From Parasha: Vayechi

 

Waiting for Salvation

Tags:  salvation

"Our father Jacob foresaw Samson and thought that he was the Messiah. But when he saw him dead he exclaimed, 'He too is dead! Then for your salvation I wait [hope], O LORD.' " Rabbi Yitzchak said, "Everything is bound up with waiting. Suffering is bound up with waiting, [martyrdom] with waiting, the merit of the Fathers with waiting, and the desire of the World to Come with waiting. Thus it is written [in Isaiah 26:8], "Indeed, while following the way of Your judgments, O LORD, we have waited for You eagerly; Your name, even Your memory, is the desire of our souls." (Genesis Rabbah 98:14 on Genesis 49:18)...
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The Lion

Tags:  Jewish Messiah, Judah, Judah's staff, King Messiah, ruler, scepter, Shiloh, staff

What does it mean when it says, "Judah, your brothers shall praise you..."? (Genesis 49:8) Shimon bar Yochai said, "It means that all your brethren will be called by your name. A man does not say, 'I am a Reubenite' or 'I am a Simeonite', but he says, 'I am a Yehudi [Judahite; Jew].'" (Genesis Rabbah 98:6)...
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Like Ephraim and Manasseh

Tags:  Abrahamic promises, blessing, children, covenant, sabbath table

"By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph." (Hebrews 11:21)...
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Preparing for Life After Death

Tags:  Abrahamic promises, afterlife, death, eternal life, Land of Israel, life, life after death, Pharisees, resurrection, Sadducees

"But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living." (Mark 12:26-27, quoting Exodus 3:6)...
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Resurrection in the Torah

Part of life is preparing for death, and part of preparing for death is preparing for life after death. Jacob prepared for death in full confidence because he had a relationship with the living God. ...
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Messiah's Donkey

Tags:  salvation

If one dreams of a mountain, he should rise early and say [Isaiah 52:7], “How lovely on the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news …” If one dreams of a horn he should rise early and say [Isaiah 27:13], “It will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown …” If one dreams of a donkey in a dream, he may hope for salvation, as it says [in Zechariah 9:9], “Behold, your king is coming to you; he is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey …” (Talmud, b.Berachot 56b)...
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