“Presumption is our natural and original malady. The most vulnerable and frail of all creatures is man, and at the same time the most arrogant (Michel de Montaigne).”

We have been tracing Jacobs steps as he sets out with his “Two Way Vision,” to reverse the steps taken by all since Adam was expelled from the Garden, creating increasing distance from what could have been humanity’s natural state. (“A Different Sort of Fear of Life”) Jacob is the “Eternal Man,” and refusing to, “Wait for his Monument,” lived every moment of his life, even in death and after! Jacob understands that to seek tranquility is to forfeit, “The Fragrance of Permanence.” He contained all the energy showered on him by God, and, “Stopped the Leaks,” that occur when we, “Break Our Link to the Eternal.”

In this, the final portion in the Book of Genesis, Jacob begins by teaching Joseph the importance of, “Balance,” as Joseph had begun to master in resisting his Temptations, “Directing the Conversation,” and the additional lesson of, “The Power of Softness.”

Jacob, the Master Teacher, allows Rachel and Leah to independently form their, “The Character in the Storm,” and building a family that will learn how to combine their strengths, as we saw in Part “Two.”

It takes the man who can allow the people around him to master their own growth with minimal guidance to understand the importance of “The Power of Softness.” This is why after Rachel and Leah have mastered combining their strengths, and healed their relationship (An Eloquent Silence Part Three) that Leah gives birth to Dinah and Rachel gives birth to Joseph, the brother and sister who are understood to share the same soul strength. The two sisters, with their newly combined attributes, are able to give birth to the male and female side of a single soul.

Jacob further developed his sense of balance through his dealings with Laban and his bravado: “Laban said to him, ‘I have learned by divination that God has blessed me on account of you’ (30:27).” Laban didn’t need divination to figure out that his wealth had exponentially increased since Jacob began working for him. His divination claim is pure bluster.

“It is in my power to do you all harm; but the Lord of your father addressed me last night, saying, ‘Beware of speaking with Jacob either good or bad’ (31:29).” Sounds like a mixed message to me! If it was truly in his power to harm everyone, why is he obeying the Lord of their father? If he has to obey God’s message, which included a warning to beware even of speaking with Jacob about good, why is he insinuating a threat in his words? Laban is torn between his desire to smash Jacob and his fear of Jacob and his God. (Learning How to Stand Up to a Bully)

“The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children and the flock is my flock, and all that you see is mine (31:43).” This is Laban as the famous, “Aramaean [who] attempted to destroy my forefather (Deuteronomy 26:5),” who we include in the Haggadah. Laban wanted to lay claim to the entire family (An Eloquent Silence Part Two). After all, he and his father had contributed more to Jacobs family than had Abraham and Isaac: Rebecca, Rachel, Leah, the maidservants, and all of Jacob’s wealth; Jacob had arrived in Laban’s home as a penniless vagabond.

Laban successfully distracted Jacob from his connection to the eternal and had him touch death: “With whomever you find your gods, he shall not live (31:31).” Jacob had just unknowingly cursed Rachel who had stolen Laban’s gods. He carries this taste of death for the rest of his life, as he says, in this week’s portion, to Joseph, “but as for me; when I came from Paddan, Rachel died on me in the land of Canaan on the road (48:7).” Here is Jacob speaking to Joseph about the importance of maintaining an unbroken link to the eternal and yet he is still carrying this “taste of death!”

Joseph is not resentful of Jacob for burying Rachel in a faraway place. Joseph is not resentful of the fact that Jacob inadvertently caused Rachel’s early death. Joseph is resentful of Jacob carrying this sense of “on me,” ever since Rachels death. Jacob was not only carrying the guilt; he was keeping alive the wound of death that Laban had inflicted on him!

Joseph suspected that Laban was successful in wounding Jacob because there was a part of Jacob that believe Laban’s gasconade.

Jacob explains to Joseph that the issue was not that he was intimidated by Laban; but because Rachel died, “while there was still a stretch of land to go,” Jacob was weak because he felt he still had “far to go.”

At this moment, as Jacob is approaching death and his family will soon face slavery in Egypt with all its depressing suffering, he must send a message to the family that when we perceive ourselves as weak, we make ourselves vulnerable to the false claims of power and influence of liars such as Laban and Pharaoh.

In this, we see a powerful parallel to David’s reflections on his life as he speaks to Solomon in “Haftarah-Vayechi-Abner IV.”

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“Now you yourself know what Yoav son of Zeruiah did to me—what he did to the two commanders of Israel’s armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Yeter. He killed them, shedding their blood in peacetime as if in battle, and with that blood he stained the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet. Deal with him according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace (I Kings 2:5-6).”

We have studied the confrontation between Yoav and Avner over the issue of balance that David is addressing in his charge to Solomon. We now begin to examine why Yoav’s assassination of Amasa belongs in this opening paragraph of “Balance.”

Who was Amasa?

• David’s nephew and Yoav’s cousin,


• He was the person who successfully defended David’s lineage by quoting Samuel’s ruling. (Yevamot 77a)


• He is described, together with his cousin Avishai, as a “Lion in Torah.” (Yerushalmi, Peiah 1:1)


• Refused, with Avishai to murder the Kohanim of Nov at Saul’s order (Midrash Tehillim 52:5).


• Had a history of standing up against the king when he felt halachically justified (Midrash HaGadol).


• Brought all of Israel to invite David back as king, just as Avner had done See: Abner I (Kadmoniyot HaYehudim II 159).


• Yoav considered him to have the halachic status of one who rebelled against the king for having led Avshalom’s armies (II Samuel 17:25), and he was justified in killing him (Sanhedrin 49a).

Historical Background: A Time of Instability

Avshalom, David’s oldest son, plots a conspiracy, forming an army and winning the hearts of the Israel through displays of warmth and kindness. Supported by David’s chief counselor, Avshalom goes to Hebron where his followers pronounce him king. Informed of this event, David flees from Jerusalem with his men, and the people of the countryside weep as he marches by.

One of Saul’s relatives, Shimi ben Geira, a relative of King Saul, however, curses and throws stones at the band, gloating over David’s demise. David forbids his attendants, including Yoav’s brother, Avishai, to punish the man.

Yoav ignores David’s instructions to treat Avshalom gently and drives three spears into Avshalom’s hanging body (something David does not mention in his instructions to Solomon).

When David is notified of Avshalom’s death, he weeps, screaming repeatedly, “O my son Avshalom, O Avshalom, my son, my son (19:4)!” Yoav is furious with David for mourning the son who rebelled against him.

Shimi ben Geira knows that he’s in danger and meets David and begs forgiveness. Avishai insists on killing him, to which David replies: “What does this have to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? What right do you have to interfere? Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Don’t I know that today I am king over Israel (II Samuel 19:23).”

To the frustration of his officials, David shows mercy to all of Avshalom’s supporters who approach him for forgiveness, especially Avshalom’s commander Amasa. David sends messengers to the leaders of Judah, and the tribe welcomes him back to Jerusalem. The remaining tribes—Avshalom’s chief supporters—fear that David will be angry at them. An uprising ensues.

Text: David Takes Immediate and Decisive Action

“Then the king said to Amasa, ‘Summon the men of Judah to come to me within three days, and be here yourself.’ But when Amasa went to summon Judah, he took longer than the time the king had set for him.

David said to Avishai, ‘Now Sheva ben Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom did. Take your master’s men and pursue him, or he will find fortified cities and escape from us.’ So Yoav’s men and the Kereti and Peleti and all the mighty warriors went out under the command of Avishai. They marched out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheva ben Bichri.

While they were at the great rock in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Yoav was wearing his military tunic, and strapped over it at his waist was a belt with a dagger in its sheath. As he stepped forward, it dropped out of its sheath.

Yoav said to Amasa, ‘How are you, my brother?’ Then Yoav took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. Amasa was not on his guard against the dagger in Yoav’s hand, and Yoav plunged it into his belly, and his intestines spilled out on the ground. Without being stabbed again, Amasa died. Then Yoav and his brother Avishai pursued Sheva ben Bichri.

One of Yoav’s men stood beside Amasa and said, ‘Whoever favors Yoav, and whoever is for David, let him follow Yoav!’ Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the road, and the man saw that all the troops came to a halt there. When he realized that everyone who came up to Amasa stopped, he dragged him from the road into a field and threw a garment over him. After Amasa had been removed from the road, everyone went on with Yoav to pursue Sheva ben Bichri (II Samuel 20:4-13).”

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We left off in “The Character in the Storm” with Rachel, having incorporated Jacob’s lessons (“Strength from Brokenness“) in her relationship with Leah, but wondering whether Leah understood Rachel’s message. I wonder whether Jacob was prepared for the storm that awaited him upon his return home. We must also see how Jacob incorporated the gains of this major event in his life into his final moments in this week’s portion, “Vayechi.”

“So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. ‘You must sleep with me,’ she said. ‘I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.’ So he slept with her that night.

Isn’t it a little strange for Leah to phrase this night as, “hiring Jacob?”

“Now Dinah, the daughter of Leah, and she had borne to Jacob, went out to look over the daughters of the land (34:1).” “Because Dinah went out, in contradiction to the code of modesty befitting a daughter of Jacob, she is called the daughter of Leah because Leah, too, ‘went out.’ (Rashi) However, the Midrash on Proverbs praises Leah for going out, and says that it was her going out that caused her to merit to have descendants who would be kings and prophets (Chapter 31)!” Clearly, Leah’s going out is ambiguous. Why?

When Leah insists that she “hired” Jacob, she is informing him that she now feels equal to Rachel in her relationship with Jacob. Jacob hired himself out to marry Rachel. Leah was informing him that he was now hired out to marry her; in her mind, he would work for her just as he had worked for Rachel.

The first time that Jacob met Rachel, she too, was “going out.” “While he was still speaking with them, Rachel had arrived with her father’s flock, for she was a shepherdess (29:9).” Everything that Leah was doing at this moment was a re-creation of the beginnings of the relationship between Jacob and Rachel.

Leah had clearly understood Rachel’s message of their joint eternal link to Jacob. The storm was over. Jacob did not walk into a fight, but into an entirely new stage of relationship with both, Rachel and Leah.

God considers Leah’s change as a form of prayer, and He grants her both Issachar and Zebulun who would eternally work together as partners, just as she was now prepared to work with Rachel.

Here is a woman going out to be with her husband and achieving greatness; as the Midrash says, kings and prophets would descend from her, just as another woman who “went out” to be with her husband and merited to say, “I have acquired a man with God (4:1),” I referred, of course, to Eve.

Remember, that when Eve decided to leave the Garden from which she had not been expelled just to be with her husband, she was willing to forfeit some of her elevated status to be with someone else. She certainly did the correct thing, but she paid a price, just as Leah will eventually pay a price for her “going out.”

“The Lord listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. Then Leah said, ‘The Lord has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband.’ So she named him Issachar.

Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. Then Leah said, ‘The Lord has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne him six sons.’ So she named him Zebulun.

Some time later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah (Genesis 30:14-21).”

It is not only the sons who will work eternally as partners who result from this new relationship with Jacob, it is also Dinah, who will be at the center of another storm yet to a buffet Jacob and his family. Eve too, merited to “acquire a man with God,” but that man, Cain, would also be at the center of a storm.

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The time of patriarchs was reaching its end. Jacob was dying, and alongside his dictation of burial arrangements, he also gave final words to his twelve sons, words in which he would tell them “what will befall you in the end of days.” We usually read them as his final “blessings.” But in the case of two sons, Simeon and Levi, they are assuredly curses.

Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of cruelty are their swords. Let my soul not come into their council; to their assembly let my honor not be united. For in their anger they slew a man, and in their willfulness they lamed an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. (49:1–4)

Jacob knew full well the power of a father’s deathbed will: He had caused unspeakable pain to be inflicted on his brother Esau through words much milder than these. But the actions of Simeon and Levi, who deceived and slaughtered the men of Shechem in retaliation for the rape of their sister Dina, were too much for Jacob to suffer.

Does the Bible endorse Jacob’s view? Not necessarily. While Simeon’s offspring ultimately descend into historical irrelevance, the Levites become the guardians of the Temple, priests to God, teachers of the people.

This is not a small problem in the text. The stories of the twelve brothers are meant to tell us something about the fate of the tribes they sired. If Jacob’s curse on Levi doesn’t come true, it raises the possibility that he deeply misunderstood at least one of his own sons.

To unravel the mess, we need to reread the saga of Simeon and Levi, as individuals and tribes, as a five-act play. It’s a story of extremism, zealotry, and violence—and the difficulty in telling right from wrong in the high-stakes game of the love of God.

Act 1: Shechem. After the king of Shechem helps himself to Jacob’s only daughter Dina, Simeon and Levi conspire to vanquish the whole city. They pretend to cut a deal in which the Shechemites first circumcise themselves, and will then be allowed to marry Israelite women. They agree, and when they are at the height of their physical weakness, the brothers kill them all. Jacob is livid, on the grounds that all the other peoples will descend upon him and his family. The brothers respond, “Should he deal with our sister as with a harlot?” And here things get strange.

The brothers’ retort is left hanging in the air, at the very least suggesting they have fought to a draw. Later on, it becomes clear that Jacob’s fears were unfounded: “The terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.” We are left with a sense that Jacob’s judgment is not the same as that of the text itself.

Act 2: The Curse. In this week’s reading, Jacob curses Simeon and Levi, calling them “brothers”—the emphasis suggesting that he saw them as identical to each other, motivated principally by anger, deserving the same fate.

Act 3: The Test. Generations later, in the wake of the Golden Calf in the book of Exodus, Moses famously calls out “Whoever is with the Lord, come with me!” Only the Levites come to Moses’ side, and they slay two thousand Israelites with the sword as retribution and purification of the camp. Simeon’s tribe, for all its presumptive bloodlust, is nowhere to be found. And so, at a crucial moment, we discover that while Levi and Simeon may both have indulged in violence, their deeper nature was in fact different.  To put it bluntly, Levites are zealots for the Lord, while Simeonites are thugs.

The Levites are rewarded with the priesthood. It’s a double-edged reward: Their violent zealotry, so repugnant to Jacob, is channeled away from physical violence and towards extreme ritual, where any mistake can mean death, but where the consequences are purely religious. They are to be left out of military affairs and without land of their own. Their violence neutralized, their zealotry can be expressed in a more useful manner.

Act 4: The Last Battle. To make the point clear, in Numbers we find the head of the tribe of Simeon, Zimri ben Salu, publicly bedding the daughter of the king of Midian—an act not just of licentiousness but, in context, of idolatry as well. With Moses and Aaron standing by, powerless to stop it, Aaron’s grandson Pinhas, heir to the leadership of the Levite priests, hurls his javelin through Zimri and his concubine, killing them both. This is the final act of Levite violence, and it is aimed at none other than the chief of Simeon. Zealotry takes out thuggery, Levi defeats Simeon once and for all, thereby distinguishing himself and disproving Jacob’s claim that they are “brothers.”

Act 5: The Inheritance. In the book of Joshua, upon entry into the Promised Land, the Levites receive just the minimal land around urban centers and are teachers of God’s word and servants in the Temple. In this sense only, Jacob’s curse comes true. Simeon, on the other hand, is lost to history, his descendants unable to find a coherent piece of territory and utterly subsumed into Judah.

The message of all this? Our human world is a complex one, with some people built for the nasty business of diplomacy, nuance, and gracious maneuvering; while others are preternaturally primed for ideological purity, simplicity of principle, and extremity of action. Jacob was clearly the former, and had no room in his world for Levi. Somehow, however, biblical religion did make room for the Levite, not just by giving a place of honor and productive purpose to his otherwise uncontrolled zealotry—but also in requiring that the rest of us take care not only of the poor and orphaned, but also the “Levite in our gates”—as well as their spiritual heirs, the zealots, mystics, absolutists and other difficult individuals who, in spite of everything, are entrusted to our care.

David Hazony is author of The Ten Commandments: How Our Most Ancient Moral Text Can Renew Modern Life (Scribner, 2010).

In our journey of “Balance,” “David, Yoav & Abner I,” “Part Two,” and, “Part Three,” we’ve been studying David’s opening charge to Solomon urging him to balance his dual roles as person and king (Be a Man). We have watched as Joab battles the king’s sense of balance, and how he was willing to place his desires above the stability of the kingdom and God’s expressed will. We left off with David refusing to allow himself to stop Joab, because he is struggling to maintain balance between his drive for action and God’s Providence, especially when it is clear that it is God Who is guiding these major events.

Let’s return to the Abner-Joab story to discover what David learns about this issue:

Now when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into an inner chamber, as if to speak with him privately. And there, to avenge the blood of his brother Asahel, Joab stabbed him in the stomach, and he died.

Later, when David heard about this, he said, ‘I and my kingdom are forever innocent before God concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner. May his blood fall on the head of Joab and on his whole family! May Joab’s family never be without someone who has a running sore or leprosy or who leans on a crutch or who falls by the sword or who lacks food. (22-29)

“Joab and his brother Abishai murdered Abner because he had killed their brother Asahel in the battle at Gibeon (30).”

Why is David not angry with Abishai?

“Then the king said to his men, ‘Do you not realize that a commander and a great man has fallen in Israel this day? And today, though I am the anointed king, I am weak, and these sons of Zeruiah are too strong for me. May God repay the evildoer according to his evil deeds’ (38-39).”

As Abner had done to Ish-Bosheth, Joab did to David: Ish-Bosheth, “did not dare to say another word to Abner, because he was afraid of him,” he was so weak that, not only did he not dare to say another word, he actually helps Abner’s plan to support David; “So Ish-Bosheth gave orders and had her taken away from her husband Paltiel son of Laish!”

David makes a public declaration, even after saying, “I and my kingdom are forever innocent before God concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner. May his blood fall on the head of Joab and on his whole family! May Joab’s family never be without someone who has a running sore or leprosy or who leans on a crutch or who falls by the sword or who lacks food,” that, “today, though I am the anointed king, I am weak, and these sons of Zeruiah are too strong for me. May God repay the evildoer according to his evil deeds,” I am weak!

Joab made David appear weak, so much so, that even when David publicly curses Joab, “May his blood fall on the head of Joab and on his whole family! May Joab’s family never be without someone who has a running sore or leprosy or who leans on a crutch or who falls by the sword or who lacks food,” and, “May God repay the evildoer according to his evil deeds,” David’s reliance on God to exact retribution is perceived as a sign of weakness. Was that balance?

If the issue was David’s political weakness; no. However, David is not speaking of his inability to directly deal with Joab; he is speaking, in deep and honest self-reflection, of his self-doubt: Did he hesitate to confront Joab because he believed that God would deal with things, or, did his political weakness cause him to use the Divine Providence argument as an excuse to avoid a confrontation?

There is no balance without such honest introspection, and, it is only the balanced David who can be so honest.

This is one of the most important lessons he can convey to his son, Solomon, one that Solomon will repeat in the fourth chapter of Proverbs. See: “Receiving the Transmission,” and “Judgment Calls.”

We can now turn to the next assassination mentioned by David to Solomon, that of Amasa:

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In “Balance,” and “David, Yoav & Abner I,” we began to explain David’s opening charge to Solomon from his deathbed, urging him to balance his dual roles as person and king (Be a Man). We’ve seen how David dealt with Abner, but we still must explain his reaction to, and his instructions regarding, Joab.

We continue with the story of Abner, David, and Joab:

“Abner conferred with the elders of Israel and said, ‘For some time you have wanted to make David your king. Now do it! For God promised David, ‘By my servant David I will rescue my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies.’

Abner also spoke to the Benjamites in person.”

Abner had already sent a message to David promising to bring all of Israel over to his side, and yet, it is only now that, “Abner conferred with the elders of Israel!”

“For some time you have wanted to make David your King. Now do it! For God promised David.” Clearly, Abner knew that the elders of Israel wanted to make David the king. There was only one thing stopping them all along; Abner!

When Abner approaches them, he is admitting that he had put his drive for power over the desires of the elders of Israel, and over God’s promise! What happened to allow this man so driven for power to make such a humiliating admission?

David’s balanced response to Abner. If the new King himself struggles with remaining a “normal” man even while assuming the reins of power, and is willing to convey that message to the man who can bring all of Israel to his side, then he is a man who understands Abner’s own internal struggle. Abner is now willing to confront the people he has been stopping from making David their king and admit his mistake.

Whereas Abner “conferred with the elders of Israel,” he, “spoke to the Benjamites in person.” Benjamin was the tribe of Saul and the current King, Ish-Bosheth. They would be forfeiting the power of being the tribe of the King. It is only Abner, who understands the quest for power, the nature of power, and, who is willing to his drive for power sublimate in order to fulfill God’s oath, and, to publicly make his humiliating admission, who can speak to the tribe of Benjamin. It is Abner’s “person,” that convinces Benjamin.

Perhaps Abner did not directly speak of David’s sense of balance, but the message transmitted in his conferring with the elders and ‘personally’ speaking to Benjamin, conveyed David’s message:

David’s reign would be one of great balance, something that had been painfully lacking when Saul was king. Abner is not only supporting David, the king, he is supporting David’s message.

This is the message of Abner that would be so damaged when he is assassinated by David’s general, Joab. Joab was the disturber of balance, again, an essential part of David’s opening message to Solomon.

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“Talents are better nurtured in solitude, but character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe).”

We have been accompanying Jacob as he traces backwards the steps of his life in this life-defining portion, “Jacob Lived,” as his mission to reverse the steps taken by those who distanced themselves from the Garden in Eden, and, as the man who, “Did Not Die,” who addresses death and its consequences of “Envy,” & “The Green Master,” distance from God, leaking energy, and breaking links to the eternal (For King David’s similar concern, see, “Haftarah-Vayechi-Reading the Text I”). (“A Different Sort of Fear of Life,” “Not Waiting For the Monument,” “The Fragrance of Permanence,” “Stopping the Leaks,” “Strength from Brokenness, with a slight detour that, hopefully, will eventually become clear, in “Power of Softness”)

Jacob may very well have been a master teacher guiding Rachel and Leah in their relationship with God, but he still had much to do. Jacob decides to not directly address certain outstanding issues between Rachel and Leah but to allow them, now that they have developed their relationship with God in both, His Attribute of Compassion and His Attribute of Strength–judgment, to address their issues together.

“During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, ‘Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.’

But she said to her, ‘Wasn’t it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son’s mandrakes too?’

“Wasn’t it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son’s mandrakes too?” Leah is still angry with Rachel! Not only that, she accuses Rachel of taking Jacob from her! After all, Leah was Jacob’s first wife. Did Leah forget that she successfully folded Jacob only when her sister unselfishly confided certain predetermined secret signals to her sister so that we are would not be put to shame (Rashi, Genesis 29:25)? How could she possibly accuse her selfless sister of taking Jacob from her?

Was Rachel so insensitive to her sister that she did not suspect how Leah would feel when Rachel asked her for the mandrakes? The sister who was willing to give up her wedding bed to her sister was not an insensitive person.

‘Very well,’ Rachel said, ‘he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.’

When we pay careful attention to Rachel’s request, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes,” we see that Rachel is asking her sister to share. This is not Rachel saying, “I shared my bed with you, so you share your flowers with me!” This was the Rachel who had successfully incorporated Jacob’s lesson of relating to God both in His Attribute of Compassion and His Attribute of Strength–judgment: Rachel was saying to Leah, “We, who began with two very different relationships with God, and successfully learned to combine them, can now share everything in and eternal way.”

Leah was not yet ready to hear Rachel’s message. Leah had such a powerful sense of obligation to Rachel that she could not imagine denying her sister’s request. Rachel’s request was synonymous with a demand! In Leah’s mind, she was being forced to give up something her son had given her.

Rachel understands her sister. “Very well,” Rachel said, “he can sleep with you tonight in return for your sons mandrakes.” Rachel does not say, “Jacob can sleep with you,” she says, “he!” Rachel understands that even though they had been discussing flowers, Leah was speaking only of her relationship with Jacob. Rachel, in the effect, was telling her sister, “I am willing to again share my bed with you!” What happened the night of your wedding to Jake up was not an emergency reaction; it was a statement to you, a statement I am reaffirming now, that I understand that we do not exist independent of each other and, just as we share this new level of a relationship with God, we share in that eternal connection with Jacob.

Did Leah understand Rachel’s message? We’ll see…

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We concluded Part One wondering how David’s opening message of balance to Solomon bears on all the instructions that follow. We pay close attention to the way the prophet formats the text, where he places an open space, indicating a new topic, or a closed space, indicating a related topic. The following verses are included in the same paragraph as David’s opening message, clearly indicating that they are part of the same message!

“Now you yourself know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me—what he did to the two commanders of Israel’s armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. He killed them, shedding their blood in peacetime as if in battle, and with that blood he stained the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet. Deal with him according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace (I Kings 2:5-6).

“What he did to me!” Was Joab’s sin directed at David and not at the “commanders of Israel’s armies?” Does David need to mention the method Joab used to murder Abner and Amasa, “with that blood he sustained the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet.” Why had David not dealt with Joab?

“During the war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner had been strengthening his own position in the house of Saul. Now Saul had had a concubine named Rizpah daughter of Aiah. And Ish-Bosheth said to Abner, ‘Why did you sleep with my father’s concubine?’

Abner was very angry because of what Ish-Bosheth said. So he answered, ‘Am I a dog’s head—on Judah’s side? This very day I am loyal to the house of your father Saul and to his family and friends. I haven’t handed you over to David. Yet now you accuse me of an offense involving this woman! May God deal with Abner, be it ever so severely, if I do not do for David what God promised him on oath and transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and establish David’s throne over Israel and Judah from Dan to Beersheba.’ Ish-Bosheth did not dare to say another word to Abner, because he was afraid of him (II Samuel 3:6-11).”

We must begin with the powerful contrast between Joab and Abner: Both are men in positions of great power and attempting to strengthen their positions. Abner clearly knew of God’s oath to David, as he says, “If I do not do for David what God promised him on both and transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and establish David’s throne over Israel and Judah.” Abner knew of the oath, and yet, still focused on supporting Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth because he was focused on, “strengthening his own position in the house of Saul.”

This man, so focused on his power despite God’s oath, when he understands what he is doing, changes from focusing on his power to strengthening David. Abner’s bottom line was to overcome his own drives and support David, the recipient of God’s promise.

We have David’s enemy coming to his senses. We have one of David’s most important supporters placing his concerns above his king’s.

“Then Abner sent messengers on his behalf to say to David, ‘Whose land is it? Make an agreement with me, and I will help you bring all Israel over to you.’

‘Good,’ said David. ‘I will make an agreement with you. But I demand one thing of you: Do not come into my presence unless you bring Michal daughter of Saul when you come to see me.’ Then David sent messengers to Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, demanding, ‘Give me my wife Michal, whom I betrothed to myself for the price of a hundred Philistine foreskins.’

“So Ish-Bosheth gave orders and had her taken away from her husband Paltiel son of Laish. Her husband, however, went with her, weeping behind her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, ‘Go back home!’ So he went back (12-16).”

David’s response to Abner is to demand his wife. Before Abner agrees to David’s demand, “David sent messengers to Ish-Bosheth demanding,” that he return David’s wife, Michal, to, “whom I betrothed myself for the price of a hundred Philistine foreskins.” David wants his wife. David is functioning as a human being, not a king, at least, when he raises the issue with Abner. He then approaches Ish-Bosheth, King to King, demanding the wife to whom he betrothed himself by fighting for Ish-Bosheth’s father, Saul, the first King of Israel. David is definitely balancing his dual roles as king and a man.

Abner, whose support is necessary to make David king over all of Israel, must deal with a David functioning as a man: “Her husband, however, went with her, weeping behind her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, ‘Go back home!’ So he went back.” Did David do not think that he would benefit from dealing with Abner from his position of power, rather than that of a man pining for his wife?

David, the “balanced” King, clearly understands that although Abner is offering support to fulfill God’s promise to David, Abner is still the same man who, just a short while ago, was focused on strengthening his position in the house of Saul. The balanced King knows how to deal with Abner the loyal follower of God, and Abner the man focused on his own power. This, is the magnificence of a king who is able to maintain his own sense of balance; he is able to use that balance in his dealings with other people. This part of the Joab story must be in the same paragraph as David’s opening charge to Solomon: It is a lesson in the balanced wisdom in using power.

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone™ is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

“Softness triumphs over hardness, gentleness over strength .

The flexible is superior over at the immovable.

This is the principle of controlling things by going along with them,

of mastery through adaptation (Lao-Tzu).”

“Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven. When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, ‘If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt, but when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried.’ ‘I will do as you say,’ he said. ‘Swear to me,’ he said. Then Joseph swore to him, and Israel bowed toward the head of the bed (47:28-31).”

This is the first, and the only time that Jacob has summoned Joseph since their powerful meeting seventeen years earlier. For some reason Jacob waits for the end of his life to speak with Joseph about this important issue. Jacob was not someone who paid attention to all the large advertisements urging people to “Plan Ahead!”

What did Joseph expect his father to address when he received the summons? Did he think that Jacob would finally speak to him about the brothers? Would Jacob urge Joseph to forgive them? Would Jacob ask for all the details of how Joseph ended up in Egypt? Did Joseph expect Jacob to urge him to continue to support and protect them? Or, did Joseph know that Jacob would speak with him about funeral arrangements?

We aren’t privy to the entire conversation between father and son. We don’t know how they greeted each other or what they discussed. We don’t know if Joseph asked his father why he had been summoned. The text shares with us only what is absolutely necessary for us to know, and does so in a way that conveys through the subtext the underlying message of this epochal meeting.

Jacob is speaking as both a father (“Be a Man!” “Receiving the Transmission,” and, “Haftarah-Vayechi-Reading the Text) and as a subject supplicating before the mandarin, “he called for his son Joseph,” both, ‘his son,’ and, ‘Joseph,’ the viceroy:

“If I have found favor in your eyes,” “Israel bowed toward the head of the bed,” both indicate Jacob addressing Joseph as the Egyptian viceroy. A summons, “Put your hand under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness,” is a father speaking to his son, a person in power requesting an oath from a lesser person, just as Abraham made the same request of his servant Eliezer.

Jacob makes it clear that he expects Joseph the son to rise above his position as Joseph the Viceroy: “Do not bury me in Egypt,” something you do not say to the viceroy of the country that has welcomed you with open arms, gifted you with prime property, and supported you during a famine!

Once Joseph demonstrates his loyalty as son is greater than his position in Egypt, Jacob can be certain that the anamnesis of his death bed blessings will not trigger resentment and perhaps even vengeful feelings toward his brothers. Jacob demands, and Joseph accepts, that Joseph will primarily function as a member of the family and not as the powerful Egyptian viceroy.

The end of the previous portion, Vayigash, demonstrated Joseph as someone perfectly comfortable with taking full advantage of his awesome power. “Joseph acquired all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh (47:20).” “We will become serfs to Pharaoh (47:19).” “I have acquired you this day with your land for Pharaoh (Verse 23).” “So Joseph imposed as a statute till this day regarding the land of Egypt: It was Pharaoh’s for the fifth (Verse 26).” Joseph knew how, and was willing, to use his power.

Jacob understood Joseph’s intentions to protect the Children of Israel in the future so that they would not feel as outsiders (Rashi, 47:21), but he also understood that eventually Joseph would die, and the Egyptian historians would begin to examine his decisions and would write countless papers describing his arbitrary use of power to protect the throne. People would soon forget that it was Joseph who saved the nation (Exodus 1:8), and would deal with the long-term consequences of his usurpation of Egyptian land and independence.

Jacob used this meeting, in which he guided Joseph into insisting that his role as a brother, a member of a family, was far more important to him than his role as Viceroy. Jacob brought out the humanity of Joseph; he guided him into connecting to himself as a person, a quality he needed in his leadership skills. Jacob was softening Joseph.

I don’t know what Joseph was thinking upon receiving his father’s summons; but I do know that simply receiving a summons reminded him that underneath all his royal robes, he was still a son.

We often read stories of people who, with the best of intentions, assert their power over those weaker than they. Perhaps they should pay attention to Jacob’s powerful message to Joseph: If you want to use your power; always first remember that you, too, are a son to your father. Remember, when you spit at a little girl, that she is a daughter, just as you have a daughter; she is a child just as you were once a child. If you must use your power; use it with softness.

“Its (The Torah’s) ways are ways of pleasantness and all its paths are peace (Proverbs 3:17).” We may not use a Willow on Succot that has sharp edges because “its ways are ways of pleasantness,” and a sharp edge may make a small part of the Four Species unpleasant! We certainly may not use power and force to impose Torah in the most unpleasant of ways.

If someone gives you power use it  with caution. Silence is power

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Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone™ is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.

“I had not always believed that strength could come from brokenness, or that the thread of a divine purpose could be seen in tragedy. But I do now (Max Cleland).” (“Seven Levels of Teshuva: Avraham and Healing”)

The Torah uses a single verse to teach us that Jacob had a remarkable approach to life. (“A Different Sort of Fear of Life,” “Not Waiting For the Monument,” “The Fragrance of Permanence,” and, “Stopping the Leaks.”) We have seen that, “Vayechi is the story of a man who lived every moment of his life, even in death and after!” We determined that, “Jacob used these final scenes to guide his children to sense the fragrance of permanence, not of death and its ensuing impermanence.” We demonstrated that Jacob rarely “leaked” energy, a “death” experience, but managed to contain and expand the energy with which God filled him. The only time he “leaked” energy was when he lost the sense of the eternal.

Let’s continue to study Jacob’s life before Egypt to better understand where and how Jacob mastered eternal life. We left off after Jacob’s seven year wait for Rachel was as just a few days.

Jacob soon confronts someone thinking of death:

“When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or I’ll die!’

Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of the Lord, Who has kept you from having children?” (30:1-2)

Jacob, who wept upon meeting Rachel because they wouldn’t be buried together, whose mother also wished for death when thinking of children, has no patience for his beloved’s intense feelings of sadness over being childless!

Professor Nechama Leibovitz a”h, in her usual masterful way, applies a teaching of the Akeidat Yitzchak to this scene: Rav Yitzchak Arama points out that there are two names for the Primal Woman: “Isha,” as explained by Rashi, derived from ‘Eish,’ fire, representing the woman as an independent being; and, ‘Chava,’ the ‘mother of life, representing the woman as mother and caregiver. Professot Leibovitz explains that when Rachel wanted to die if she remained childless, she was choosing only one of her roles, that of Chava, the mother, and rejecting her life as an Isha. Jacob’s response was to point out that she cannot choose only one of the roles; she had to live as both.

I use this to explain the custom of the husband preparing the wife’s Shabbat candles; He is nurturing her Isha.

As beautiful as that explanation may be, I do not define Isha or Chava the same way. Chava means to articulate, The Articulator, and Isha has an added dimension of a person with greatness who willing forfeits her status just to be with her husband, just as Eve left the Garden to be with Adam, in fulfillment of, “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you (3:16). (See “Family Secrets from the Articulator,” “Vashti v Esther,” “Conversations with Myself,” and, “Morning Blessings for the Nine Days-Part Three: Who has not made me a woman.”)

A careful reading of the text will explain Jacob’s reaction to Rachel’s cry, his fear of her connecting to the negative aspect of Isha, and Cain’s sin:

“When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or I’ll die!’” Rachel was jealous, breaking her eternal link to Jacob, just as Eve’s jealousy led her to trip Adam (Rashi; 3:6), and Cain to break his link to eternal life, humanity, and to murder Abel. (“Mistakes-Latznu,” “Ever Since Adam & Cain One,” “Trying Again,” “Commentary to the Vidui-Part Five; Avinu.”)

Jacob understood that again someone was breaking their link to the eternal and tasting death, so he said, “Am I in the place of the Lord, Who has kept you from having children?” Jacob was assuming the role of teacher, and repairing the break between “God,” the Attribute of Compassion, and “The Lord,” the Attribute of Power-Judgement:

“When God saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive, but Rachel remained childless. Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, ‘It is because God has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.’

She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, ‘Because God heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too.’ So she named him Simeon.

Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.’ So he was named Levi.

She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, ‘This time I will praise God.’ So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children (29:31-35).” Leah consistently speaks of God, the Attribute of Compassion.

Rachel speaks of the Lord, the Attribute of Power-Judgment: Then Rachel said, ‘The Lord has vindicated me; He has listened to my plea and given me a son.’ Because of this she named him Dan (30:6).”

Then, something changes:

The Lord listened to Leah, and she became pregnant and bore Jacob a fifth son. Then Leah said, ‘The Lord has rewarded me for giving my servant to my husband.’ So she named him Issachar.

Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son. Then Leah said, “The Lord has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honor, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.

Some time later she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah [derived from ‘Din,’ judgment].

Then The Lord remembered Rachel; He listened to her and enabled her to conceive. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, ‘The Lord has taken away my disgrace.” She named him Joseph, and said, ‘May God add to me another son’ (30:17-24).” [For those of you bothered by my switching the more common translation of God and Lord; I am following the teachings of my father zt”l who insisted that it does not make sense to say, “The Lord is God,” because God is His Essence; the Shema is to accept God as our Lord, meaning that He cares enough to judge our actions.]
Rachel and Leah were each relating to one aspect of our relationship with the Ultimate Being, which is a break of “Hashem Elokeinu,” God is our Lord, in the Shema, and a break in the story of the relationship between the Spiritual and Physical creations, expressed in, “This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when God the Lord made the earth and the heavens (2:4).” (See “The Ladder Comes to Life.”)

Jacob taught Rachel and Leah that the only way we can maintain an unbroken link between the Spiritual and Physical creations, to link to the Eternal, is to relate to both God and the Lord.

Author Info:
Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone™ is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah.