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 ...