Weekly D'var

PARASHAT VAYECHI
Peter Malnekoff

Good Shabbes. Today we will explore Torah Secrets that are hidden in plain sight in this week’s Torah Portion, Vayechi. The following questions should be asked about this week’s Parsha using critical thinking to understand what we just read in the Torah.

Why did Jacob and Joseph both allow their bodies to be mummified in the pagan religious customs of Egypt?

What was the religion of Egypt at the Time of Joseph through Moses?

Why did Joseph impose an oath upon the Children of Israel to bring his mummy out of Egypt at some future time Genesis 50:25-26?

Why was the coffin of Joseph carried next to the ark of the covenant as discussed in Talmud tractate 13a?

Why was Joseph’s coffin containing his mummy allowed to remain unburied for another 14 years after the Israelites entered the promised land, before being buried at Shechem? 

The answers to these questions will challenge our regular beliefs about Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Joshua using Talmudic and Rabbinic references. What was the religion of Egypt at the Time of Joseph through Moses? The Egyptian Book of the Dead and the Pyramid Texts were written as far back as 2400 BC as Egyptian theology books. These books documented the theology of Egypt with detailed instructions on the techniques of magical spells, incantations, and spiritual rituals used by the Egyptian priesthood.

These books formed the basis of an Official State Religion of Egypt deeply entrenched in sorcery, idolatry and black magic for which the Pharaoh was the high priest.

As documented in the Talmud Kiddushin 49b, “Ten measures of witchcraft came down to the world. The Egyptians took nine, and the rest of the world took one.” It is written in Exodus 8:18-19, And referenced in The Zohar Bo 35b, that the evils of Egypt were so great that the angels were afraid to enter it. This may be the explanation of why G-d intervened directly in the death of the firstborn of Egypt, as it is written Exodus 12:12, “I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and I will smite all the first born in the land of Egypt… I and not an angel.”

Included in the Pyramid Texts and The Egyptian Book of the Dead were the Egyptian funeral rites of mummification which were intended to allow the sorcerer magician priests of Egypt to enter the extensive burial tombs where the mummy of the deceased was kept. The Egyptian priests used ritual spells and incantations; to command the souls of the mummified bodies to return to the mummified body and through this process the Egyptian priests were able to control the spiritual worlds using the souls of the discarnate dead people connected to the mummies.

Is it any coincidence that halachic Jewish orthodox burial practices forbid mummification and embalming, the body has to be protected and guarded by the Chevre Kadisha, with purification washing rituals and constant prayers prayed over the body until the body is buried within 24 hours of death?

Jewish orthodox burial customs do not use a casket, and in some Jewish orthodox cemeteries around the world, the body is only buried in a tallit linen shroud directly into the ground. The objective of Jewish burial customs is to allow for fastest maximum decay of the body as soon as possible after death. Why? To free the soul from the confines of the dead body and prevent any use of the body by current day Egyptian priesthood wannabees and church of devil worshippers.

We find references to Jewish aversion to the use of black magic and sorcery directly in the Torah as written in Deuteronomy 18-11, listing the ten types of sorcery and divination which is forbidden for Jews to participate in. Rambam wrote in the Mishneh Torah, chapter 8:1, “The Jews did not believe in Moses, our teacher, because of the wonders he performed. Whenever anyone’s belief is based on wonders, he has misgivings, because it is possible to perform a wonder through magic or sorcery.” It is written in Sanhedrin 17A, R. Johanan said, “None are to be approved members of the Sanhedrin, but men of stature, wisdom, good appearance, mature age, who are conversant with all 70 languages of mankind and with a knowledge of sorcery.”  Keep this in mind: Why were all 70 members of the Sanhedrin Required to know about sorcery and black magic?

In Today’s modern world, how do we protect ourselves against Egyptian priesthood wannabees, the evil eye, satanic worshippers, demons and negative influences? The Jewish religious spiritual customs were created as a spiritual technology to protect us, acting like a spiritual Teflon to make sure the spiritual negativity of evil does not attach to us. Jewish spiritual technology includes the three daily prayers, Tefillin, mezuzahs on our doorposts, tzitzit, kosher food, Shabbat, doing daily mitzvahs and the belief in the oneness of Hashem.

Now that we learned about spiritual negativity, we now come back to the original questions at the beginning of this parsha…  Why did Jacob and Joseph allow themselves to be mummified in the pagan customs of Egypt?

Joseph received messages from Hashem through dream interpretations which Pharaoh and the Egyptian magicians thought was through His use of magic and sorcery. Did Joseph engage in the sorcery and the black magic of Egypt as the Grand Vizier second only to Pharaoh? Did Joseph learn sorcery and black magic while living in Egypt? Let’s analyze the actions of Joseph in his position as the #2 ruler of Egypt.

Joseph gave up his Hebrew name Yosef ben Yacov and he adopted the Egyptian name given to him by Pharaoh: Zaphenath-paneah as recorded in Genesis 41:45.

Pharaoh gave Joseph his ring to wear as a symbol of his new office which most likely had pagan symbols engraved onto the ring.

Pharaoh gave Joseph golden chains to wear possibly with idols to wear in public.

Joseph married the daughter of a pagan high priest when Pharaoh gave him Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. Yes, there are midrashim saying that Asenath was the daughter of Dinah but still the Torah clearly states he married the daughter of a Priest of Egypt.

Why didn’t Joseph contact his father Jacob or family for the 9 years while he was the viceroy of Egypt, counting the 7 years of plenty and 2 years into the famine to the time Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to purchase food. At any time during those 9 years Joseph could have sent word to his father Jacob in Canaan that he was alive, but he did not. Why?

In Genesis 44:15 Joseph admitted to his brothers that he was a master of sorcery “What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that such a man as I can indeed divine?” Chazal, Rashi, Ramban, and other classical commentators stress that Joseph did not actually practice magic or forbidden divination. Rather He spoke according to Egyptian expectations to preserve his disguise, and He already knew the truth through prophecy and Torah wisdom and not occult practices.

Were his actions truly halachic in the ways of the Sons of Israel or were Joseph’s actions more like the pagan Egyptian practices?

We return now the question as to why Joseph allowed himself to be mummified in the pagan customs of Egypt. It is written in Kohelet 12:7, “And the dust returns to the earth as it was; and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, also known as The Ramchal wrote in his book, Derech Hashem, chapter 3:11, “The body must undergo decay and decomposition, remain in the earth for an appropriate time, and finally be reconstructed anew so that the soul can re-enter it. During this intermediate time, however, the soul also needs a place to reside. It is for this reason that G-d prepared a SOUL WORLD. When a soul leaves its body, it enters this Soul World, and remains there in a state of rest while the body undergoes what it must. During this period, the soul experiences sublime delight, very much like that which will be bestowed on the individual later in the period of genuine reward.” Documented here from true Rabbinic sources that Hashem created a soul world to which our souls go to after leaving the physical body.

It is written in Talmud Gitten 56b-57a, “Onkelos son of Kolonikos was the son of Titus's sister. He had a mind to convert himself to Judaism. He went and raised Titus from the dead by magical arts.” Did Joseph learn the magical arts of contacting the souls of dead people, for which there is a halachic prohibition? The previous Rabbinic, Talmudic and scriptural passages imply that there is a soul world beyond the physical world. Both the Egyptian magician priesthood knew the secrets of the Soul World and so did the Cohane priests, Joseph, Moses and Joshua.

The Torah implies that the methods of mediums and diviners do indeed work, but we are forbidden to interact with the soul world using the techniques of sorcerers, mediums, diviners to access that world. Yet the soul world exists and is controlled by Hashem and the spiritual forces directed by Hashem.

In the Shacharit prayers, in the Shimoneh Esrei that we read every day…
“Who sustains the living with kindness, resuscitates the dead with abundant mercy, who causes death and restores life and makes salvation sprout? And you are faithful to resuscitate the dead. Blessed are You, Hashem, Who resuscitates the dead.”

It is official Jewish law to believe that the soul of the deceased absolutely lives on after the death of the body. In Jewish Halacha this is called Techiyat Hamesim - resurrection of the dead.

The Jewish priesthood knew this fact, and so did the sorcerer magicians of Egypt. Joseph knew these secrets as the Grand Vizier #2 leader of Egypt and 400 years later Moses also learned the secrets of the Soul World, as the Grandson of Pharaoh growing up in Pharaoh’s palace and being groomed as the next Pharaoh. Moses returned to Egypt after his forty years of being a sheepherder as the son in law of Jethro, the High Priest of Midian. Moses was commanded by an oath taken by the previous generations of Israelites to take “The Bones” of Joseph to the land of Israel.

It is written in Shemot Rabbah 20:19, “With sorcery, the Egyptians made gold dogs that barked so loudly if anyone approached Joseph’s burial site that their voices could be heard throughout Egypt. Moses silenced them.” The midrash implies that Moses, the greatest prophet ever, used sorcery or even higher powers when he located Joseph’s tomb. 40 years later on the day of his death, Moses appointed Joshua as his direct successor, giving smeekhah (spiritual knowledge) to Joshua. Can you imagine the amazing spiritual knowledge that Joshua received directly from Moses, the greatest prophet ever who spoke with G-d directly?

Remember that each of the 70 members of the Sanhedrin were ordained to understand sorcery and black magic Spiritual knowledge. Mummification? Sorcery? Black Magic? The immortality of the soul? Its all there in the Torah and the Talmud and in this week’s parsha.

I will end this amazing journey through Torah and Biblical history with some of my favorite spiritual quotes. Rabbi Moshe Cordevero, wrote in Shiyur Komah, Chapter 41, “Every mitzvah and every word of Torah has its age in which it can and ought to be revealed and manifested.”
Proverbs 2:4: “If you seek it as silver, and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you shall understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of G-d.”

Rambam wrote in his introduction to Tractate Avot, in reference to the study of mathematics and science, “The student’s goal in studying them should be to gain the ability to give logical proofs by means of which he can attain the knowledge of the existence of G-d.”

Albert Einstein wrote in his essay, The World as I See It, “The most beautiful and most profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. Know that what is impenetrable to us really exists.”

And the proof my friends is right before our eyes when we study Torah.

Learn Torah, Live Torah, and Live Life. Shabbat Shalom.