Drash Cards for VaYechi (5763)

by Marc Mangel

• Today, I want to talk about when Jacob blesses his grandsons and then his sons, particularly the ‘blessing’ of Simeon and Levi (Ch 49, v 5-7).

• There is a a curse in v 7. What do we learn from this?

• First,  that there are some actions that can never be forgiven or forgotten.

• Second, Rashi notes that Jacob curses not them, but their rage.

• Akedat Yitzchak notes that angers may sometimes be useful (as in a soldier preparing for battle) but concentrated anger or anger in extremes is detrimental.

• Third, Hirsch, commenting on the dispersion, notes the dangers of extremism and that it is particularly dangerous when one is at the height of power

• Sforno notes in Proverbs 29:4 that ‘a king established a land through justice, not by the sword’