Our identity is shaped by those who have come before us. We are born into a family, a community, a nation. The values of those who have come before are transmitted to us either implicitly or explicitly, and we choose either to embrace them or to substitute other values in their place. This week, in Parashat Vayehi, we learn that we can be blessed by those who have come before us, and that we can even be blessed by those who will come after.
Just before Jacob dies in Egypt, he summons his grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph. “He blessed them, saying, ‘By you shall Israel invoke blessings, saying: God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh’” (Genesis 48:20). This blessing lives on today, as the traditional blessing that parents give to their sons as Shabbat begins on Friday evening. It is the blessing that the older generation bestows upon the younger, with the wishes that the young will grow to be like their forebears, Ephraim and Manasseh. If you read the words carefully, however, you will see that Jacob blessed his grandsons by telling them that future generations would invoke their names in blessing their children. This promise, or prediction, was itself the blessing that Jacob gave. The two grandsons were blessed with the knowledge that their memory would be perpetuated, and that they would stand as role models for future generations.
Blessing is a two-way street. Parents can bless their children, children are a blessing to their parents. Older people can bless younger people by imparting their wisdom and experience, while younger people can bless older people with their vigor, enthusiasm and optimism. Our Torah reading teaches us that both types of blessing are possible, and indeed desirable.
How have you been blessed by those who have come before you? Do you feel blessed by children, or those younger than you? In what way can we look to find blessings in all of our relationships?
I invite you to reflect on these questions and dialogue with me and others about them and about this week’s Torah discussion here, on Congregation B’nai Shalom’s new blog.
Shabbat shalom, and happy (secular) new year!
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I can honestly say that Scott getting engaged yesterday was a blessing moment for us: to honor and support his wonderful decision and for him to honor us by allowing us to share in his simcha.
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