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Parshat Vaeyra
1999
What Determines Our Legacy?
Exodus 6:2 - 9:35
Last week Moshe seems to have exacerbated the travails of the Hebrew slaves. He complains to God that his visit has only made things worse and questions the point of the whole liberation enterprise.
In this week's parsha God promises Moshe that "he ain't seen nothin' yet" and he should wait and see what God has in store for Pharaoh. God will judge the Egyptians harshly and the great redemption of Israel will occur.
Suddenly, there is a break in the narrative and we are subjected to a list of Ya'akov's first three sons and the progeny that went down to Egypt. It is a funny place for a partial list to appear and one wonders why it was necessary to give us this list now. Also, why are only the first three sons mentioned? What happened to everyone else?
Your Torah Navigator
1. Note that the history of Reuven, Shimon and Levy are rendered here. Take a look at the first verses of the last chapter of Genesis (49) and see what Ya'akov has divined for their futures.
2. In light of this, why would we take time to single out their family backgrounds at this particular moment?
3. Look at the verses in our parsha that detail the family backgrounds of Reuven, Shimon and
Levy. Why is Levy's family mentioned in greater detail?
Midrash Pesikta Rabati 7:9
"These are the heads of their respective clans...the sons of Reuven...the sons of Shimon...and the sons of Levy..." (Exodus 6:14)
This is what Rabbi Huna and Rabbi Levy explained, but they didn't explain why these three sons of Ya'akov were connected to Moshe and Aharon. "Why are these verses connected to Moshe and Aaron?" Because their father had rebuked them harshly and counted them as a unique group.
Well, that's very nice, but what does that have to do with connecting them to Moshe and Aharon?
Rebbe bar Rebbe Simon said in the name of Rebbe Shmuel the son of Rebbe Yitzchak: It is because they accepted the rebuke of their father, they were merited to be connected to Moshe and Aharon. Thus they embodied the verse: Those who live with rebuke will be lodged with the wise.
(Proverbs 15:31)
Your Midrash Navigator
1. Why is honoring the first three sons of Ya'akov problematic?
2. How does the midrash solve this problem?
3. Going with the reading of the midrash, why is this a particularly significant place for their family histories to be mentioned?
A Word
Rashi, the most popular of the medieval Torah commentators, suggests that Moshe, as we see, was a descendant of Levy who is the third son of Ya'akov and the purpose of this genealogy is to bring glory to Moshe's ancestry.
Well, that may explain why Levy's descendants are mentioned in much greater detail than Reuven and Shimon, but why are Reuven and Shimon mentioned at all?
Rashi goes on to explain that if Levy were mentioned out of order one may have mistaken him for the first born. He is placed third in order to keep the record straight and not to diminish the birthright of Reuven or even Shimon as the second born.
These three brothers share another distinction. Reuven, Shimon and Levy were all given harsh rebukes by their ailing father Ya'akov when they were summoned for their final blessing.
The Midrash sees significance that the three sons mentioned in our parsha, are the same three sons who are consecutively rebuked by Ya'akov at the very end of his life. In our case, however, the three are attached to Moshe, our redeemer. It draws the conclusion that something must have occurred to repair their status. Shimon and Levy, once cursed for their violent tendencies, are now linked by the Torah to Moshe.
Every deed has a brief life span, only to be replaced by another. The Midrash warns that one should never judge a person by a single deed, or for that matter a single character trait, no matter how reprehensible. A life always has the potential to be redeemed, and although Shimon and Levy cannot erase their days of infamy, they can, in fact redeem them, and then be lodged among the wise.
Redemption requires contrition and resolve to change. The Torah "lodges" them with Moshe, and Moshe being a descendent of the house of Levy, brings honor to that house as well as Levy's older brothers.
After God has explained the grand scheme for the redemption of Israel, He alludes to the redemption of Ya'akov's three eldest sons. Their mini-redemption is the precursor of the great redemption of Israel through Moshe and Aharon.
Learn More
Additional commentaries and text studies on Parshat Vaeyra at MyJewishLearning.com.
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