It seems funny ending Genesis ( as we do this week) so close to a time when so many people on this planet celebrating a New Year. We just got started and we are ending. Or is it just starting the next chapter? It seems that for many 2011 was less than a stellar year. So I am sure many of us are looking forward to a brand new start. As we will read next week, that is the subject of the portion of Shmot.
In parshat VaYechi, this week’s Torah portion, we see Yaakov giving blessings to his children. It is hard to see this outside of the context of the other blessings in the Bible. Most notably the blessing Yaakov himself got (stole) from his father Yitzhak. But this is different. In most of the cases it is the charge of parent to a child in their youth as to their destiny and life path. As compared to a blessing to someone in their adolescence who is looking for guidance and direction in this week’s portion we see grown men getting blessings. It seems to be an eternal truth, we all yearn and seek parental affirmation regardless of our age, station, or accomplishment.
Just as Genesis comes to a close and we see the family come together for their blessings, I had the pleasure of spending the New Year together with my family. It is an amazing time to see the cousins play. It seems timeless to share the pleasures of good food and fun activities with family. It is also a time to reflect on how we have progressed as parents, partners, and also children. I have been so concerned with how am becoming a better parent ( as evident by this blog itself) that I am rarely consciously reflecting on how I am as a child. I spend so much energy thinking about the blessings I want to give my children, I do not spend enough time reflecting on the blessings I have already been given by my parents, let alone the ones I still hope to get.
As I am now hyper-conscious of being a parent it has become apparent that the gift of a blessing is not in the receiving, but in the giving. It is a great gift to see the hidden potential in someone else and label it. That is what it means to bless something. Blessing is a mini- revelation. Giving a blessing in many ways is the prize of ascending to Sinai. We are all Israel in that we are struggling with who we are becoming, what a blessing to have it revealed, let alone to reveal it?
Said to Myself 
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