Parshat Vayechi

Rashi, the premier commentator, notes that there is no break in the Torah between the end of last week’s Sidra (weekly Torah reading) ‘Vayigash’ and the beginning of this Sidra. Vayechi is the only such example.

Rashi, in his first explanation, writes that this is because after Ya’acov died, the Jewish people became oblivious to the facts of their exile in Egypt and even to the gradual enslavement.

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, a great 20^th century authority, puzzles over Rashi’s explanation. Firstly, Ya’acov is still alive at this point of the story. Secondly, the enslavement of the Jewish people did not begin until after the death of Yosaif (Joseph) and his brothers.

Rabbi Feinstein suggests that Rashi in fact alludes to the Jewish people’s failure to appreciate that G-d had brought them to Egypt to escape the famine in Cana’an. Instead, they became somewhat complacent and perhaps even blasé about their situation, especially their reliance on the patronage of the king of Egypt (Pharaoh).

Not only could this patronage sour at any time but, as Rabbi Feinstein writes, once the Jewish people were at the mercy, however generous, of the king of Egypt, they were already in a form of exile. As the people failed to appreciate their situation, they also failed to appreciate that they were slipping into an exile.

This happened even while Ya’acov was alive! As the Sidra unfolds, they saw how Yosaif had to seek permission from the house of Pharaoh (parenthetically, consider why not Pharaoh himself) to fulfil Ya’acov’s wish to be buried in Cana’an. Suddenly the Jewish people realised that they were subjugated to Pharaoh since even Yosaif could not make this decision independently. This, explains Rabbi Feinstein, is why Rashi makes his observation.

Rabbi Feinstein’s explanation also beggars bigger questions, as to why the Jewish people did not leave Egypt after the famine or why they slipped into this state. Look at the last comment of the Keli Yakar’s commentary to Vayigash and the first comment to Vayechi for some answers.