You're telling me that this is a blessing?

This week’s Torah reading, parashat Vayechi, is one of the most difficult to comprehend. Much of it is taken up by Yaakov’s last words to his twelve sons. These words are traditionally described as blessings, though on a literal interpretation several of them read more like rebukes or even curses. Some are couched in terms that are shrouded in metaphor that cries out for explanation. Our commentators have risen to the occasion, offering many cogent and powerful insights into what Yaakov meant.

The problems posed by this sequence of mysterious messages trouble not only Torah commentators but some readers of Pirkei Avot. Recalling that an important part of man’s mission on Earth is imitatio dei—the close study of God’s qualities and characteristics so that we may emulate His behaviour in our own imperfect mortal manner—we might regard it as quite acceptable to express ourselves in terms that are obscure, ambiguous or apparently unintelligible. Yet Hillel teaches in the second perek of Avot (at 2:5) that one should not say anything that cannot initially be understood if one’s intention is that it should ultimately be understood [nb there are other explanations of this Mishnah which are not discussed here]. So is there any inherent contradiction between what God does and what His oral law directs us to do?

Arguably there is no contradiction. In the first place, the words of parashat Vayechi are not so much God’s words to us as Yaakov’s words to his sons. However perplexing it may be to us that Yaakov tells Yehudah that he will wash his garments in wine and his robes in the blood of grapes, or that Issachar is a strong-boned donkey, it has never been suggested that his twelve sons did not understand his allusions—and it is they, not us, who are their immediate addressees. Secondly, we are in no position to judge God’s wisdom in including Yaakov’s blessings in His holy Torah. While we strive to understand them, we are bound to concede that our failure to extract the fullest meaning from them may lie with our own lack of insight or be a consequence of the loss of learning that occurred through the passage of time and the disruptions resulting from two millennia of exile.

More importantly, we must appreciate that the main thrust of Pirkei Avot is that we as human beings should deal with our fellow humans in the best possible manner. If God in His wisdom chooses to be allusive or oracular in His communications with His people, that is His privilege. But Avot speaks of how we should best communicate with one another, and this is an entirely different matter. We should not just mean what we say but should say what we mean. If we do not, when we are misunderstood the fault lies with us alone.