Parshas Vayechi: The Magic of the Mundane

“And Yosef said to his father, ‘These are my sons that Hashem gave me with this,’ and Yaakov said, ‘Bring them to me and I will bless them.’ ” (Bereishis 48:9)

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hat did Yosef mean when he said Hashem gave me these children, “bazeh, with this”?

The commentaries explain that Yosef showed his father his kesubah. Although Mitzrayim was known for immoral behavior, Yosef was affirming that his children were born of a holy union and were worthy of Yaakov’s blessing. (Rabbi Mordechai Rhine, Rabbi’s Message)

This past Rosh Chodesh, I decided to be World’s Best Mommy. My boys only have a half-day of school every Rosh Chodesh. (I know, it’s a woman’s Yom Tov, so they give the rebbeim off… it’s something I plan to speak to Mashiach about.) I usually just aim to get through these mini-vacation days as sanely as possible, but this time, I decided I wanted them to have a really special, just-because day.

So off we went to the aquarium. The Jerusalem aquarium is only about seven years old, and we’ve only been there once. Tickets are relatively pricey and unless you have recessive fisherman genes in your family, your kids probably won’t appreciate a year’s membership. But it seemed like a great idea for a vacation afternoon, and I was pumped, mentally patting myself on the back for my spontaneity, generosity, and devotion. (It wasn’t like I was bored with nothing to do that day….)

The word “bazeh, with this” is used elsewhere, in Shmuel I (14:34), referring to the knife used for shechitah.

There’s a connection between these two cases. Both pertain to something that’s mundane, perhaps even forbidden. But with this one little “bazeh” item, the situation is transformed to become permitted, or even holy. Yosef’s kesubah made his children holy, and the shechitah knife made the animals kosher.

The kids loved the sharks, the sea horses, and the full-sized skeleton of a whale hanging from the ceiling. But then came the drive home with a car full of kids hungry for supper and tired of their traveling companions. The car rocked with their comments. “Move over! You think you’re a whale? Why do you have the window seat again? I should’ve dropped you into the sharks’ tank.”

I ignored the banter, knowing it was par for the course. But another part of me was insulted. Hello? I just took you on an unexpected, no-occasion-necessary outing for no good reason other than to make you happy, and you’re still fighting?