"Bury me not in Egypt!"(Genesis 47:29) Tevet 17, 5781/January 1, 2021 "Bury me not in Egypt!" (Genesis 47:29) The day of his death drawing near, Yaakov, having lived the last seventeen years of his life pleasantly in Egypt, united with all his sons and their progeny, calls for his son Yosef, and, exercising his role as the patriarch of the clan of the families of Israel, commands Yosef: "Bury me not in Egypt!" As sweet as life was for Yaakov in the Egyptian diaspora, dwelling in the rich land of Goshen, blessed with prosperity, a son who had made it to the top of the Egyptian political pyramid, and countless grandchildren, Yaakov wanted out, as soon as possible, and forever. His impending death, he understood, would be his first and final opportunity: "Bury me not in Egypt!" When Yaakov was told that his son Yosef was alive and living in Egypt, he packed his bags, gathered his people, and began his descent into the land of the Pharaohs. While passing through Beer Sheva, G-d called out to him in a vision of the night, saying, "I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up." (ibid 46:4) This, of course, was not the first time that G-d appeared to Yaakov in the dark of night while Yaakov was making his way out of Canaan. When a young Yaakov was fleeing from the wrath of his brother Esau many years earlier, he dreamed a majestic dream of a ladder to heaven, angels ascending and descending, and a vision of G-d, at the top of the ladder. The pact that Yaakov made upon arising, in which he vowed to build a House for G-d on this very place, should G-d protect him along his journey, was not forgotten by the older Yaakov, decades later, as he felt his day drawing nigh. Yaakov had a pact with G-d: he had to return to the land of Canaan, if not in life, then on the ocassion of his death! Yaakov's iron determination that he be buried alongside his fathers and mothers ans his wife Leah in the cave of Machpelah was understood immediately by Yosef, who made the necessary arrangements via the good offices of the House of Pharaoh. When he died, Yaakov was buried as a king, mourned seventy days by the entire nation of Egypt and given a royal escort: "So Yosef went up to bury his father, and all Pharaoh's servants, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt went up with him, and Yosef's entire household and his brothers and his father's household; only their young children and their flocks and cattle did they leave in the land of Goshen. And chariots and horsemen also went up with him, and the camp was very numerous. And they came to the threshing floor of the thornbushes, which is on the other side of the Jordan, and there they conducted a very great and impressive eulogy, and he made for his father a mourning of seven days." (ibid 50:7-10) When he first arrived in Egypt Yaakov confessed to an inquisitive Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my sojournings are one hundred thirty years. The days of the years of my life have been few and miserable, and they have not reached the days of the years of the lives of my forefathers in the days of their sojournings." (ibid 47:9) And now, seventeen years later, Yaakov, by the power of his determination to be true to the G-d of his fathers, was being buried as a king, with the blessing of Pharaoh, the world's most powerful man. It wasn't love for Yaakov that compelled Pharaoh to oversee his escort to his final resting place, but the glory of the G-d of Israel, made clear to Pharaoh simply by the power of Yaakov's determination to honor his pledge to G-d and fulfill his part by returning to Canaan. In his final moments, Yaakov called for his sons and said, "Gather and I will tell you what will happen to you at the end of days." (ibid 49:1) What follows are blessings, but not a description of the end of days. Our sages have always pondered this mystery. Perhaps Yaakov's message of the end of days was not hidden in his blessings to his sons, but in what took place after he "he lifted up his feet into the bed, and expired and was brought in to his people." (ibid 49:33) Yaakov's final return to the land of Israel, where he would reside forever, and one day be reunited by his returning children was Yaakov's vision of the end of days: the end of all exiles and the establishment of a great nation in the land G-d promised young Yaakov, in whose heart would stand the Holy Temple, as Yaakov had promised to G-d! |
Tune in to this week's Temple Talk, as Yitzchak Reuven recalls how Yaakov commands his sons: "bury me with my fathers," reports on how the European Union is killing Jewish life in Europe, and reflects on how Yosef is placed in a coffin as darkness & exile descend upon Israel in Egypt. It is a bittersweet time for Israel in Egypt, united, at last, as a family, bur far, far away from home in Canaan. As the book of Genesis comes to a close with parashat Vayechi, we feel the cold chill of the oncoming exile. At the same time we know that G-d has begun the process of exile because He knows that Israel is ready for redemption! Today, Europe's ancient hatred of the Jews takes a new twist as the EU bans kosher slaughter, effectively ending observant Jewish life in Europe. |
Positivity & the Holy Temple: Temple Myths: #1: The Temple Will Descend from Heaven One of the most persistent but baseless myths concerning the third Holy Temple is that it will miraculously descend from the heavens, ready to go, no assembly necessary! Where did this unfounded idea originate, and why? It has absolutely no basis in Torah, whatsoever. "Build Me a sanctuary" (Exodus 25:8) means just that: we are commanded to build for G-d a Holy Temple. Like every Torah commandment it is up to the nation of Israel to do. G-d doesn't do our commandments for us! |
Help To Build The Holy Temple In Our Time: Donate Generously To Help The Sacred Work Of The Temple Institute! Every contribution helps to rebuild the Holy Temple in our Time! |
What lies in store? Where are we heading? What's our fate? Our destiny? And do we have any say in the matter? When Yaakov gathered his children to tell them the end of days, he lost his thought, the Shechinah had left him. Perhaps G-d, who pulls our strings, deems it best that the fates that awaits us, remain unknown. Vayechi (Genesis 47:28 - 50:26)
Parashat Vayechi is read on Shabbat:
Tevet 18, 5781/January 2, 2021 |
Haftarah For Shabbat Parashat Vayechi I Kings 2:1-12: "When David’s life was drawing to a close, he instructed his son Solomon as follows: “I am going the way of all the earth; be strong and show yourself a man. Keep the charge of HaShem your G-d, walking in His ways and following His laws, His commandments, His rules, and His admonitions as recorded in the Teaching of Moshe, in order that you may succeed in whatever you undertake and wherever you turn... " |
Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, Laws Of The Chosen House, Chapter 2, Mishneh 2 "And it is a tradition accepted by all, that the place where David and Solomon built the altar at the threshing floor of Arauna was the place that Avraham built the altar and bound Yitzchak upon it, and that was the place that Noah built upon when he left the ark, and that was the altar upon which Kain and Abel sacrificed, and upon which Adam the First sacrificed when he was created. And from there was born the saying of the sages that "Man was created from the place of his atonement." |
Time To Build Third Temple, Says Israeli Lawmaker “Anyone who represents Israel cannot be disconnected from the Creator. We are all anticipating the Redemption” Yet another Member of Knesset has expressed his desire not only for Jews to be able to freely visit and express their faith atop Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, but for the Third Temple to be build “in our days.” |
Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, Laws Of The Chosen House, Chapter 2, Mishneh 1 "The altar is placed extremely precisely and may never ever be placed anywhere else as it says "This is the Altar for the offerings of Israel." (I Chronicles 22:1) And it was in the Holy Temple that Yitzchak was bound as it says "and go to the land of Moriah" (Genesis 22:2) and it says "Solomon built the temple on Mt. Moriah." (II Chronicles 3:1)" |
Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, Laws Of The Chosen House, Chapter 1, Mishneh 20 "The vessels must be originally made with the intent to use them for the Divine Service. If they were already made for mundane purposes they may not be used for sacred ones. Things that were made for sacred purposes but were not yet used may be used for mundane purposes but once they were used for a sacred purpose they become forbidden for the mundane. Stones and boards which were originally cut for a synagogue may not be built with on the Temple Mount." |
Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, Laws Of The Chosen House, Chapter 1, Mishneh 19 "If the Community is poor they may even make [the vessels] out of lead. If they are rich, they [should] make them out of gold, even the pitchforks, skewers, and shovels of the Sacrificial Altar [which tend to get dirty]. [The community] should even plate the gates of the courtyard with gold if they can afford it." |
Abba Hurvitz Takes To The Temple Mount Abba Hurvitz ascended the Temple Mount on Sunday, one last time before the latest government imposed lockdown, which is expected to last two weeks, at a minimum. Abba provides some interesting insights, before losing the video on his camera soon after the six minute mark. Worth watching, just the same! |
New Knesset Member Makes Trip To Temple Mount Nissim Vatori, a newly sworn-in member of Israel's Knesset (Parliament), from the ruling Likud party, commemorated his new status by paying a visit to Israel's holiest site - the Temple Mount. |
Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, Laws Of The Chosen House, Chapter 1, Mishneh 18 "The Menorah, its vessels, the Table, its vessels, the Incense-Altar, and all vessels of the Divine Service may only be made out of metal; they are invalid if made out of wood, bone, stone or glass." |
Shavua Tov From The Temple Mount! 100's of Jewish worshipers ascended the Temple Mount last week. Today, Sunday, many Jews are making their way to the Mount before the new government imposed Corona lockdown, which will take effect 5 PM today and extend for at least two weeks. |
Blessings from the holy city of Jerusalem!
Yitzchak Reuven
The Temple Institute |
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