Vayechi  - What It Takes

Yaakov, in preparing to bless his children, informs Yosef that he has given him "Sh'chem echad" more than his brothers. There are two translations fro this word, Sh'chem, and each one requires a bit of explanation. The first translation interprets Sh'chem to be referring to the city of that name. Thus, when Yaakov explains that he took it from the Emori with his sword and his bow, he is being quite literal. The only problem with this is, that the city, if you will remember, was actually conquered by his sons Shimon and Levi. And they did this at Yaakov's extreme displeasure!

For this there are two approaches. One, that of Rashi and the Targum Yonatan, is that after the brothers decimated the city, the Emorites came to attack Yaakov, but he stood his ground with sword and bow in hand and they withdrew. The other, mentioned by the Rashbam, is that this episode is in the future, when Joseph's descendent, Yehoshua, will conquer the city from the Emorite kings. In both cases, there certainly was an actual sword and bow involved in the acquisition of Sh'chem.

The second translation of sh'chem is portion. Simply put, Yaakov is now transferring the additional portion of inheritance reserved for the b'chor - first born - to Yosef. Yaakov acquired this birthright from his brother Esav. This, however, again runs into difficulty with the balance of the verse where Yaakov states that he acquired it with sword and bow. He didn't! He bought it!

So here too, there are two interpretations. Seforno says that sword and bow actually refer to wisdom and understanding. Wisdom is a clear knowledge of the facts, as a sword is a clear and immediately effective weapon. Understanding is the faculty whereby one extends the facts to encompass more knowledge, much as the archer sends his arrows off into the distance. Targum Onkelos, however, translates sword and bow as meaning "tzlota uva'uta", prayer and request. What does this mean?

The Meshech Chochmah says that prayer refers to the set prayers and formulas. These are most effective even if not so precise. The mere recitation of the words ordained by the sages has tremendous effect, just as a sword doesn't require great precision in aiming to do the job. But requests are the individual pleas that we put into our prayers. The power of these requests depends upon the sincerity with which we utter them. This is like an archer, who will come closer to the target with more concentration and effort.

I would like to add that to me, these also refer to the nature of things being requested. The immediate needs are implied in the word sword, where the dreams for the future that we aspire to are similar to the arrow, being sent off into an unknown distance.

At any rate, I believe that all three interpretations, the literal one, wisdom and understanding, and prayers, are valid, and that Yaakov probably used all three. This is consistent with the way he prepared to greet his brother Esav as he returned from Laban. As Rashi points out, he prepared himself for war (literal), a lavish gift and diplomacy (wisdom), and prayer. That is the way of a Jew, to be prepared to utilize all three in order to meet any and all challenges. Each one on its own is not sufficient.