Va'ye'chi is the last parsha of Bereshit. It bridges the family drama of the book of Genesis - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, their wives, children and wanderings, to Exodus - the story of God's miracles for the Jewish people as a whole.
The parsha's central event is when a dying Jacob calls his 12 sons to his bedside. Jacob, just like Saba Abraham and Abba Isaac, is about to bless his sons and let them know who among them will be carrying on the covenant with God, and with it, the the future of the Jewish people.
To get an idea of what we can expect of Jacob, let's review a little bit:
Abraham had two sons to choose from - Ishmael was sent into the wilderness and Isaac received the birthright.
God does say that he plans to make of Ishmael a great nation, but he is definitely no longer a part of the Jewish people.
Ishmael's "sins"? Being born to the wrong mother and perhaps poking fun at a young Isaac.
When it's Isaac's turn to give a blessing, he fully intends to honor his oldest and favorite son Esau, but Rebekka and Isaac pull a swift move, and succeed in taking the blessing.
When Esau returns, and asks for his blessing, Isaac cannot really help him, even if he wanted to - he has already given the blessing away!
He tells Esau: "Behold, your dwelling place shall be the fat places of the earth and you will partake of the dew of heaven. You shall live by your sword, and you shall serve your brother…"
Esau's "sins"? Being more sensual than intellectual, a bit impulsive, and most damaging of all - taking the time to hunt and to cook the favorite dish of his dying father.
Our Rabbis have done a great deal to show that Esau was not worthy to carry on the covenant and would not have been a good leader anyway. This may be true, but I have to ask myself 'Does the punishment fit the crime?
We can see clearly from the Torah that it is God's will that Isaac and Jacob will carry on the lineage, and not Ishmael and Esau. Obviously it worked out pretty well for us:)
But did both of them deserve to be cut off from Am Yisrael entirely? Maybe yes, but maybe no….
Let's get back to our Parsha.
Jacob calls his twelve sons together in order to bless them. Based on historical precedent, we can expect to witness the exiling of at least a few sons. After all, some of Jacob's sons had committed grievious sins.
Reuben, Jacob's first born, had slept with his mother's maid Bilhah, in Jacob's bed no less. This pairing led to two sons, which Cha'zal think of as products of incest.
Worse than this, Simeon and Levi (Jacob's 2nd and 3rd sons) committed murder following the rape of their sister Dinah. They tricked the people of Schem into circumcising themselves and then murdered them when they were weak.
Compared to the "transgressions" of Ishamel and Esau, the acts of Reuben, Simeon and Levi are of a whole other level - one could even say that Jacob's sons violated 10 commndments.
And what does Jacob say?
To Reuben:
"You are my firstborn, the first-fruits of my strength, of excellence in power and in dignity; unstable as water, you will not excel, because you went up to your father's bed and defiled it.
Ok, so Reuben won't excel. But he's definitely not getting banished into the wilderness.
Of Simeon and Levi:
"Simeon and Levi are brothers - instruments of violence are their means of acquiring gain. Let my soul not enter into their council. A curse be upon their anger, for it is too cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel."
Despite these harsh words, the descendants of Simeon and Levi were never considered anything less than full Israelites - the Levis even became priests!
The difference in Jacob's approach to that of Abraham and Isaac is very stark.
Somehow, Jacob is able to overlook his son's serious transgressions and welcome them into the family. Perhaps this is another reasons why he deserves the name Israel.
Isra'el comes from the Hebrew ישר - wrestles with God. In addition to wrestling with God, he also wrestled with the sins of his sons, terrible loss, and serious domestic issues.
In modern day Israel, we face extremely difficult and heartbreaking issues in regards to our own brethren. Recent events in Bet Shemesh and here in Jerusalem point to the fact that we are more divided than ever.
For many of us sitting here today, the fact that Jewish parents would dress up their children as concentration camp inmates or that grown men would harass and spit on an eight year old girl is so shocking and grotesque as to be beyond explanation.
I won't attempt to speak for these extremists, but it's safe to say the feeling of disgust is mutual. They view the actions of many other Jews and Israelis to be intolerable, and worse, a disgrace to G-d.
At times like this, when our family is threatening to break apart at the seams, we need to remember the inclusive approach of Jacob - Israel.
He was able to overlook the very serious sins of his sons in order to keep the family together, even if he couldn't condone their actions and had to chastise them harshly.
Even if we disagree with another Jew's actions, to the point of disgust and even questioning their humanity, we must be able to rise above, continue to dialogue, agree to disagree, and remember that we are all in this boat together.
After all, when God brought us out of Egypt, he brought out everyone - men, women and children - the veritable mixed multitude.
Jacob reminds us that the boat of Am Yisrael is sturdy and will not fail. The boat that left Egypt, survived twin destructions of our holy temple, spent 2000 years in exile, survived the holocaust and founded the modern state of Israel - the boat of one of the world's great civilizations - is large enough for everyone to be on board, even if we don't always get along so well.