Vayechi Drash
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Vayechi Drash
Vayechi Drash
This weeks Parasha is Veychi and means He Lived. This is the last Parasha in Genesis and details Jacob’s death. At the end of the portion we arrive at the depiction of Joseph’s brother’s begging him for forgiveness for selling him to slavery decades before. They even go so far as to tell him his father begged for Joseph to forgive his brothers before his death, though we do not read of this anywhere else in the Torah. His brothers also humbled themsleves, offering to be his slaves.
What drew my attention specifically was how little Joseph’s brothers knew him still. Their actions seem to indicate they thought Joseph was allowing them to live either at the command of their father or in some sense of duty to him. Now that Jacob had died and the time of mourning had passed they feared he would no longer feel bound to honor or obey his father and would choose this time to execute his vengance against them.
How often does this happen to us? How often do we encounter people that think the way we live is not a choice of our own but some standard forced upon us? Many people do not understand that while the concept of living obidiently and faithfully to the scriptures may be a tradition carried on in our families, it is only a motivation and not the reason for our way of life. The reason we choose to live obidiently is because it makes our Heavenly father happy, and yes it is encouraging when it makes our earthly fathers happy too.
Just as Joseph’s brothers did not understand Jacob was only a motivation to live obidiently and faithfully, they also did not understand that Joseph’s desire for HaShem to be happy or pleased with him was the reason for his faithful obidiance.
It was out of Joseph’s faithful obdienace that he knew the evil that had been intended for him was actually used for a great good. His realization of this made it easier for him to forgive his brothers when he first saw them when they came for food during the years of famine, yet it was not the reason for his forgiveness. This realization may have motivated him, but it was his desire to see his heavenly father happy and to please him that caused him to forgive them.
As we walk this earth and live out our faith through good works we may encounter people that incorrectly think we are doing so only out of obligation to a culture or familial responsibility. Some may even think they are doing us a great service by encouraging us to cast off the “antiquated” structures we live by. Just as Joseph assured his brothers he would do them no harm because it was for the pleasure of his heavenly father to do good to them. So to should we assure others that our faithful obidiance is not something that we are trapped by but is a choice we make for the pleasure of our heavenly father.