Vayechi, וַיְחִי "And He Lived" Genesis 47:28 - 50:26

Buried In The Holy Land

Poetic notes on Vayechi*

To be buried in the Holy Land

is like already being raised from the dead

To be buried in faith in the Holy Land

is to lay down and rest in God’s word to Abraham

The mountains of the Land of Israel are a covenant

The stones of the land of Israel are like the word of God

When the souls of the Jews walk upon them,

the feet of faith are reading the personal love letters

of the One who created all worlds

The utmost bounds of the eternal hills are a mother

They give birth to a redeemer,

who places a crown upon the Head of Truth,

to lead the blind to come and kneel before the Source of Life,

who elevates all who are impoverished,

to receive eternal sight,

that they might sit with honor

as guests at the eternal table of the Creator's Love

The dishes at His table hold the food of divine kindness

There is no Truth, no Life and no Love

but that which comes from the One who made a covenant

with the mountains of Israel

To be buried in the Holy Land

is to have been circumcised by the hand of death

in anticipation of the redemption of Jacob

For those who are circumcised in life

are circumcised in the hope of Mashiach

With his tears forcefully dried,

Joseph commanded Egypt

to fulfill Jacob's will

For Jacob said,

"Take me to Israel's eternal hills

Bury me in the grave I carved out for myself!"

To be buried in the Holy Land

is to be buried in the depths of faith...

to be at home in Hebron,

to be a song in Jerusalem,

to be a prayer in Tzafat

There is no difference between

death and life in the Holy Land

For both are the word of God,

his word to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

The Holy Land is filled with words of God

Only faith and eternal life grow there

Whatsoever is not of faith

cannot remain in the Holy Land

The root of sin will be expelled

The Holy Land is the place of the throne,

of the glorious kingdom

of the God of Israel,

the One God

His land and His kingdom are forever

There all His servants will gather

For there is no king without a kingdom

The Holy Land will be

the eternal possession of the tribes of Israel,

according to the expansion of the years of Jacob

Reuben will be a radiant guiding light there

Simeon will be a gathering hand,

joining the hands of all the tribes together

Ephraim and Manasseh

will be twins of Reuben and Simeon forever,

distributing gifts of light to the nations

Levi will wield the Torah's double edged sword,

gracefully branching, gracefully uniting

all the tribes of Jacob's truth

Judah's tongue of thanksgiving psalms

shall be heard from world to world,

teaching all tongues the songs of God's true praise

Zebulun shall open all twelve gates of prayer

to all the souls earth,

all filled with the knowledge of HaShem,

like the waters that fill the seas

Issachar shall stand at the beginning of time

and welcome with wisdom

all flocks who come in from the fields

to learn the halakha of Sabbath rest

Dan shall teach the young to learn judgment

in the light of the Shechinah

Beneath her wings,

Gad shall instruct the army of holy angels,

who long desired to gaze

upon the Huppa of Jerusalem and Her Beloved

Asher shall anoint the learned

with the oil of the eternal hills of Israel

Naphtali shall recount salvation

and lead the guests into the courtyard of God's Name,

paved with the stones of the land of Israel

Joseph shall hold the ladder of his fathers

that ascends to the house of his mothers,

who dwell in the tower of the Name of God

He will recognize the merit of their visitors

and let the discipled pass

The prayers from the wilderness

will come through the gate of Benjamin

He will change the tears of sorrow into tears of joy

For the whole creation shall be buried in the Holy Land

from which it shall sprout forth and live again