famine is heavy in the land of Canaan. *Above, 47:4”.
4. But Jacobs hope failed to materialise, instead the exile prolonged itself and Jacob died there.
5. Following his death Jacob’s bones were taken out from Eygpt accompanied by all the elders and courtiers of Pharaoh, who instituted severe lamentation for him.

The above sequence of events has been paralled in the history of the Jewish people – M.A.S.L.

We ourselves have caused our falling into their clutches, as the Hasmonean rulers during the Second Temple era made a covenant with the Romans, and Agrippa, the last king during the Second Temple, fled to the Romans for help – paralled to point 1 above – just as Joseph fell into the pit at the hands of his brothers – we too have fallen due to our rulers decisions as exhibited by Agrippa.

It was due to a severe famine that Jerusalem was captured by the Romans (paralled to point 2) , and the exile has continued to this very day (parallel to point 3) , with its end seemingly unknown (parallel to point 4), unlike the other exiles for example it was known that the Babylonian Exile would last for a period of seventy years, (Jeremiah 25:12; II Chronicles 36:21).

We are today still in exile under Rome – We say, “Our bones are dried up, we are completely cut off.” *See Ezekiel 37:11.

But in the end they will bring us from all the nations as an offering to the Eternal, and they will be in deep sorrow as they will behold our glory – paralelled to the sorrow the Egyptians felt following the death of Jackob – point 5 above and realise the mistake they made in attacking and persecuting us.

Whilst we had the Second Temple spiritually speaking we as a nation were “alive” as soon as we lost the Temple we were “dead” and became dried bones. 

When the Messiah arrives in all his majesty at that point there will be amongst other events, an ingathering of the exiles and a revivial of the dead – it will be at this moment that WE WILL SHAKE OURSELVES FROM THE DUST THAT WE ARE” – HITNARI M’AFER KUMI” – the dust of the bones of Jacob will be shaken and brought to life – the Jewish people will at the right time shake off the dust of the their bones and shall arise and become ALIVE once more.