Parashat Vayechi 5785, 2025: EMBRACING Our Differences

Rabbi David Etengoff
 
ה' יעזור וירחם על אחינו כל בני ישראל, בארץ ישראל ובכל חלקי הארץ
 
 
Parashat Vayechi is the final sidrah in Sefer Bereishit and the bridge to Sefer Shemot. Until the time of this narrative, our forebears were a small family comprised of 12 tribes. Yet, within the first chapter of Sefer Shemot, Pharaoh utilizes fear-mongering and rabble-rousing rhetoric in his proclamation to his nation:

… “Behold, Am B’nai Yisrael — the people of the children of Israel are more numerous and stronger than we are. Get ready, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they increase, and a war befall us, and they join our enemies and wage war against us and depart from the land.” (1:9-10, this and all Tanach translations, The Judaica Press Complete Tanach)
 
Suddenly, we have become an am, a people and a recognized “nation within a nation” that, in Pharaoh’s twisted and hate-filled mind, threatens the very being of the Egyptian people.
 
I believe that Ya’akov Avinu was well aware that his family of 70 individuals was destined to become an am: “…Hayasfu—Gather and I will tell you what will happen to you at the end of days. Hekabtzu—Join together and listen, sons of Ya’akov, and listen to Yisrael, your father.” (Sefer Bereishit 49:1-2, with my emendations)  While hayasfu and hekabtzu have slightly different meanings, both suggest the idea of banding together into a singular entity—in this case, the Jewish people.
 
What is the essence of Am Yisrael? What makes us a unique nation? How, against all the “laws of history,” have we managed to not only survive, but to thrive? These are questions to which my rebbe and mentor, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zatzal (1903-1993) returned time and time again. During some of the darkest days of the Holocaust, the Rav penned, “U’vikashtem Misham--And from There You Shall Seek,” his most personally beloved theological work. Therein, he identifies and analyzes the idea of Knesset Yisrael:
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Knesset Yisrael—the Community of Israel—its definition: the inextricable connection between the first and last generations of prophet and listener, of Torah scholar and student, of the Revelation of G-d’s Divine Presence in the earliest lights of dawn, and the eschatological vision on that day to come. (Translation my own)
 
At first blush, one might imagine that Knesset Yisrael is a homogeneous entity that is linked together by like-minded people and universally agreed upon concepts and patterns of thought. Yet, in his analysis of the term, “hekabtzu—join together,” the Rav Soloveitchik presents an entirely different notion that helps account for the continuation and greatness of Knesset Yisrael: “Jacob here [in his blessings to his sons] expresses the essence of Knesses Yisrael. According to Nachmanides, Knesses Yisrael connotes a community of contradictory, mutually exclusive ideas and people. … [with] many traits of character.” (Public lecture, Boston, 1979, cited in, Chumash Mesoras HaRav, Sefer Bereishis, page 357)
 
I believe that Ya’akov Avinu profoundly understood this constitutive aspect of the Jewish people, as demonstrated by his differentiated brachot to each of his sons. In a very real sense, his brachot represented the key to the Jewish future in which our many differences would become a dynamic source of strength, enabling us to survive the seemingly endless trials and tribulations of our storied history.
 
May the Master of the Universe ever encourage us to embrace our myriad differences so that we may join together and proclaim as one, “Am Yisrael chai!” V’chane yihi ratzon.
Shabbat Shalom
 
Past drashot may be found at my blog-website: http://reparashathashavuah.org
 
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*** My audio shiurim on the topics of Tefilah and Tanach may be found at: Tefilah and Tanach
 
*** I have posted 164 of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s English language audio shiurim (MP3 format) spanning the years 1958-1984. Please click on the highlighted link.