The Power of Responsibility
"I will lie with my forefathers, and you shall carry me out of
Egypt, and you shall bury me in their grave." And he (Joseph)
said, "I will do as you say." And he (Jacob) said , "Swear to
me." So he swore to him, and Israel prostrated himself on the
head of the bed. (Bereishit - Chapter 47: 30,31)
The Ramban states: Jacob did not suspect that his righteous and
beloved son would disobey his father's command and renege on the
matter, which he had promised him. Rather Jacob spoke in order
to strengthen the matter in the eyes of Pharaoh, as perhaps he
might not give Joseph permission to leave him... It may be, that
Pharaoh would want the prophet (Jacob) to be buried in his
country as an honor and privilege to them. It was for this
reason that he made him swear, for then it would not be proper
for him to force Joseph to violate his oath. Joseph too would
feel more obligated to fulfill his father's wish on account of
the oath.' Such indeed was the case, as Pharaoh said, Go up, and
bury thy father, as he made you swear.
The question on the Ramban is: Why did Joseph need an oath to
feel "more obligated"? Joseph already stated, "I will do as you
say". Yet we can infer from the end of the Ramban that if Joseph
did not swear he may not have had the fortitude to defy Pharaoh.
Let's not forget that this was Jacob's final wish on his
deathbed. Is there any doubt that Joseph would not do everything
in is power to succeed at his father's final command?
Rav Henach Leibowitz explains that the oath served to give
Joseph the extra energy and push he needed to fulfill the wish
of his father. It is the quality of responsibility which opens
up new and inconceivable possibilities to succeed. Jacob wanted
to make sure that Joseph would have the special abilities of
someone who "must succeed."
The amazing thing about this is that it is the responsibility
itself which releases the potential to get the job done. This
also means that many failures may have nothing to do with waning
abilities but are simply caused by a lack of care and
responsibly.
Application:
Make of list of two areas of your life where you feel you are
failing. Write down some notes on how you can take more
responsibility in these areas. Complete these sentence stems:
To really succeed in this area I must ...
If I believed, I could succeed I would ...
The people who succeed in this area ...