The Blogs: The Self-Destructive Jewish Addiction to the Diaspora (Parshat Vayehi)

וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ אֶל־יוֹסֵ֔ף הִנֵּ֥ה אָֽנֹכִ֖י מֵ֑ת וְהָיָ֤ה אֱלֹהִים֙ עִמָּכֶ֔ם וְהֵשִׁ֣יב אֶתְכֶ֔ם אֶל־אֶ֖רֶץ אֲבֹֽתֵיכֶֽם:

Israel then said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers.

Bereishit 48:21

וְכֹל֙ בֵּ֣ית יוֹסֵ֔ף וְאֶחָ֖יו וּבֵ֣ית אָבִ֑יו רַ֗ק טַפָּם֙ וְצֹאנָ֣ם וּבְקָרָ֔ם עָֽזְב֖וּ בְּאֶ֥רֶץ גּֽשׁן:

And all of Joseph’s household, his brothers, and his father’s household (went to Canaan for Yaakov’s burial) They left only their small children, their flocks, and their cattle in Goshen

Bereishit 50:8

וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יוֹסֵף֙ אֶל־אֶחָ֔יו אָֽנֹכִ֖י מֵ֑ת וֵֽאלֹהִ֞ים פָּקֹ֧ד יִפְקֹ֣ד אֶתְכֶ֗ם וְהֶֽעֱלָ֤ה אֶתְכֶם֙ מִן־הָאָ֣רֶץ הַזֹּ֔את אֶל־הָאָ֕רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר נִשְׁבַּ֛ע לְאַבְרָהָ֥ם לְיִצְחָ֖ק וּלְיַֽעֲקֹֽב:

Yosef said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely remember you and take you up from this land, to the land that He promised by oath to Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov.”

Bereishit 50:24

Both Yaakov and eventually Yosef understand that the Children of Israel must return to Canaan/Eretz Yisrael, but that there is no way they would ever do this voluntarily. The self-destructive addiction to life in exile is one that – along with a stiff necked stubbornness – has been embedded in the Jewish DNA since our patriarch Avraham.

In verse 48:21 Yaakov predicts that “God will bring you back to the land of your fathers”. This is at a time when there is nothing to prevent his progeny from doing just that, right then and there. After all, the famine is over. Yosef’s brothers have been treated like second-class citizens, living as semi outcasts in the emptiness of Goshen. With their father now dead and wishing to be buried in Canaan, this would be an ideal opportunity to go home. But they don’t.

In verse 50:8 the entire brotherhood accompanies Yaakov’s body for burial in the Me’arat Hamakhpeilah. But the Torah (sarcastically) makes note of the fact that “They left only their small children, their flocks, and their cattle in Goshen.” As if anyone in their right mind goes on a long funeral trek and takes their cattle and tots with them. The implication here is this; Look at these Israelite fools. They’re already heading back to their homeland for their father’s funeral. This is the perfect moment to pack it all up and go back to where they belong.

And finally, in verse 50:24 a dying Yosef, apparently pre-deceasing his eleven brothers, says; “God will surely remember you and take you up from this land, to the land that He promised by oath to Avraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov.” Now this is BEFORE the actual enslavement of the Israelites by the Egyptians. Yosef understood very well that their situation, especially after his demise, would be precarious. But her understood as well, that nothing he might say would motivate them to leave. They had indeed gotten addicted to the fleshpots of Egypt.

The enslavement of the Israelites by the Egyptians was long preceded by their enslavement to the material opportunities and cultural attractions of Egyptian life. Hence Yosef understood that it would take force majeure to uproot them and repatriate them to the promised land. Indeed, if they would go anywhere it would be to America, or England or Australia – anywhere but where they belonged, and which belonged to them.

Right now the handwriting is on walls everywhere, yet the material orgy that is life in the diaspora only increases in inverse proportion to the existential demise of diaspora Jewish communities and Jewish life.

And the worst culprits are the Haredi Jews whose diaspora leaders mostly speak with vituperation about Israel. Meanwhile, Israel-based haredi leaders hermetically wall off their minions from the Jewish State and do everything in their power to impose a faux-‘golus’ reality by retaining anachronistic tribal attire, Yiddish as their lingua franca, and the naming of nearly all their sects and institutions after long-destroyed communities in Eastern Europe. As if everything we were desperate to be rescued from has become a nostalgic ideal, while life under Jewish sovereignty is akin to that under the Cossacks.

It’s all there in Sefer Bereishit. Avraham tried to escape from Canaan at the first excuse –despite being wealthy enough to weather the famine. He only returns to Canaan when Egypt is no longer hospitable toward him. Yaakov is quite happy to live in Haran, and leaves only when he realizes that Lavan has turned hostile toward him. And even then, he dawdles and tarries on his way back home. Indeed, the only Patriarch who never get stuck in the diaspora is Yitzhak. But that’s because he never left.

So it’s no wonder that Yaakov’s sons had no desire to leave Egypt, nor that Yaakov understood that any attempt to get them to go home would be futile. Likewise, Yosef, after years of living as an assimilated and acculturated Egyptian aristocrat he finally understood that there was no future for him or his extended family in that land. Yet he makes no attempt to persuade them to make haste. He knew it would be futile.

Is there a lesson to be learned from all of this? The answer is no. While there will always be a handful of Jews with either the smarts or the dumb luck to end up in Israel, the vast majority will always make the wrong choice until it is either too late to go, or someone (God) picks them up from the scruffs of their stiff necks and drags them home.

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For my past years notes on Parshat Vayehi please go to: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/reading-between-the-lines-in-parshat-vayehi/