Parasha Thoughts
By Rabbi Yitzchak Ariel
Parshat Vayechi marks the end of Sefer Bereshit and the end of the life of Yaakov Avinu. The Gemara (Sotah 13a) explains that as the brothers were trying to bury their father Yaakov in Mearat Hamachpela, Esav was attempting to stop them. The brothers then engaged in a heated back and forth exchange with Esav regarding their legal claim to this burial plot. The decision was made to send Naftali to Egypt to bring the contract verifying that Yaakov had acquired the rights to be buried in this area. At that point, one of Yaakov’s grandchildren, Chushim the son of Dan, could not bear the disgrace of his grandfather’s corpse remaining unburied for such a long duration of time so he took a weapon and slew Esav.
The great mashgiach Rabbi Chaim Shmulevitz asks a very interesting question. Why is it that only Chushim felt for the degradation of Yaakov? How come none of Yaakov’s children or grandchildren took action to honor their father? Rav Shmulevtiz answers with a very fascinating idea that we must all keep in mind throughout our daily lives. The brothers were so caught up in arguing with Esav that they were not paying attention to the disgrace of their father. Chushim on the other hand was hard of hearing and therefore was not able to partake in the dispute with Esav. As a result, he was not distracted and he was able to remain focused on the dishonor of Yaakov.
Many times throughout our lives, we get caught up in things which may at their essence be contrary to our main direction and goal and we may not notice. Chushim had the luxury of not being able to get caught up in something that would deviate him from his objective, but that may not always be the case for us. We must bear in mind that there are many distractions that sidetrack us on a daily basis and we have to try our best to detect them and bypass them in order to stay focused on our main purpose in this world.