חזק חזק ונתחזק…

“And Yaakov lived in the land of Mitzrayim…”

Rashi asks why is this a parsha s’tumah, a closed parsha? That is, the parsha does not begin as other parshios do, following a space in the text.    Parshas Vayechi begins with no space preceding it. The question is, what is Chazal trying to teach us by starting the parsha this way?

Rashi answers that since in this parsha    Yaakov passes on, the eyes and the hearts of the Jews became closed with the pain of the subjugation imposed upon them by the Mitzriim.

However, Rabbi Uziel Milevsky points out that Chazal tell us the slavery did not begin until after all the sons of Yaakov passed away. If so, no subjugation began immediately following Yaakov’s death.

When Sefer Shemos begins we are told that the Jews were spreading out. Chazal tell us they  began to frequent the establishments of the Mitzriim which were not of the moral standing of the children of Yaakov.

With the death of the patriarch, that spiritual bond which kept the Jews attached to the ways of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov began to weaken. Without the strong figure of Yaakov inspiring the family they slowly , unperceptively began to look to their host nation for a path in life.

This is what it means that their hearts and eyes were closed because of the subjugation. The influence of exile began to creep in, its own way of subjugating Klal Yisrael. They did not even sense it or see it. The parsha is closed as it reflects the spiritual sensitivity of the Jews when Yaakov died.