Blessing the Lads
The words with which Jacob blessed his grandsons Menasheh and Ephraim are among the most beautiful we have: "The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who was my shepherd all my life until today, the angel who saved me from all evil - may he bless the lads; may they be called by my name and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow into a great people on earth." (Genesis 48:15-16)

Here are some interesting features of the blessing:

* It commences, "He blessed Joseph, and said..." because when children receive a blessing it gives a parent joy: parents' great pleasure is in their children.

* The reference to Abraham and Isaac walking before God indicates that they lived in God's presence. The righteous follow Psalms 16:8, "I set the Lord always before me." Living is walking, hence the word halachah from halach, to "walk".

* God is a shepherd since shepherds care for each of their flock and save them from harm. This verse is the origin of Psalms 23:1, "The Lord is my shepherd."

* The blessing first talks about God and then an angel because angels are God's agents. Malach, an angel, literally means "a messenger".

* When Jacob said that his grandchildren would be called by the names of Jacob, Abraham and Isaac, he prayed that Menasheh and Ephraim would honour their ancestors' tradition.

* What does "grow into a great people" mean? Here "great" denotes numerous. Jacob's family would have been much larger if not for centuries of persecution.

Rachel's Tomb
The memory of Mother Rachel is sacred to the Jewish people, especially to the
Her tears helped us to see the prophecy fulfilled.
women. Her burial place is "on the way to Efrat which is Bet-lechem." (Genesis 48:7) Today, Efrat and Bethlehem, though not far apart, are two different places. In recent years Rachel's Tomb, Kever Rachel, has been refurbished and an educational and function centre is being developed beside it.

Jacob's original intention was to bury her in the cave of Machpelah, but he said, as the commentator Sforno puts it, "I was so overcome by my grief that I could not collect myself to take her to the ancestral tomb," so he buried her where she died. Ibn Ezra says that when Jacob told this to Rachel's son Joseph he seemed to be apologising for asking that he himself should be buried at Machpelah even though he had not been in a fit state to arrange for Rachel to be buried there.

Rashi, however, quotes an interpretation that gives the episode symbolic significance. Rashi's comment is this: "I buried her there," Jacob said, "in accordance with the Divine wish that she should be of assistance to her children in time to come." Rashi explains that when Mother Rachel's descendants were being led off into exile, they would pass by the tomb and Rachel would weep for them. God, however, would comfort her and promise that the exiles would "return to their border" (Jeremiah 31).

Now, all these centuries later, when we visit Kever Rachel we thank God that her tears helped us to see the prophecy fulfilled.

No Free Lunches
With this parashah we come to the end of B'reshit. The book covers an immense sweep of centuries, from the Creation to the eve of the Egyptian enslavement. The next book, Sh'mot, also commences with creation, but this time it is the creation of the people of Israel. Their national identity was forged in shared suffering and led to the joy of the Exodus and the Revelation at Mount Sinai. The daybreak came after dark night.
There is no ecstasy without agony.

A dream of liberation often has to be maintained over a long period of anguish: there is no ecstasy without agony. We are tempted to echo "Fiddler on the Roof" and say, "God, I know we have to weep before we can laugh, but can't You choose a different way for a change, and let us laugh without having to cry first?"

An answer is suggested by Rabbi Akiva's remark that God decided that all His gifts - the Torah, the Land of Israel and the World to Come - had to be won through suffering (Sanhedrin 101a). Akiva is not merely counseling patience and urging us not to give in to despair. He is also assuring us that blessings are not a free lunch, that we have to work for six days in order to rest on the seventh.