{"id":46297,"date":"2018-12-23T22:38:20","date_gmt":"2018-12-23T20:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=46297"},"modified":"2022-04-12T22:33:55","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T19:33:55","slug":"jacobs-advantage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/jacobs-advantage\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacob\u2019s Advantage"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[552,368],"acf":{"old_id":"46297","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":36663,"related_cahpter":"1023","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Quelling the long tradition of rivalry, Jacob prepares his descendants to act as a group","content":"

The opening verse of our portion divides Jacob\u2019s life in two, the seventeen years he lived in Egypt on the one side, with the 147 years of his life on the other (Genesis 47:28).\u00a0Why?<\/p>\n

The only other character whose life is similarly bifurcated into a before and an after in Genesis is Noah of whom we learn, \u201cThe life of Noah after the flood was 359 years.\u00a0 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty-nine years, and he died\u201d (Genesis 9:28-29).<\/p>\n

Once he reunited with his son Joseph and went into exile in Egypt to be taken care of by his son, the second ranking individual in\u00a0the kingdom after the Pharaoh, Jacob\u2019s life was altered irrevocably.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both Jacob and Noah experienced the destruction of the world as they knew it and yet they both participated in its rebuilding, with the consciousness of their past experiences behind them.<\/p>\n

Noah builds an altar and makes sacrifices, and then, he grows a vineyard and gets drunk, making it possible for his son to uncover his nakedness (Genesis 9:20-22).\u00a0 The blessings he subsequently gives his children do not seem to entail encouraging them to flourish.<\/p>\n

Jacob continues his life, difficult as it is, making sure his grandchildren know to call on the names of their ancestors Abraham and Isaac as well as his own (Genesis 48:16).\u00a0<\/p>\n

The difference between the drunken Noah and the discouraged though still functioning Jacob is that instead of retreating backward into a world fueled by alcohol and avoidance of the pain of the present, Jacob acts to change both himself and his family.\u00a0When he blesses his grandsons, he undoes the sibling rivalry he experienced with his own twin Esau and he fomented among his sons Joseph and his siblings.\u00a0Finally, at the end of Genesis, the younger and the older get the blessing together, at the same time, through both of Jacob\u2019s hands (Genesis 48:20).\u00a0<\/p>\n

This act of quelling the long tradition of rivalry changes the Jewish people, who are now ready to act and behave as a group, ready to eventually leave Egypt and live together in their own land.\u00a0 In Henry V, Shakespeare speaks of how fighters will recall their accomplishments, that they will \u201cremember with advantages\u201d their \u201cfeats\u201d of that day.\u00a0Jacob too, at the end of his life has the advantage of hindsight to finally correct his past mistakes and get the blessing of his grandchildren right in a way he could not with his brother and his sons in the past.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead of being defeated by his past tragedies and the sadness of dwelling in Egypt, Jacob here is able to re-inscribe and change his prior behavior to create a new future for himself and his progeny, in a land still called Israel in his honor.<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":74933,"id":74933,"title":"ez33-change","filename":"ez33-change.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez33-change.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/do-we-possess-free-will-to-change-immutable-decrees\/ez33-change\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ez33-change","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":74931,"date":"2020-05-19 13:43:50","modified":"2022-05-29 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