9.1.09

Parashat VaYechi

Yaakov, before summoning all his sons to his deathbed, called in Yoseif and his two sons and presented them with a very special gift. Yaakov explained that after his first eleven sons were born, Hashem then promised him that he would produce another “Goi U’Kahal Goyim,” another “nation and gathering of nations.” Binyamin’s birth was the fulfillment of “Goi,” but there were clearly two more children that Hashem intended to count as Yaakov’s direct descendents. Yaakov therefore inferred that one of his sons was destined to split into two tribes, and he decided to split Yoseif.

Yaakov then continued, “And when I came from [Lavan’s house,] Rachel died in Cana’an… and I buried her on the road to Efras, in Beis Lechem.” The commentaries all ask, how does Yaakov’s burial of Rachel connect to the rest of his conversation with Yoseif? Rashi explains.

“And when I came from Padan…” Although I am troubling you to carry me back to Cana’an to be buried and yet I did not even do so for your mother, whom [I buried right where] she died… And I did not even carry as far as Beis Lechem, to settled land. I know you are upset with me, but know that I buried her [there] by G-d’s command, so she may help her sons when Nevuzaradan exiles them. When they pass her grave, she will cry and beg for mercy on them…
Rashi, Beraishis 48:7

Rashi’s explanation helps us understand why Yoseif might have been interested in the details surrounding his mother’s burial. However, Rashi does little to connect these details to the splitting of Yoseif into two tribes. Yaakov suddenly needs to quell his son’s grudge toward him? Shouldn’t Yaakov have explained his actions to Yoseif when he first requested to be buried in Cana’an?

In fact, by waiting until after he splits Yoseif into two Shvatim, Yaakov makes his apology not only untimely, but poinless. Rashi explains later in the parasha that the brothers stood around Yaakov’s coffin in the same formation that they later used to travel through the Midbar. By this understanding, Menashe and Ephrayim both took part in the burial ceremony, but Yoseif only watched. In that case, how can Yaakov any longer apologize for troubling Yoseif to bury him? Now he’s troubling Yoseif’s sons instead, children who likely hold no such grudge over the burial of a grandmother they never met. Why then does Yaakov still need to explain himself to Yoseif at all? And yet Yaakov waits for exactly this moment.

An understanding of Yaakov’s apology can itself only exist within an understanding of its context, the supposed “gift” that Yaakov presented Yoseif by splitting him into two tribes. Rashi explains that Ephrayim and Menashe will be counted as “Yaakov’s” in order that they “take a portion in [Eretz Yisrael,] each man for himself.” However, Rashi then explains that all the tribes divided the land proportionally, according to their respective populations. Therefore, whether Menashe and Ephrayim were counted as one tribe or two would not affect the size of their estate. What “gift” did Yaakov then give them? Rashi concludes, “Nonetheless, only these children [of Yaakov’s sons] were called Shvatim to collect land in Eretz Yisrael, to have their own Nasi, and to wave their own flag.” In essence, Menashe and Ephrayim had as great a stake in the land before Yaakov’s decision than they did after. Why then does Rashi mention anything about how they will divide the land? Why does Rashi mention it first? Why does he still couple it with the appointment of a Nasi and the waving of a flag to conclude?

Perhaps there is more value to a gift than just its utility. As described later in the Torah, the Bnos Tzelophchad, who were descendants of Yoseif, embodied a strict love for the land that went beyond their desire to own their own property. Their land would leave their own Sheivet and go to whatever Sheivet they married into (as they only agreed to marry into their own tribe and keep the land within their Sheivet after Menashe’s leaders complained to Moshe), yet they still wanted to be part of the division of land and uphold their father’s legacy, even if their acquisition would have no affect on the Sheivet’s estate.

In this sense, Yaakov is providing a gift to Yosief, but one of no particular utility. Yaakov has only so much he can give, but given Yoseif’s inherent love for Eretz Yisrael, even the alteration of the process by which the land will be divided is something that Yoseif finds special. However, a gift is also only special as its giver perceives it to be, and the question that Yaakov must address in our parasha is whether he views occupation and use of the land in an ad hoc manner or with an equal level of reverence as do Yoseif and his sons.

When Yaakov asked Yoseif to bury him in Cana’an, Yoseif immediately obliged, yet Yaakov still forced him to swear. Though Yoseif saw this duty as a privilege, Yaakov seemed to think he was “burdening” his son into bringing him up from Mitzrayim. Furthermore, Yaakov buried Yoseif’s mother, Rachel, right where she dropped dead, without even considering whether there were any more appropriate places for her to be buried within proximity. And what if she were to have died before they would have entered Eretz Yisrael? Did Yaakov really treat the land with any such consideration? Yosief was left to speculate.

Of course, when Yaakov ordered Yoseif to carry him back to Cana’an, Yoseif’s speculation meant nothing. His father gave him an order, and he would certainly fulfill that order exactly as commanded, no matter what he felt in his heart. However, now Yaakov was giving him a gift, and the essence of the gift was not one of utility but rather of thought. Yoseif would gain very little from being split into two tribes, yet Yaakov wanted let Yoseif know just how special he was. Yaakov couldn’t do this without first explaining how special the land was to him as well, and only though this expression of endearment, the fact that he buried Yoseif’s mother right where she could cry for her children, for Yoseif’s brothers just as he himself constantly cried for them, could Yoseif appreciate the gift he and his sons received.