TO LIVE

VAJEHI 47:28 - 50:26 And he lived.

Jakob živi zadnjih 17 let svojega življenja v Egiptu. Pred smrtjo prosi Jožefa, naj mu zapriseže, da ga bo pokopal v Kenaanu. Jakob blagoslovi Jožefova sinova Menašeja in Efraima. Njun status je sedaj kot bi bila njegova sinova, začetnika dveh Izraelovih plemen.

Jakob želi razkriti konec svojih dni svojim sinovom, vendar mu je to onemogočeno.

Jakob blagoslovi svoje sinove, vsakemu določi vlogo plemena v skupnosti Izraela.

Velika pogrebna procesija Jakobovih naslednikov in Egipčanov pospremi Jakobov pogreb v Hebron, kjer je Jakob pokopan v jami Makpeli.

Tudi Jožef umre, star 110 let. Tudi on je prosil, naj se njegove kosti pokopljejo v Kenaanu, vendar se bo to zgodilo šele kasneje z izhodom Hebrejcec iz Egipta. Pred svojo smrtjo Jožef opogumi svoje rojake, naj v težavnih časih verujejo, da jih bo kretor zagotovo pripeljal v obljubljeno deželo.

Jacob's journey into Egypt is the meeting of our giving qualities (Jacob) with our ego, which is represented by Pharaoh. All this still takes place on the level of receiving, as the ego finds out how it is better for it to give, so that it can receive. In a theoretical sense, this is "giving for the sake of receiving", which ends up as the peak of egoism, so it will be necessary to leave Egypt, to say goodbye to receiving, which we will encounter in the Exodus. However, we have now learned the archetypal pattern of giving, we only need to change the purpose of receiving to "receiving for the sake of giving".

The death of Jacob and Joseph, their embalming and the burial of their bones in Kennan play a key role. Embalming represents the completion of the process of forming spiritual memories - reshimot. The parasha informs us about this from the very beginning, when we read about the blessing of Menashe and Ephraim. Menashe comes from the word "forget", and Ephraim is associated with "fruitfulness". The changing of Jacob's hands over their heads speaks of the complexity and non-transparency of forming reshimot. These are spiritual contents that I must separate from the material, illusory reality. We must forget everything that does not lead to fruitfulness - fruitfulness is unity, connection with the tree of life, with infinity.

Embalming seems to be a very potent secret of this parashah. In the spiritual sense, of course, it is a metaphor for the completion of the formation of memories. They now move into Bina. Malkuth goes into Bina and leaves memories there. This is the cave of Machpelah, where the patriarchs are buried. These memories will serve us at the peak of spiritual transformation. This was meant for Jacob, who represents the sephirah Tiferet, which is why we also read that he was embalmed by physicians - הרפאים - this word is the root for Tiferet. That he was embalmed by physicians is emphasized!

Joseph also dies and is embalmed, but this time it is not specifically written that this be done by doctors. Joseph represents the sephirah yesod. The reshimot, the memories that remain of Joseph, will in the future lead the Israelites out of Egypt into the wilderness, and the reshimot of Jacob into the promised land.

It makes sense to understand the embalming of Jacob and Joseph as the conclusion of "dreaming" or the achievement of a material reality to our taste. We will also understand the metaphor of embalming in the context of the importance of considering local, material laws in our own positioning in material reality.

It is one of the most important parashas, as the knowledge revealed to us during this time allows us to effectively project both our spiritual and material future.

When dealing with spiritual transformation, we must never forget that it occurs in levels. Although from our material point of view each level has its own laws, as we must break through the illusion where we must always put trust before knowledge, we nevertheless carry over certain insights from the previous levels that will come in handy in the continuation of the transformation.

As this parashah concludes the first book of Moses, it is natural to ask the question: “What now?” It is also natural to take stock and ask ourselves whether we have learned anything. Such a question is all the more meaningful because there is a 400-year difference in narrative chronology between Joseph, with whom Genesis ends, and Moses, who appears in Exodus. Therefore, it seems logical that the end of Genesis marks the end of some important “educational” period. We should not be burdened with knowledge; what is more important is that we have come to understand how much more important it is to believe and hope.

If we sense that there is a system that we don't fully understand yet, that's much better than drawing conclusions about how that system works. After all, we can't fool the creator; sooner or later we'll have to accept that every reality we picture with our five senses is an illusion.

One of the interesting things about this parashah is that in the original Torah scrolls it is not separated from the previous one, it does not have its own introductory space. Vayehi means "and he lived", so it is correct to understand that life is the fulfillment of the "fruitfulness and multiplicity" with which the previous Vayigas concludes.

On the other hand, in this parashah we read about the death of Jacob and Joseph, so "and he lived" must be understood as the death of egoism, or as the end of one spiritual level, which is a condition if we want to enter into infinite life.

Changing hands during blessing

The ugly ones for changing the chokmah and binah. Forgetting (Menashe) the old concepts and allowing the new concept from the chokmah to bear fruit (Ephraim). This seems to be a necessary process if we are to progress.