Vayekhi & Jewish Meditation

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 Parshah Summary – P’shat

Jacob lives the final seventeen years of his life in Egypt. Before his passing, he asks Joseph to take an oath that he will bury him in the Holy Land. He blesses Joseph’s two sons, Menasheh and Ephraim, elevating them to the status of his own sons as progenitors of tribes within the people of Israel. Jacob blesses his own sons as well, assigning to each their role as a tribe, and Reuven, Shimon and Levi are rebuked. Among the blessings, Naphtali is granted the swiftness of a deer, Benjamin the ferociousness of a wolf, and Joseph is blessed with beauty and fertility.  

Jacob/Israel then dies. A large funeral procession consisting of Jacob’s descendants, Pharaoh’s ministers, the leading citizens of Egypt and the Egyptian cavalry accompanies Jacob on his final journey to the Holy Land, where he is buried in the Cave of Makhpelah in Hebron.  

Joseph dies in Egypt, at the age of one hundred and ten. He, too, instructs that his bones be taken out of Egypt and buried in the Holy Land, but this would happen only with the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt many years later. Before he dies, Joseph tells the Children of Israel: “Hashem will surely remember you, and bring you up out of this land, to the land of your ancestors…” 

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Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
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וַיִּשְׁלַח֩ יִשְׂרָאֵ֨ל אֶת־יְמִינ֜וֹ וַיָּ֨שֶׁת עַל־רֹ֤אשׁ אֶפְרַ֙יִם֙ וְה֣וּא הַצָּעִ֔יר וְאֶת־שְׂמֹאל֖וֹ עַל־רֹ֣אשׁ מְנַשֶּׁ֑ה שִׂכֵּל֙ אֶת־יָדָ֔יו כִּ֥י מְנַשֶּׁ֖ה הַבְּכֽוֹר׃

Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head—thus crossing his hands—although Manasseh was the first-born.

- Bereisheet (Genesis) 48:14, Parshat Vayekhi

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Rabbi Kalman of Cracow asked Rabbi Hirsh, “What is your way in the avodah of prayer?” He replied, “My Way was shown to me by my teacher, Rabbi Mendel, may he merit life in the World to Come. He taught: concerning manna, it is written: וְיָצָ֨א הָעָ֤ם וְלָֽקְטוּ֙ דְּבַר־י֣וֹם בְּיוֹמ֔וֹ... and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion on its day… Meaning, every day has its own special ‘portion’ of prayer, and one must discover it again and again, day by day.” 

How do we discover this day’s portion of prayer? The moment we ask the question, we have already discovered the prayer; the question itself is the prayer. 

It’s the same with spiritual awakening: the moment you wish to awaken, you have already awoken to a certain degree. That’s because the desire to awaken can’t even arise at all unless there is already a certain amount of objectivity on your thoughts and feelings. Even if you feel like you are failing, even if you feel that your mind is too busy, or you feel emotionally reactive or whatever, your awareness of that is already a movement in the direction of wakefulness. The key is to use the wakefulness you already have to deepen your wakefulness further, rather than focusing on how not-awake you are: 

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יה–וה ... הַמַּעֲבִיר שֵׁנָה מֵעֵינַי... – Blessed are You, Hashem… who removes sleep from my eyes… This morning blessing gives thanks for waking up from sleep, but on a deeper level, it is an appreciation of the grace for being awake enough to say the prayer at all!  

וְדַבְּקֵנוּ בְּמִצְותֶיךָ... – And attach us to your mitzvot (commandments)… Traditionally speaking, the mitzvot, “commandments,” are the actions that God “wants” us to do. So to do a mitzvah, in this traditional view, is to fulfill the meaning of your existence. The deeper desire expressed in this prayer, then, is the longing for meaning: Help me be motivated to fulfill my purpose! This desire for meaning, for purpose, is core to the spiritual drive. But, it is only half of the equation. A little further on it says: 

וְאַל תַּשְׁלֶט בָּנוּ יֵצֶר הָרָע... – And don’t let the yetzer hara (personal impulses, literally the “bad impulse”) rule within us… The other half of the equation is the desire for freedom, for transcendence. These two core desires that drive the spiritual path are, in a sense, the opposite of one another. The first wants to transform the world; the second wants to transcend the world. The first wants fulfill one’s role; the second wants to be liberated from all roles. The first wants to serve the Divine; the second wants to realize that All is Divine. 

These two movements, which we might also call Doing and Being, are the opposite of one another, but they are not opposed to one another. In Kabbalah and Hasidic teaching, they must work together. You cannot fully feel that you are doing Divine service if you’re not awake to the Divinity of your own inner being.  

In Kabbalah, this is called ושוב רץ ratz v’shuv – “running and returning.” In meditation, we “run” – we transcend every particular aspect of experience and know ourselves as the אַיִן ayin, the No-Thing, the open space of this moment within which everything arises. In prayer, we “return” – we appreciate particular things and give thanks; we envision transformation and ask God for help in its manifestation. On a broader level, all spiritual practices, including both prayer and meditation, are a kind of “running,” and our ordinary work and life with people is a kind of “returning.” 

In Judaism, both are necessary. This theme manifests at all levels of the tradition: Liberation from Egypt, followed by building the Sanctuary. Or, in the opposite order: six days of doing the world, followed by a full day of being, of letting everything be on Shabbat. And, in this last example, we see the emphasis that characterizes Judaism: Six days of Doing, one day of Being – both are necessary, but Doing is emphasized. In many traditions, it’s the opposite: the holy person is the one who transcends the world. But in Judaism, transcendence, while absolutely necessary, is not the goal.

These two poles are represented by Joseph’s two sons, M’nasheh and Ephraim. The name M’nasheh comes from “running” – from Being, from leaving the past behind – transcending the world: 

וַיִּקְרָ֥א יוֹסֵ֛ף אֶת־שֵׁ֥ם הַבְּכ֖וֹר מְנַשֶּׁ֑ה כִּֽי־נַשַּׁ֤נִי אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־כָּל־עֲמָלִ֔י וְאֵ֖ת כָּל־בֵּ֥ית אָבִֽי:
And Joseph named the firstborn M’nasheh, for “God has caused me to forget all my toil and everything my father’s house.” 

But Ephraim comes from being “fruitful” – that is, successful – in the world: 

וְאֵ֛ת שֵׁ֥ם הַשֵּׁנִ֖י קָרָ֣א אֶפְרָ֑יִם כִּֽי־הִפְרַ֥נִי אֱלֹהִ֖ים בְּאֶ֥רֶץ עָנְיִֽי:
And the second one he named Ephraim, for “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.” 

וַיִּשְׁלַח֩ יִשְׂרָאֵ֨ל אֶת־יְמִינ֜וֹ... – But Israel stretched out his right hand… M’nasheh is the first born, hinting at the usual way that spirituality is viewed: transcendence is primary. But when Jacob blesses the two boys, he switches his hands to give the blessing of the first born to Ephraim instead. This is why the traditional blessing for boys on Friday nights puts Ephraim first, even though M’nasheh was first born: 

יְשִׂימְךָ אֱלֹ–הִים כְּאֶפְרַיִם וְכִמְנַשֶּׁה: – May God make you like Ephraim and M’nasheh… Transformation is the goal (Ephraim), but to achieve that goal, transcendence is also necessary (M’nasheh). This is a basic key to living in awakened life: being involved, helping, serving, creating, but also letting go at the same time – accepting everything as it is, not trying to control anything, being the simple, open space of consciousness within which this moment arises. In a sense, these two are not really separate; they form the singular move of Presence in life. But until this becomes integrated into the way we operate, it requires this ratz v’shuv attitude, this oscillation back and forth between effort and letting go. Eventually, this ripens into a sense of effortless effort, of acting in the world without the “me” doing the acting. As Joseph responded to Pharaoh when asked if he could interpret Pharaoh’s dream:

בִּלְעָדָ֑י אֱלֹ–הִ֕ים יַֽעֲנֶ֖ה:  – It is totally beyond me, but the Divine will answer! There is nothing but the Divine manifesting in all forms, and so from this awakened seeing, there need not be any tension whatsoever – life simply unfolds effortlessly – painfully and tragically, beautifully and magically, it unfolds to the wakeful consciousness that beholds it; this is the Path of ע Ayin, of “simply seeing.”

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