Parashat Vayechi concludes the Book of Genesis, traditionally calledסֵפֶר מַעֲשֵׂה בְּרֵאשִית, the Book of the Creation of the World. The purpose of Creation was the creation of עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל, the Nation of Israel, so it is eminently appropriate that this Book, which opens with the Creation, concludes with the Hebrew family morphing into the Hebrew Nation. Jacob and all his descendants are in Egypt, and the long-awaited and long-dreaded exile, foretold to their ancestor Abraham (Genesis 15:13) has begun, albeit so far very comfortably: Joseph is Viceroy of Egypt, and his entire family enjoy royal protection and patronage. Nevertheless, they were perpetually aware that Egypt was exile, that their real homeland was the Land of Israel (still called Canaan). Thus when Jacob was on his death-bed, he commanded his sons to bury him in his family’s ancestral burial-plot in the Machpelah Cave in Hebron: “[Jacob] commanded [his sons], saying to them: I am about to be gathered up unto my people. Bury me with my fathers, in the cave which is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave which in the field of Machpelah, facing Mamre in the land of Canaan, the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a burial-plot; there they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebecca his wife, and there I buried Leah” (Genesis 49:29-31). Indeed shortly afterwards Jacob when died, his sons faithfully discharged their obligation to their father: “His sons did this for him, as he had commanded them. And his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and they buried him in the cave of the field of the Machpelah, which field Abraham had bought as a burial-plot from Ephron the Hittite, facing Mamre” (Genesis 50:12-13). The Torah records that when Joseph and his extended family went up to Canaan to bury his father, Pharaoh sent an impressive entourage with them (Genesis 50:7-9). Apparently there were three reasons for this entourage: the first was to show honour to Jacob, whose son Joseph had saved Egypt from famine. The second reason was to provide them with protection in the event of any conflict. And the third reason was to guarantee that the Hebrews would return to Egypt. Now although the Torah records the funeral cortege, there was another remarkable incident which, though the Torah does not mention, our tradition has preserved (vide Targum Yonatan to Genesis 50:13 and the Talmud, Sota 13a): Eisav (Esau), Jacob’s evil twin brother, heard that Jacob’s family were on their way to Hebron to bury him; he immediately left his home in Mount Gavla (Mount Seir) in trans-Jordan (the vicinity of the south-west of the present-day kingdom of Jordan) with armed legions, and travelled post-haste to Hebron, a journey of about 160 km (100 miles), determined to prevent his nephew Joseph from burying his brother Jacob in the Machpelah Cave. Eisav’s claim was that Jacob had already buried his wife Leah in his section of the Machpelah, and all the rest therefore belonged to him. Jacob’s sons argued that Eisav had long since sold it to his younger twin Jacob, and Eisav’s counter-argument was that though he had sold his birthright to Jacob, this did not imply that he had also sold his right to his land-inheritance. The brothers claimed that Eisav had indeed sold his portion in Hebron to his brother Jacob, which Eisav denied. He challenged them: Bring me the deed of sale. The deed of sale, they told him, is in Egypt. So the despatched Naphtali to fetch it, because he ran as swiftly as a hind, as it is written, “Naphtali is a hind let loose” (Genesis 50:8) While this whole debate was going on, Chushim, the son of Dan, was there, and he was deaf. When he asked: “What is happening?”, they told him that Eisav was preventing the funeral, and they wouldn’t be able to bury their father until Naphtali would return from the land of Egypt with the bill of sale. Chushim’s response was: “And until Naphtali returns from the land of Egypt, will my father lie in disgrace?!” He took a club (according to the Talmud) or a sword (according to Targum Yonatan), and knocked Eisav’s head off. It rolled to Jacob’s feet (according to the Talmud) or to Isaac his father’s body (according to Targum Yonatan), whereupon Jacob opened his eyes, laughed, and declaimed, “Let the tzaddik rejoice when he sees vengeance, he will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked” (Psalms 58:11). This account raises an obvious question: When Eisav approached, why did Joseph’s Egyptian entourage not fight him off? After all, the “chariots and horsemen, the mighty camp” which Pharaoh had sent to accompany them (Genesis 50:9) was to provide an armed escort to fight for them as necessary (Bereishit Rabbah 100:5, Midrash Aggadah 50:9) The Egyptian cavalry certainly outnumbered and outsworded (if I may coin the word) Eisav and his armed legions. A word from Joseph, viceroy of Egypt, and the Egyptian army would have attacked Eisav and his legions. But when the Children of Israel fight for their rights in the Land of Israel, the issue is one of Kiddush Hashem (sanctifying the Name of G-d). This can be done only when the hand of Israel is clearly seen to be more powerful than Israel’s enemies. Had the Egyptian forces who were allied with the Children of Israel beaten off Eisav and his legions, then the Name of G-d would not have been sanctified. For Egyptians to defeat Edomites has no spiritual significance. The wicked Eisav, who had cut himself off from the family of Israel, had to be defeated by one of Israel. No less important: had the Egyptian forces helped the Children of Israel to capture the Machpelah Cave from Eisav and his cohorts, then Israel would inevitably have been beholden to Egypt. Just as, two centuries earlier, Abraham had refused to accept any reward from the king of Sodom for his battle, so that he could never claim “It is I who made Abram rich” (Genesis 14:23); And just as, nine hundred years later, the prophet Isaiah would castigate Israel with the words: “Woe unto those who go down to Egypt for help, rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are numerous, and on horsemen because they are mighty, but do not turn to the Holy One of Israel, and do not seek out Hashem” (Isaiah 31:1); So too here, the enemy of Israel had to be defeated by Israel (or one of Israel), and not by an outsider – even if that outsider happened to be an ally. G-d’s Name is sanctified in this world when Israel stands up for itself, fights for itself, defeats its enemies by itself, and does not rely on any other nation – no matter how friendly that nation may appear to be – for its security or for its rights in the Land of Israel. This is how we become worthy of the name Israel – the name which denotes “he who fights with G-d and with man and prevails”. This is how Israel completes and perfects G-d’s Creation.
