Judaism
Parashah of the week: Vayechi
“Come together that I may tell you what is to befall you in the end of days” Genesis 49:1
January 9, 2025 10:36
1 min read
“Come together that I may tell you what is to befall you in the end of days” Genesis 49:1
January 9, 2025 10:36The prophetic era was rife with messianic speculation. The Torah, however, speaks about the far future with a sense of mystery. There are blessings and curses, promises and warnings, but the Torah skirts around the specifics of what is yet to come.
This week’s parashah contains an explicit example of the mysterious: Jacob tells his sons that he will reveal the “latter days” to them, and then… he doesn’t.
Our sages understand that Jacob was indeed attempting to reveal prophecies to his sons of the later days of human existence (Pesachim 56a; Bereshit Rabbah 98:2). As he began this revelation of revelation, however, the Shechinah, the dwelling presence of God, abandoned him. He was therefore left unable to deliver the prophecy.
Why would God allow Jacob to know this information, but not allow him to share it? Perhaps the issue is one of scheduling. Our sages provide two timelines on which the arrival of the Messiah might occur. The first is a set timing: the end of days, when the world has fallen into disarray. The pain of that conflict will be the birthing pangs of the messianic age. The second “schedule”, however, is that the Messiah may come at any point that we are ready for him.
These need not be contradictions. We can straighten out the creases in messianic speculation. There are two timelines: one set, and one if we prepare ourselves and bring the Messiah to the world early.
Jacob’s prophecy, therefore, would have presented a problem. The prophecy he would reveal would have been of the “end of days”, the option for messianic arrival that assumes we will not welcome the Messiah early. Jacob’s foresight would then become a part of the Torah itself.
How much more difficult would it be to prepare ourselves for an early arrival of the Messiah if Israel himself assumed we could not do it? Jacob’s prophecy could have become self-fulfilling: because he said we would not be able to welcome the age of peace early, he would guarantee our failure to do so.
We need to assume that fixing the world is within our power. If we allow ourselves to believe otherwise, then we guarantee a broken world, because we will lose the hope that fuels the world-changing work.
If we prepare ourselves for peace, peace may someday come.