By Joel Rice

This week’s Parsha, Vayechi, is all about the Death of Jacob and, later, Joseph. As you can imagine, the death of Jacob, one of the patriarchs, is a big deal. Before he dies, Jacob gives blessings to all of his sons and to Joseph’s two sons, and then gives his final wish/instructions to be buried next to Leah in Machpelah Cave, located in Hebron, which we now know as the cave of the patriarchs. Fifty-four years later, Joseph dies at age 110 and also instructs that his bones be buried in the land of Israel, but only upon the Jews’ exodus from Egypt and their return to the holy land. In giving these instructions, Joseph also promises that G-d will not forget about the Israelites, a promise that is to be a source of hope in the trying years of slavery ahead. (More detailed summaries can be found here and here, and an interesting dvar that relates the parsha to the LGBTQIA community can be found here.)

What I found interesting about this parsha was that Joseph, unlike his father Jacob, gave instructions for his bones to remain in Egypt until the Israelites returned to the Promised Land. This insistence to only return home with his people shows the solidarity that Joseph had with his brothers. This solidarity shouldn’t be taken for granted for it was these same brothers that sold Joseph into slavery. It is one thing to forgive someone and not bear a grudge but quite another to stand alongside them with compassion and in solidarity.

But ultimately Joseph did not want to remain in the diaspora, he wanted to be laid to rest in the holy land just like Jacob did. While it is clear that in biblical times the holy land represented the final resting place of the Jewish People the spread of the Jews all around the world has created many different communities where the role of Israel is unclear. What does Israel represent to the Jewish People today is a question that cannot yet be definitively answered; however it is a central question facing the Jewish community today, especially the youth. If Israel is the final resting place of the Jews and the center of our people then what is the role of the Diaspora? And if Israel is not the center of our people then what is?