Genesis 49

(1) And Jacob called unto his sons, and said: ‘Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the end of days. (2) Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; And hearken unto Israel your father.

(5) In my view, however, the homily here alludes to the following (Pesachim 56a): "R. Shimon b. Pazi expounded (Genesis 49:1): 'And Jacob called to his sons and said: "Gather together and I will tell you what will befall you in the end of days"' — Jacob desired to reveal the end of days, but the Shechinah departed from him, whereupon he said: "Can it be, G-d forbid, that there is impurity in my seed, as with Abraham, my father's father, from whom Ishmael issued, and as with Isaac, my father, from whom Esau issued?" At this, all of his children answered: "Hear O Israel, the L-rd our G-d, the L-rd is One." "Just as there is only one L-rd in your heart, so there is only one L-rd in ours." According to this homily, this verse, though it constitutes a positive commandment, had already been stated by the tribes. The L-rd had already been praised by it though it is set down in its place as a mitzvah decreed for all generations. This is the intent of "You made Me a distinct entity in this world."

(2) ושמעו אל ישראל אביכם, preserve the teachings Israel taught throughout his life. When you do that you will be entitled to call yourselves בני ישראל, “The Children of Israel.” He, on the other hand, will be proud to call himself “your father.” It means that you as well as I have contended successfully when facing challenges set for you by G’d and by man. As a result, you will not forfeit the good G’d has in store for you.

(3) ראובן בכורי אתה, Reuven you, who are my firstborn,” and who should have received a double share of my inheritance; and you who should also have shouldered the yoke of being the priest among your siblings, and from whom eventually the first King of the Israelites should have been crowned, (in accordance with Chronicles II 21,3) “and the title of Royalty he gave to Yehoram for he was the firstborn,” you will not enjoy all this as it has been transferred to Joseph, and the priesthood to Levi, and the Royalty to Yehudah, all because you have been as unstable as water, as a kettle that boils over and spills its contents.” (Compare Chronicles I 5,1) As a result, the only privilege a firstborn enjoys that you still possess is the hollow title of having been the firstborn of my sons. In this respect you are comparable to water, the first physical element in the universe. You are the original, (oldest) of the people that make up the Israelite nation, the 12 tribes.” Water is insubstantial; it cannot be poured out completely, as opposed to something dry which can be emptied without the loss of any part of it. In the Talmud, tractate Shabbat folio 55, where the meaning of the word פחז in our verse is discussed by different scholars, [there is a lengthy debate about what constituted the sin of a number of illustrious people such as Reuven, the sons of High Priest Eli, Solomon, Yoash, Pinchos, David, King Yoshia, and others Ed.] each offering a different opinion; the conclusion arrived at is that the scholars of the Mishnah agreed to disagree. The common denominator of their discussion is that the text describing their respective sins cannot be understood at its face value but is a metaphor describing a character weakness on the occasion. (B’reshit Rabbah 99,6)

(4) כי עלית משכבי אביך, when you committed that act, חללת יצועי, you defiled my couch; your act prevented me from having any further marital relations with my wife Bilhah. My grandfather explained the expression יתר שאת as an allusion to atonement. [שאת from the root נשא, to elevate, i.e. to forgive as in ונשאתי לכל המקום, “I will forgive the whole place” (Genesis 18,26) Ed.] If so, far from putting down Reuven in his final words to him, Yaakov blessed him by offering his forgiveness at this time for the sin he had committed. against him.

(5) אחים, seeing their older brother had been demoted, they would have been in line to have the honour due to a firstborn transferred to the brother next in seniority. However, they did not rate such special honour because

(5) כלי חמס מכרותיהם, people who make use of weaponry in their day to day activities are not suitable material for wielding political and military power. Hence neither one of them will be accorded the status taken away from Reuven. (compare Proverbs 29,4 where Solomon describes a king’s primary characteristic as being במשפט יעמד ארץ, “seeing to it that the rule of law and justice prevails on earth.”) Shimon and Levi had disqualified themselves from claiming such a distinction.

(7) ארור אפם, they shall not succeed to take revenge in their anger and to wreak destruction when it is vented on the innocent. Seeing that they abused their brotherliness in the past, I do not wish to be associated with their method of operation. Their close association is potentially dangerous.

(37) (13) And Haman related to Zereth his wife and to all his friends. And then it is written: Then said unto him his wise men and Zereth his wife; first they are called friends, and then wise men? R. Jochanan said : "A man, even of any nation, who says an intelligent thing only should be termed wise (Chacham). If Mordecai be of the seed of the Judeans; i.e., they said : "If Mordecai is descended from other tribes, you will get the better of him; but if he be descended from one of these tribes — Juda, Benjamin, Ephraim, Menaseeh — then you cannot overcome him; from Juda, because it is written (Gen. 49, 8) Thy hand shall be on the neck of thy enemies; and the other three, because it is written (Ps. 80, 3) Before Ephraim, Benjamin and Menasseh, awaken thy might." But thou will surely fall before him. R. Juda b. Ilai taught: "What is the meaning surely fall [doubled in the test] ? Infer from this that they said to him thus: 'This nation (Israel) resembles earth, and resembles stars; when they sink they sink to the dust, and when they rise they rise to the stars.' " (Est. 6, 14) They were yet speaking with him when the king's chamberlains arrived, and they hastened. From this we infer that they brought him in a hurry. For the adversary regardeth not the damage of the king. She said to him: "This enemy is not worth the damage he causes to the king; when he became jealous of Vashti, he killed her, and now he becomes jealous of me, and wants to kill me too." And the king arose in his fury . . . and when the king returned. From this we may infer that just as he had gone out in a fury, so he returned in a fury ; he went to his garden and found that angels, in the form of men, were uprooting the trees of his garden and throwing them away. Upon his inquiry as to why they were doing it, he was informed that Haman had ordered them to do so. When he returned to his house he found Haman was fallen upon the couch, etc. It is not written, fell [active case], but, was fallen [passive case] ; i.e., infer from this that an angel came and pushed him. And the king said: "Woe from inside, and woe from outside." And the king said: "Will he even do violence to the queen before me in the house?" Then said Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, etc. R. Chama b. Chanina said : "Harbonah the wicked had also been among those who had given the advice to make a gallows for Mordecai ; but as soon as he saw that his plan was not fulfilled, he deserted Haman and went over to Mordecai's friends, and this interpretation is derived from the passage (Job 27, 22) And will cast upon him, and have no pity; out of his hand will surely escape. And the fury of the king [Shachacha] was appeased. What does the double (appeasing) stand for? One refers to the King of the Universe and the other refers to Ahasuerus. Others, however, say that one refers to the anger about Vashti and one about Esther."

(9) גור אריה A YOUNG LION — He prophesied this with reference to David who, when he began his military career, was but as a whelp — as it states, (2 Samuel 5:2) “when Saul was king over us it was thou that didst lead out and bring in Israel” — but who later on became as a lion when they made him king over themselves. That is what Onkelos means by translating it “A ruler he shall he בשרויא” — at the beginning

(11) The words כבס ביין he renders by “their garments will be of fine purple” — resembling wine in colour. The word צבעונין “coloured garments” in the Targum is the rendering of סותה — for a woman attires herself in these to entice men to take notice of her (so that the word denotes a garment that attracts notice to its wearer, being a noun formed from the root סות, to entice or allure). Our Rabbis, too, explained this word (סותה) in the Talmud (Ketubot 111b) in the sense of allurement — the allurement of intoxication: they say, “And as for the wine in question, perhaps you will say that it cannot intoxicate — remember that Scripture says of it סותה “its allurement” (i.e. it has an allurement so that people drink more and more of it).

(12) ולבן שנים מחלב. Due to drinking a lot of milk his teeth are white. Some commentators understand the word שנים in our verse as describing the teeth-like points of the rocks being white from the drippings of excess milk by the sheep and goats. Accordingly, even these so-called teeth have to be explained allegorically, as a reference to the Messiah. [I believe that all the commentators who chose the path of interpreting Yaakov’s words allegorically, simply could not credit that he would waste his last few minutes on earth with describing mundane matters as being the essence of what he had to communicate to his children at that time, even if these words were garbed in poetic language. The sages were convinced that behind this lovely prose there must be hidden far more profound spiritual messages. Ed.]

(13) זבולון לחוף ימים ישכון, on his own land, seeing that it borders on the sea. Yaakov mentioned Zevulun before Issachar although he was the one who would earn his livelihood as a merchant whereas Issachar would be the one studying Torah. Interestingly enough, Moses did the same thing when he blessed the Jewish people before his death. (Deut. 33,9) The reason is that one cannot devote one’s life to Torah study before first having secured an economic base providing one’s necessities. This is what the sages said in Avot 3,17 אם אין קמח אין תורה, “when there is no flour Torah cannot flourish.” However, when one person extends a helping hand to his fellowman helping him to sustain himself so that he can carry out his dream to devote himself to Torah, this is even a greater deed than studying Torah oneself. Seeing that Zevulun did just that, sharing the profits of his demanding lifestyle with his brother Issachar, he deserves to be mentioned even before his brother who, but for Zevulun, would not be able to achieve greatness in Torah. Zevulun shares at least equally in Issachar’s accomplishments. Basically, what Zevulun did voluntarily for his brother Issachar, the Jewish people were commanded by the Torah to do for the Levites and the priests, who, because they have been assigned the tithes and various other gifts were able to devote themselves to being teachers, performing the service in the Temple, and generally to provide spiritual guidance without receiving any other remuneration for this. Moses assigned this task to the Levites when he said: (Deut.33,10) יורו משפטיך ליעקב, “they shall teach Your laws to Yaakov.” As compensation they will all have a share in the life of the hereafter as we have been taught in Sanhedrin 90 that all Jews have a share in the hereafter.”

(17) יהי דן, Yaakov compared Dan to different kinds of serpents which do not travel (hunt) in packs, but rely on their wits, killing many. Shimshon, the most prominent warrior of the tribe of Dan, was a loner, never involving others when he faced danger. Compare Judges 15,8 ויך אותם שוק על ירך וכלחי חמור הכה אלף איש, “he struck them leg as well as thigh, and with the jawbone of a donkey he killed one thousand men.” He saved the Israelites from the constant incursions of the Philistines before he engaged in his acts of daring. This is what prompted Yaakov to wish him success with the words: 'לישועתך קויתי ה, “your type of salvation for Israel, orchestrated by a single individual, is something that normally, only G’d Himself can orchestrate.” Some commentators (Rashi) view these words of Yaakov as his reaction when he foresaw with prophetic vision how Shimshon had his eyes blinded by the Philistines. The words לישועתך וגו' then are Yaakov’s prayer that G’d Himself would avenge what was done to Shimshon. This prophecy/prayer was also fulfilled, as we are told in Judges 16,30 that Shimshon killed more Philistines in dying than he had killed cumulatively while alive.

(22) בן פרת עלי עין, its leaves will not wilt and it will prove to be very fruitful as per Psalms 1,3 והיה כעץ שמול על פלגי מים, “he will be as a tree planted by springs of water, etc.” The reason for this apparent duplication is that Joseph would be split into two of the twelve tribes, hence the blessing had to be twofold.

(26) עד תאות גבעות עולם, “as far as the hills at the end of the world;” according to Rashi, Yaakov was able to extend such blessings as a reward for having fed his father with the delicacies that he used to enjoy. G’d had already enlarged the scope of his blessings to him when He told him that his descendants would spread in all directions of the globe. (Genesis 28,14)

(33) ויאסוף רגליו, he drew his legs back into the bed, seeing that all the while he had pronounced the blessings he had been sitting on the edge of the bed as we know from 48,2 וישב על המטה, “he sat up on the bed.” Also while blessing Joseph’s sons he had remained sitting upright, as we know from 48,12 where Joseph is described as pulling back his sons from between Yaakov’s knees. G’d‘s fondness for Yaakov is emphasised by the Torah when it reports that Yaakov possessed this strength until he had completed the last words of his blessings and his instructions.