Vayechi: Choice and Fate

Vayechi is a recognition of fate.  It opens with the universal and ultimate  fate: death.  It is a time for reckoning since,  with the certainty of death, comes the inevitability of change; and the realization that one has no control over the postmortem future. It is a time for blessing, ultimate instruction  and legacy.

The entire parsha deals with Jacob's dying.  It starts by giving his "dates". 

וַיְחִ֤י יַעֲקֹב֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם שְׁבַ֥ע עֶשְׂרֵ֖ה שָׁנָ֑ה וַיְהִ֤י יְמֵֽי־יַעֲקֹב֙ שְׁנֵ֣י חַיָּ֔יו שֶׁ֣בַע שָׁנִ֔ים וְאַרְבָּעִ֥ים וּמְאַ֖ת שָׁנָֽה׃

Jacob lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt, so that the span of Jacob’s life came to one hundred and forty-seven years.

וַיִּקְרְב֣וּ יְמֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֘ל לָמוּת֒  And when the time approached for Israel to die

Jacob  spent 17 years with Joseph in Egypt.  Joseph was 17 when he was sold into servitude in Egypt. Symmetry! For 17 years Jacob treated Joseph like a prince  - and made him the target of his brothers' wrath. They sold him into slavery. For 17 years Jacob and family lived under Prince Joseph - as they descended into slavery, 

  Jacob realized that he was the instrument for the long exile prophesied to Abraham.  

יָדֹ֨עַ תֵּדַ֜ע כִּי־גֵ֣ר ׀ יִהְיֶ֣ה זַרְעֲךָ֗ בְּאֶ֙רֶץ֙ לֹ֣א לָהֶ֔ם וַעֲבָד֖וּם וְעִנּ֣וּ אֹתָ֑ם אַרְבַּ֥ע מֵא֖וֹת שָׁנָֽה׃

“Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years;

 The exile was starting.  The strange land would be Egypt.  It all fit.  Nothing could be done. 

 Jacob  makes burial arrangements. He is to be buried with the ancestors in the Hevron, Canaan. (Karen and I have similar arrangements)   He bows to the power of his son who is able to make this huge undertaking happen. 

Jacob gives a series of blessings.  First, to Joseph's two sons.  He prioritized Ephraim, the younger, over Menashe, the first born.  

Names seem very significant in Jacob's blessings. With some of his sons, he makes that very clear: 

דָּ֖ן יָדִ֣ין עַמּ֑וֹ

Dan shall govern (yadin) his people,

גָּ֖ד גְּד֣וּד יְגוּדֶ֑נּוּ וְה֖וּא יָגֻ֥ד עָקֵֽב׃ (ס

Gad shall be raided (yegadenu)  by raiders (gadud), But he shall raid (yaged) at their heels.

Sometimes it is more subtle: 

יְהוּדָ֗ה אַתָּה֙ יוֹד֣וּךָ אַחֶ֔יךָ 

You, O Yehudah, your brothers shall praise;(yoducha).  

Jacobs turns Yehudah's mother's supplication  for granting her a fine son onto the obeisance  of his brothers. 

Perhaps this name significance also applied  implicitly to Shimeon  His mother named him "He has heard my suffering" (onah). Shimon is the one who hears the cry of the oppressed.   The rape of Dinah is called וַיְעַנֶּֽהָ׃  ( va'yi'aneha)  an oppression.  Shimeon heard it,  took it to heart, and he battled for her honor.

Levi, which means "attached", joined in that fight, he respected his attachment to Dinah.  

But Shimon and Levi did not coordinate with Jacob.  They launched their own plan, angering the surrounding tribes. Hence their cool blessing. 

Jacob may may have been offended by Menashe's name. 

וַיִּקְרָ֥א יוֹסֵ֛ף אֶת־שֵׁ֥ם הַבְּכ֖וֹר מְנַשֶּׁ֑ה כִּֽי־נַשַּׁ֤נִי אֱ  אֶת־כָּל־עֲמָלִ֔י וְאֵ֖ת כָּל־בֵּ֥ית אָבִֽי׃

Joseph named the first-born Manasseh, meaning, “Gd has made me forget  (nasheni) completely my hardship and my parental home.”

Perhaps this impacted on Jacob's choice of brother Ephraim to receive the slightly greater blessing.  Joseph insisted on  absolution from this decision; Jacob would not forgive it completely. 

By the end of the parsha, it is clear that the move to Egypt is the fulfillment of the  exile prophecy of Abraham. Joseph's pleading final instructions, for reburial in Canaan 

וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יוֹסֵף֙ אֶל־אֶחָ֔יו אָנֹכִ֖י מֵ֑ת וֵֽא  פָּקֹ֧ד יִפְקֹ֣ד אֶתְכֶ֗ם וְהֶעֱלָ֤ה אֶתְכֶם֙ מִן־הָאָ֣רֶץ הַזֹּ֔את אֶל־הָאָ֕רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר נִשְׁבַּ֛ע לְאַבְרָהָ֥ם לְיִצְחָ֖ק וּֽלְיַעֲקֹֽב׃

At length, Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. Gd will surely take notice of you and bring you up from this land to the land that He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

reflect that he, and presumably his brothers , knew that they would be in Egypt for a long time; and that it would not all be pleasant.  This ironic adventure: The envy, the dreams, the search for his brothers, the pit, the sale, the service, the attempted seduction, the prison, the dreams, the ascent, the dependency of the brothers on Joseph - it had all been the grand plan.  The immediate result would be servitude and suffering; merely another step toward the redemption of the great nation.  All of these events are part of a Grand Plan. It is best to be born  during the peaks of this sinusoidal plot. 

Th haftarah reflects the parsha's focus on the death of the ruling authority. David instructs his son, Shlomo, to avenge his father's grievances. The Haftarah reminds us that when the ruler is succeeded, scores may be settled, things change.  It foreshadows the next parsha, when a new Pharoah changes the terms of the lease for the Israelites.

The haftarah justifies the confabulation of the brothers, when they tell Joseph that their father had instructed him to deal kindly with his brothers,  despite their transgression against him. 

וַיְצַוּ֕וּ אֶל־יוֹסֵ֖ף לֵאמֹ֑ר אָבִ֣יךָ צִוָּ֔ה לִפְנֵ֥י מוֹת֖וֹ לֵאמֹֽר׃

So they sent this message to Joseph, “Before his death your father left this instruction:

כֹּֽה־תֹאמְר֣וּ לְיוֹסֵ֗ף אָ֣נָּ֡א שָׂ֣א נָ֠א פֶּ֣שַׁע אַחֶ֤יךָ וְחַטָּאתָם֙ כִּי־רָעָ֣ה גְמָל֔וּךָ

So shall you say to Joseph, ‘Forgive, I urge you, the offense and guilt of your brothers who treated you so harshly.’ 

We have no record of Jacob actually giving this instruction. What does the absence of such a statement mean? 

 Both justice and fate (the unfolding of the master plan) can seem cruel. Sometimes they are at odds,  The secret: Fate always wins.