Vayechi: Openings and Closings
Open closed open. Before we are born, everything is open in the universe without us. For as long as we live, everything is closed within us. And when we die, everything is open again.
Open closed open. That’s all we are.
– Yehuda Amichai
I. The Beginning of the Closing
When we started Genesis, we started with ein sof (without end), the everything-ness, the “birth” of life from the soup of all that is and ever was.
Now, as we move from Genesis to Exodus, we move from that birth (the epitome of openness) into exile, slavery and closed-ness
The text is very clear about this ominous direction, beginning with the graphic layout of the words in this section of Torah. As Vayechi begins, absolutely no lines separate it from the parsha before it – not even a minimum of nine spaces. Rashi therefore calls it “the most closed of all parshiot in the Torah.” (cited in Avivah Zornberg, The Beginning of Desire, 355). We are headed for a very narrow, blocked place.
II. The Un-dissolved Bones
Jacob himself has a very striking moment around being “closed” in the parsha. With all his dying energy, he makes Joseph dramatically swear not to bury Jacob in Egypt – the land of exile. He wants to be buried with his father and grandfather in the land of Israel/Canaan.
The text reads:
29. When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, "If I have now found favor in your eyes, now place your hand beneath my thigh, and you shall deal with me with lovingkindness and truth; do not bury me now in Egypt.
30. I will lie with my forefathers, and you shall carry me out of Egypt, and you shall bury me in their grave." And he says, "I will do as you say. "
.אל וּחתּשׁיּווֹלעבשּׁיּוילהעבשּׁהרמאיּו לארשׂי - Bereshit 47:29-31 Joseph complies with his father’s wishes, and when it comes time for Joseph himself to die at the end of the parsha, Joseph has a remarkably similar request: 24. Joseph said to his brothers, "I am going to die; God will surely remember you and take you up out of this land to the land that He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." ץראָהןמםכתאהלעהוםכתאדקפידקפּ קחצילםהרבאַלעבּשׁנרשׁאץראָהלאתאזּה :בקעילוּ
25 And Joseph had made the Children of Israel swear, saying: God will take account, yes, account of you – so bring my bones up from here with you.
.דכ םיה אותמיכנאָויחאלאףסוֹירמאיּו
הכ רמאללארשׂיינבּתאףסוֹיעבּשׁיּודקפּ :הזּמיתמצעתאםתלעהוםכתאםיה אדקפי
.
Joseph’s request is also fulfilled, although at a much more delayed timeline. We are told in Exodus that Moses and the Israelites carry Joseph’s bones with them on their journey out of Egypt, hundreds of years later.
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about the earth in Mitzrayim - the land that was overall very good to him - still didn’t feel safe enough to dissolve in. He begged to have his bones taken back “home.”
Both of their bodies were wrapped up, closed down, and embalmed – to be opened and dissolved under better circumstances.
III. Open to being closed
In mindfulness practice, we often put a high premium on being open. We try and practice meditation and mindfulness practices in order to open our hearts, open to the wide range of our emotions, and open to the world as it is. We know that being closed is painful and life-dulling, and so we keep trying to open up.
But if we believe the famous line in Kohelet (Ecclesiastes), “everything has an appointed season, and there is a time for every matter under the heaven,” is there also a time and a place to be closed off?
One of my friends went to her meditation teacher after a particularly disconnected week of meditating on retreat. In frustration, she said to him, “I just can’t seem to open up and connect!”
Her teacher thought for a moment and responded, “well, are you open to being closed?”
I think this parsha teaches that there are sometimes very good reasons we remain closed. Perhaps the space or the company doesn’t feel safe. Perhaps we need additional tools to manage and work with what will come forth if we open up. Perhaps sometimes we are just too tired. Can we bring compassion to ourselves at these moments, when we feel disconnected, closed off, and unable – in the momentto really let go? Can we be open to being closed at these times?
IV. The Blessing for Openings and Closings
My favorite instruction and insight around this idea is the blessing we say after using the bathroom:
“Blessed are you, the architect, who shaped the human being with wisdom, making for us all the openings and vessels of the body. It is revealed and known before your glory that if one of these passageways be open when it should be closed, or blocked up when it should be free, one could not stay alive or stand before you. Blessed are you, Miraculous One, the wondrous healer of all flesh.”
- Translation, Kol Haneshama Siddur
It is such an evocative prayer, and so very true. Each element of our bodies, from our veins to our bladders to our sweat glands, depends on some passageways being open when they should be open and closed when they should be closed. The ways they interact and work together are miraculous. Perhaps we can also allow our emotional world the same degree of deference and blessing for all the open and closed places.
The Institute for Jewish Spirituality’s mission is to develop and teach Jewish spiritual practices so that individuals and communities may experience greater awareness, purpose, and interconnection.
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