Parshah Musings
Home to Our Fathers

Q: Who was the straightest man in the Bible?
A: Joseph, he was a ruler in Pharaoh's court.

Corny joke, but the question it leads to is valid though.

Joseph was a high achiever if there ever was one. By dint of hard work, intelligence, good judgment and a liberal dose of Divine assistance, he had scaled the heights of human ambition. Master of all he surveyed, personally responsible for the lives and sustenance of all his subjects, and one of the three richest men in recorded history.

And he achieved this despite maintaining his life-long straightness, honesty and trustworthiness.

So tell me something: why, in their deathbed conversation, was Joseph's word alone not good enough for his dying father Jacob?

"And let me lie with my fathers, and carry me away from Egypt and bury me in their burying-place."

And [Joseph] said, " I will do as you say"

And [Jacob] said, "Swear it to me"1

An oath is the highest degree of commitment known to man. The act of swearing in G-d's name; attesting something to be true with your immortal soul at stake if you are lying, is as perilous an endeavour as any demanded. There are many stories of innocent people preferring to pay huge sums rather than take an oath to clear their name. In traditional Jewish courts, cases were decided by requiring the accused or litigants to take a vow. It was assumed that no one, no matter how dubious a character, would debase G-d's name by lying under oath.

And when one swears to carry out a task, one isn’t just committing to a "Rabbi, I'll try" sort of thing. Rather, this is a self-binding pledge to achieve the promised outcome and never deviate till done.

Jacob's remains could not stay in Egypt. His soul-root was so much higher than the filth and immorality that Egypt represents that, before dying, he felt the need to guarantee his immediate ascent to Israel, even to the point of requiring an oath of fidelity from Joseph to fulfil this last will and testament.

In life, we must always remember that "this ain’t the goal," no matter how comfortable an existence we may find ourselves living. Creature comforts, spiritual delights, nothing we have on this world compares to the bliss awaiting us in the Messianic era. Never be satisfied; never settle for "remaining in Egypt."

For two thousand years, through good times and bad, we held firm to the belief in the "speedy arrival of Moshiach, and even though he may tarry, I await his coming". Swear to yourself, with an unbreakable oath, "I will not relax until we achieve the true purpose of creation, until we get to 'go home to our fathers.'"