* Translated by Janine Muller Sherr
From the time that God entrusted Avraham Avinu with the mission of establishing a nation that would bring light and blessing to humanity, only one of the sons of the next generation was chosen to carry on this sacred calling.
Avraham Avinu had two sons, Yitzhak and Yishmael, and only Yitzhak was chosen to be one of our forefathers. Yitzhak had two sons, Yaakov and Eisav—one righteous and one evil —and again only one son, Yaakov, not Eisav, was worthy of inheriting the firstborn rights.
And what about Yaakov’s sons? The tension among the brothers was precisely about this issue: which one of Yaakov’s sons would be chosen to carry on their father’s legacy — who would be chosen to lead the nation forward, and who would be rejected, who was worthy to continue the mission of the Jewish people and who was not.
But this week’s parasha, which concludes the Book of Bereishit, presents us with a revolutionary idea: Every one of Yaakov’s sons would be chosen to continue his mission. None of them would abandon their heritage and their father’s values. None of the sons would be cast into a pit by his brothers, and none would assimilate into Egyptian society. Twelve sons stood together around Yaakov’s bed, as his soul was about to depart from this world, and none of them would abandon his father’s ways. They all declare “Shema Yisrael”—“Hear O Israel”— around his bed, before he closes his eyes. Each of them was different and assigned their own task, but they were united in their belief.
Not one of them is giving up the mission. They are all facing the future together.
