In Parshas Vayechi, the final parsha in the book of Bereishis, the narratives of the lives of the Avos and Imahos, Yaakov and his many struggles, the events between Yosef and his brothers, come to a close.  The family of Yaakov has descended to Egypt, and the enslavement is about to begin (in Sefer Shemos).  

Parshas Vayechi, in its closing, transmits to us fundamental lessons regarding the foundations, and survival, of Am Yisrael.

Both Yaakov Avinu - in the beginning of the parsha, and Yosef ha’tzadik - at the end of the parsha, demonstrate two vital foundations of our nation.  

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt’l, the Rav, points out that for the first time in the entire Sefer Bereishis, we see interaction between an Av and his grandchildren (Yaakov with Menashe and Ephraim, Bereishis 48), and Yosef with his descendants, through Menashe and Ephraim (50:23).  Klal Yisrael depends upon the continuity of the generations, and the transmission of the mesorah through the generations, and both Yaakov and Yosef illustrate this for us in their final acts.

Our nation depends upon the past (the elderly father) and the future (the young child).  Hence, Moshe said to Pharaoh, when asked “who and who is going?”, בִּנְעָרֵינוּ וּבִזְקֵנֵינוּ נֵלֵךְ - with our youth and our elderly we shall go… for a festival to G-d is to us (Shemos 10:9).  Without the youth and the elderly, no one goes, for that is no festival to G-d for us.  

The other ideal demonstrated by both Yaakov and Yosef is love of, commitment and dedication to, and longing for, the land of Israel.  

The parsha opens with Yaakov on his deathbed, instructing Yosef to swear to him that he will not bury his father in Egypt.  Rather, וְשָׁכַבְתִּי, עִם-אֲבֹתַי, וּנְשָׂאתַנִי מִמִּצְרַיִם, וּקְבַרְתַּנִי בִּקְבֻרָתָם - and I will lay (in burial) with my forefathers, and you shall carry me up from Egypt, and bury me in their grave (47:30, Rashi explains this means in the Me’aras Ha’Machpela).  Abiding by his father’s request, Yosef swears that he will do so.

And many years later, echoing his father’s last wishes, when Yosef is upon his own deathbed, at the age of 110 years old, he commands his brothers - under oath - that when the redemption from Egypt commences, their descendants will take his remains out of Egypt with them, for burial in the land of Canaan (50:24-26).

And so it was.  Yaakov was buried by his sons, as he wished, in Kiryat Arba, which is Chevron, in the Cave of the Machpela (50:13).  And Yosef is buried - hundreds of years after his death - in Shechem, in the land of Canaan (Yehoshua 24:32).

In their lives, as well as in their deaths, the avos teach us about commitment to family, mesorah, Torah, and Eretz Yisrael.

In our day and time, when the world rises up, once again, to destroy our nation, as well as our eternal connection to our Holy Land, we would do well to take a lesson from Yaakov and Yosef.  No power in the world can remove our hearts from Eretz Yisrael, and no power in the world can remove Eretz Yisrael from our hearts, minds, thoughts and prayers.  Even for those of us who do not yet live there, we must know where we belong, where we are striving to be, where our prayers are directed towards, and where our true homeland is. 

The following lesson is related in the sefer, “The Gift of Eretz Yisrael,” by Rabbi Yishai Kalfa.  “In Maseches Kesubos 111a, the Gemara states in the name of Rabi Avahu that ‘even a maidservant who lives in E”Y is guaranteed a portion in the World to Come.’  

“The Maharsha (ibid.) comments that the Gemara must be talking about a Jewish maidservant, i.e., a non-Jewish woman who, as part of the process of joining the Jewish People as a slave, immersed in a mikvah.  It would be impossible to fathom that a non-Jewish maidservant, who has done nothing at all to be even somewhat connected to the Jewish People, should merit a portion in the World to Come simply by dwelling in E”Y.

“Having established that, the Mararsha goes on to ask why the Gemara specifically mentions a female maidservant rather than a male slave.  

“He answers that Chazal (are) giving us an insight into the power of E”Y.  If the Gemara were to mention a male slave, we would think that only a male slave who dwells in the Holy Land merits a portion in the World to Come.  The male slave, after all, has greater merit than a female maidservant because in addition to immersing in a mikvah, he must also circumcise himself in order to join the Jewish People.  The Maharsha therefore concludes that the Gemara specifically mentions a female maidservant to teach us that even someone who has only minimal merit - less, even, than a slave - can still merit receiving a portion in the World to Come simply because he dwells in E”Y” (The Gift of Eretz Yisrael, p.50).

“The Chafetz Chaim used to ask, ‘When Hashem returns the captivity of His people (Tehillim 14:7), will I be among those fortunate enough to return?’  He would then remark that if an individual is already residing in E”Y prior to the ingathering of the exiles, he will most likely be permitted to ‘stay put.’  Those Jews who are still in chutz la’Aretz, however, will require many more merits to be deemed worthy of entering the land of Israel” (ibid, p.45). 

Sefer Bereishis begins with E”Y (see Rashi to 1:1), and ends with E”Y.  The Torah is speaking to each and every Jew with a lasting lesson.  And each of us must ask ourselves: Do I know where I belong?  Where is my heart?  Where do I want to be?  For though I am at the far ends of the West, my heart is in the East.

May we merit the ultimate redemption, and shalom לעמינו ולארצנו, amen v’amen.

בברכת בשורות טובות ושבת שלום