Dear TBZ community,
חֲזַק חֲזַק וְנִתְחַזֵּק
Hazak Hazak V'Nitchazek,
“Strong, Strong, and May you be Strengthened” are the words we say when we finish a book of the Torah. This week we conclude the book of Genesis.
This week
parsasha,
Vayechi,
tells us about the end of an era and the end of the life of Jacob. Before his death, Jacob blesses each of his children, approaching them individually, recognizing their strengths and their weaknesses.
וַיְבָ֥רֶךְ אֶת־יוֹסֵ֖ף וַיֹּאמַ֑ר הָֽאֱלֹהִ֡ים אֲשֶׁר֩ הִתְהַלְּכ֨וּ אֲבֹתַ֤י לְפָנָיו֙ אַבְרָהָ֣ם וְיִצְחָ֔ק הָֽאֱלֹהִים֙ הָרֹעֶ֣ה אֹתִ֔י מֵעוֹדִ֖י עַד־הַיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּֽה׃
And he blessed Joseph, saying, “The God in whose ways my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my shepherd from my birth to this day—
הַמַּלְאָךְ֩ הַגֹּאֵ֨ל אֹתִ֜י מִכָּל־רָ֗ע יְבָרֵךְ֮ אֶת־הַנְּעָרִים֒ וְיִקָּרֵ֤א בָהֶם֙ שְׁמִ֔י וְשֵׁ֥ם אֲבֹתַ֖י אַבְרָהָ֣ם וְיִצְחָ֑ק וְיִדְגּ֥וּ לָרֹ֖ב בְּקֶ֥רֶב הָאָֽרֶץ׃
The Angel who has redeemed me from all harm— Bless the lads. In them may my name be recalled, And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, And may they be teeming multitudes upon the earth.
”
Verse 16 is also a beautiful song that some of you might be familiar with. Traditionally this verse is sung to children. It is sung at a
Brit Milah
(circumcision ceremony,
Bris
) and it is also sung before going to sleep. You can hear this beautiful song
HERE
sung by Yonina (Yoni & Nina Tokayer), a couple from Israel who record beautiful music.
(It won’t surprise you that in my family we add one sentence when we sing this song at night, that is not found in the original text.
וְשֵׁ֥ם אמוֹתַ֖י שָׂרָ֣ה וְרִבְקָ֖ה
Bless the lads. In them may my name be recalled, And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,
and the names of my mothers Sarah and Rivkah
.)
I find this verse very profound. In a way, Jacob says to his son, “I had hardship through life and I made it. I was blessed and redeemed.
Hamalach Hagoel Oti
- the Angel that redeemed me, that saved me, that took care of me - may that angel, may that fate be also for your children. May they also overcome hardship and live a full life. And may they carry the stories of their ancestors, their values and traditions, and spread them for generations to come.”
Perhaps this can be read as a blessing of hope, of looking at those who come after us and say:
Bless you, May you be guarded the way I was and I am hopeful for your future.
But what of today? When we see brokenness, when we see our planet burning, can we say to our children and to each other, “my blessing is that you are guarded and I know that you will continue to fill the earth with the blessings that you bring to it”?
I find a possible answer in an article in
The Atlantic
written by Jedediah Britton-Purdy, a professor at Columbia Law School. (Full Article can be found
HERE
).
Britton-Purdy writes:
On one level, my answer to “How can you have a child now?” is simple. I have never been tempted to think we should all stop having children and disappear. Part of the reason climate change is so terrible is the threat it poses to human life and culture, and I want to help them go on. So the question I ask myself every day is how to explain this suffering world to a newcomer. This is what I find myself saying, to this little person who can’t understand me quite yet: “The world is good, for all the bad in it—a good place. And you are good: full of joy, born innocent. But you are not good for the world. When you do all the things you will do—work, play, love—you will be breaking down its systems, making it unlivable. And there is very little that you, personally, can do about it.” What kind of welcome is that?
It is a truthful one, at least, but it raises more questions. What does it mean to teach a child to live in a time of perennial crisis, always in the shadow of loss? I think about trying to teach him love and wonder first, before he inevitably learns fear. I would like him to be fascinated by a Manhattan red oak, a red-tailed hawk perched in its limbs, or a morel mushroom at its roots, before he thinks, This forest is going to die, with everything in it. When the thought of climate doom arrives, I hope it will arrive in a mind already prepared by curiosity and pleasure to know why this world is worth fighting to preserve.
That is perhaps a way to read the blessing of Jacob to his grandchildren. A blessing to each of us:
The world is broken
and
beautiful.
May you be guarded from harm
and
May you be curious and full of wonder.
See the wonder
and
see pain, see the brokeness and know it is worth fighting for.
May this Shabbat bring renewal and blessings to all of you and your loved ones.
May we we spared from danger and be blessed as we build together a world of love.
May we have a joyful Shabbat!
Hazak Hazak V’Nithazek!
May we find strength and be strengthened
Shabbat Shalom,
