So many choices as it should be as we enter a new year so full of promise and wonder.
This parasha, however, brings Genesis and Jacob's life to an end. Realizing that his death is imminent, Jacob turns to Joseph and says: place your hand under my thigh as a pledge of your steadfast loyalty: please do not bury me in Egypt. Later in the parasha, as Joseph was about to die at the age of 110, he made his brothers swear saying: “When God has taken notice of you, you shall carry up my bones from here.”
In honour of these verses, if you are not a vegetarian I believe that chicken thighs are due-- you can make a case for bone in or bone out-- either drash will work. Alternatively, I think we (those of us who are not vegetarians that is :) ) will be having thighs for dinner and wings for lunch with all of their bones. Our favourite thighs are either the honey, soy, ginger thighs or shwarma which we marinade for longer than I have time for now. The recipe I linked above from Munchkin Time is always a winner.
The beginning of the parasha provides so much to chew on. For example, just as with his father, setting the stage for the end of Jacob's life, the text reads: Now Israel’s eyes were dim with age; he could not see. So [Joseph] brought them close to him, and he kissed them and embraced them. Once again I might suggest a good carrot soup. If you choose to go with the chicken thighs, I would choose an easy carrot ginger soup to help our tired eyes. A quick roux with some onion, fresh ginger, carrots and broth cooked, cooled and blended to a creamy yumminess perfect for a rainy night.
Just a few verses later, as Jacob blesses Efraim and Menashe, he says: And may they be teeming multitudes upon the earth. But the Hebrew points to a slightly different nuance וְיִדְגּ֥וּ לָרֹ֖ב בְּקֶ֥רֶב הָאָֽרֶץ׃ as if to say may they greatly increase like fish upon the earth. I think this makes a great opportunity for gefilte fish. We are particular to they loaf type and yet I know that some have the custom of breaking either a loaf or a home made recipe into bite size pieces which would be even more fitting for the words!
I have lots of ideas to represent the various blessings that Jacob offers his sons ranging from soup to represent the prophecy directed at Reuben that he is "unstable as water" to Judah the lion, "He washes his garment in wine, His robe in blood of grapes. His teeth are whiter than milk..." calls for opening a good bottle of wine, whereas my gefilte fish also works for Zebulun who will "dwell by the seashore". But all in all, I think that I will represent these blessings with my challah. I happen to love the Jamie Geller's apple monkey bread challah that I make each year for Rosh Hashanah but I may be more simple and just even do plain. That said, I want to be purposeful with how many balls of bread I am using-- 12 for the tribes, 1 for Dina, and perhaps even 2 more for Joseph and Levi or Efraim and Menashe depending on how you count. Inspired by this image though, I am certainly considering some glaze in order to teach my girls about Serach bat Asher and share with them a midrash or story written in her honour.
Finally, I am struck by both deaths mentioned in this parasha. So often I speak about the importance and values of the Chevra Kaddisha, the poignancy of such a holy society which people too often shy away from. This week's parasha holds the source for the most powerful blessing ever bestowed upon me, one of the greatest gifts I treasure (from my grandfather on his deathbed). Vayechi also contains the phrase "chesed v'emet" as Jacob beseeches Joseph not to bury him in Egypt. And yet, the Torah says (50:2) Then Joseph ordered the physicians in his service to embalm his father, and the physicians embalmed Israel. As if this isn't puzzling enough, the very last verse of the parasha (50:26) reads: Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years; and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.
My children have taught me that I have a reaction that expresses remorse upon hearing of the death of an individual. They will hear my pensive sigh and ask who died. They have grown up with many individuals who have touched our lives-- some in a fleeting moment and others through deep relationship, before passing from this world. My girls certainly hear about death and my expectations more than they wish-- that it is an organic process in Judaism, part of a natural cycle of life. We love and we lose and yet we need not really lose-- we continue to share in the blessings of the lives of those we loved and those memories and values, those feelings of love, will always be a part of us.
Hopefully without causing trauma, I might make egg rolls or Moroccan cigars-- something wrapped to spark such a conversation and particularly to express my bewilderment about these verses as they read.
Comments