Vayigash

Vayigash 5757

The dramatic events in the life of the sons of Yisrael continue in this week’s portion. Last week’s reading left us in suspense: Yosef framed his brother Binyamin for the theft of his ‘divining cup,’ and now has condemned him to slavery. What will the other brothers do? Will they let him rot in Egypt while they return to their father with bad news, again? And the text recounts, " Then Yehuda came near to him, and said, ‘Oh my lord, let your servant, I beg you, speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant; for you are as Pharaoh.’"

Yehuda, the brother who advised against killing Yosef, who came up with the idea of selling him rather then allowing him to die in the pit, wishes to impress this Egyptian who is ‘as Pharaoh’ with the sincerity of his plea. He does not speak Egyptian, and must have an interpreter -- yet he wishes to speak directly to the man, so that the man will hear the current in his voice. Yehuda proceeds to retell the events that led to Binyamin coming to Egypt. Ignoring totally the issue of the theft of the cup, he pleads for the sake of his father, concluding with the words, "It shall come to pass, when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die; and your servants shall bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, If I bring him not to you, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever. Now therefore, I beg you, let your servant remain instead of the lad a slave to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brothers. For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? Lest perhaps I see the evil that shall come on my father..." Yehuda falls silent.

The text continues, "Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all those who stood by him." Everything that had occurred in the life of Yosef to this point had been a part of God’s plan to bring him to this poignant moment in his life and in the history of the family of Israel. His birth to Rakhel after years of childlessness; his favored status with his father; his dreams; his brothers’ jealousy; his sale into slavery; his service at the household of Potiphar, his confrontation with Potiphar’s wife and the imprisonment that followed; his favor with the chief jailer; his interpretation of the two prisoners’ dreams; and especially his big chance, when he heard and understood Pharaoh’s dreams; finally, his promotion to second in command over all of Egypt, all worked together to put Yosef in exactly the right place at the right time. His ear, as it were, was readied to hear the sound of Yehuda’s outpouring.

Through a series of dramatic and often painful experiences, Yosef became a man of discernment, understanding and compassion -- as well as wisdom and tact. Remarkably, he did not become angry, vengeful or vindictive, despite great provocation from every direction. His high rank of authority did not go to his head. On the contrary, the Torah shows us a man prepared in position and personality for his specific calling. Every event in his life—the good and the bad, the suffering and the abounding, the sad and the happy—have now brought him to say to his brethren: " I am Yosef your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here; for God did send me before you to preserve life." [Gen. 45: 5–8]

Let us not assume for even one moment that it was easy for Yosef to arrive at this time and status in life. He had suffered pain and privation, he had been brought low time and again. Would such an experience not make you be angry? Bitter? Seeking revenge and redress? At the very least, you would certainly wonder why you’d been singled out for such grief and suffering. Is God pulling the strings and running us through the hoops as a puppeteer? Where is free will? Ah, and don’t forget the classic question of those who suffer, why me?

Consider some others in our history who were there to help redeem our people in our moment of need. Moshe Rabenu was also in the right place at the right time, but at what cost to himself and his family? As a baby, he was placed in a basket in the bulrushes by the bank of the Nile; Pharaoh’s daughter found him and took him for a son. Although he was raised and educated in Pharaoh’s palace, as a prince of Egypt, he was quite aware of his Jewish identity. One day, while watching the hard labors of his people, he killed an Egyptian who was beating an Israelite. Pharaoh, hearing of the matter, sought to bring Moshe to ‘justice,’ and Moshe fled to Midian. He married Tziporah and tended the flocks of his father in law, Jethero, and this placed him in the right place to meet the Almighty in the burning bush, to be sent back to Egypt to lead his people out of bondage. Moshe was a man of destiny, and he could not avoid it nor escape from it. The mantle of leadership was thrust upon him, and he fulfilled God’s plan.

Esther was a refugee from Jerusalem, carried off to Shushan in Persia. An orphan, she had been raised by her uncle Mordekhai. Because of a royal decree, this "nice Jewish girl" was gathered up with other young women and given a place in the King’s harem—and subsequently crowned queen. Now she would risk her life by daring to intercede for her people—who had been marked for death—before King Ahashverosh. Just before she went to see him, her cousin sent her a message: "And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?" [Esther 4:14] Her whole life had been a preparation for this single fulfillment of the plan and purpose of God to save His people.

Jeremiah was the son of a priest in a small town called Anatot, when one day God spoke to him and said, "Before I formed you in the belly I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah tried to avoid his destiny, protesting, "Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak; for I am a child." And the text continues and tells us, "But the Lord said to me, Say not, I am a child; for you shall go to all to whom I shall send you, and whatever I command you you shall speak. Be not afraid of their faces; for I am with you to save you, said the Lord." [Jer 1:5-8]

Daniel was carried off to Babylon, and entered the king’s personal service. Like Joseph, he was able to interpret his king’s dream and became ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief of all the wise men of Babylon. He appointed Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah over the administration of the province of Babylon. These men were cast into a fiery furnace because of their faith. The Lord delivered them, and as a result the king acknowledged the God of the Jews. Darius the Mede appointed Daniel one of the three commissioners, and planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom. But because Daniel continued his custom of praying and giving thanks to the God of Israel, he was cast into a lion’s den instead! God preserved Daniel in the lion’s den, and he was returned to the king’s favor, who gave him great power and prestige that lasted during the reign of Darius and Cyrus the Persian. Daniel was in the right place at the right time to help his people.

So Yosef recognized the fact that he had a certain destiny, and recognized God’s sovereignty over his life. He did not ask, is there free will? He realized that his free will was fashioned by his father, Yaakov, who educated him, by Yitzkhak and Abraham who came before his father, and fashioned the kind of man Yaakov was. Yosef had a right to live -- and a choice to fail. He chose to accept God’s challenge, to ride out the bad times, and to fulfill his mission. He understood Mordekai’s message to Esther, " For if you remain silent at this time, then shall relief and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but you and your father’s house shall be destroyed."

The Lord’s plan is made in advance, and we are all part of it. And as we pass from experience to experience in this eternal plan, we can live by faith in His plan which is always for our good. We are the vessel He uses to unfold his plan -- and we know that he loves his vessel even as He does those it serves. And in that we are blessed. Amen.

5758

What is unique and different about our religion, Judaism, is the fact that it is not, strictly speaking, a religion. Maybe what we should say is that it is not what is usually accepted as "religion." It is not merely a faith in God, nor is it a particular set of customs and ceremonies that are practiced in a sanctuary setting. Some of us become painfully aware that Judaism is not a religion because we are not raised with a faith in God, and yet we are reminded time and time again, from within and from without, of the fact that we are Jews. Parents tells their children that they are "Jews by birth," and they don’t follow it up with any instruction on how to be Jewish, or even what it means to be Jewish. School friends invite Jews to discover Jesus, and when they are refused, they deride the Jewish child. Some of us are painfully aware of this fact because they or their family suffered greatly from the effect of "racist" persecution because of their Judaic origin, even while they did not subscribe to any of the beliefs of our faith. Still others wish to extend their ‘Judaism’ beyond the bounds of what is acceptable within the camp of Israel, by insisting that they are "Christian Jews," or "Moslem Jews" or some other kind of hyphenated combination of Jewish blood and heritage – and some other philosophy.

The drama of the sons of Yisrael in their formative years may have something to do with this predicament, and we read about it this week in the Torah as well as in our prayer book, where we added, only last week, the paragraph about the miracles that took place in the days of the Maccabees. In the Torah, in the portion of Vayigash, we read, "Then Yehuda came near to him, and said, ‘Oh my lord, let your servant, I beg you, speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant; for you are as Pharaoh.’" [Gen. 44:18] This approach of the viceroy by the Israelite followed the sell-off and counter set up among fellow Israelites: the brothers sold Yosef into slavery in Egypt — and brought a blood drenched ‘coat of many colors’ back to Jacob to draw his own conclusions concerning what had happened to his favorite, and Yosef, in his own turn, framed his own brother, Binyamin, for the theft of his ‘divining cup,’ and now has condemned him to slavery. What will the other brothers do?

In another age, some two thousand years later, another Yehuda, son of Mattityahu the Hasmonean, steps forward to answer his brothers —accusers, who have caused the cursed Antiochus to outlaw the study of Torah, with words of Torah, "Mi Kamokha Ba’elim Adona’y" — Who among the idols and the fetishes of the nations is like unto the God of the Sons of Israel! For within our family there have been those who wanted to be ‘more’ — more Greek than Antiochus, more ignorant than the heathens, more despoiled that the dead who rot in their graves.

It is not by accident that we are called "Yehudim’ — Jews, seed of Yehuda, Judah, the son of Ya’acov, Yehuda, the Maccabee, and countless other sons of Yehuda who carried the message and the experience of the first Yehuda and all the other Yehudas throughout the generations. In the Torah, Yehuda proceeds to retell the events that led to Binyamin coming to Egypt. Ignoring totally the issue of the theft of the cup, he pleads for the sake of his father, concluding with the words, "It shall come to pass, when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die; and your servants shall bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, If I bring him not to you, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever. Now therefore, I beg you, let your servant remain instead of the lad a slave to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brothers. For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? Lest perhaps I see the evil that shall come on my father..." Yehuda falls silent.

What Yehuda has done is the essence of Judaism. He has invoked the sensibility of the viceroy, making him aware of the history of this family that stands before him, allowing him to realize that what he sees before him is more than just a tribal purchasing delegation — it is a dedicated family that cares for each and every member as much or maybe more than each cares for himself.

Through a series of dramatic and often painful experiences, Yosef became a man of discernment, understanding and compassion — as well as a man of wisdom and tact. Remarkably, he did not become angry, vengeful or vindictive, despite great provocation from every direction. His high rank and great influence on Egypt’s king did not go to his head. On the contrary, the Torah shows us a man prepared in position and personality for his specific calling. Every event in his life—the good and the bad, the suffering and the abounding, the sad and the happy—have now brought him to say to his brethren: " I am Yosef your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here; for God did send me before you to preserve life." [Gen. 45: 5–8]

As we celebrated the Festival of Khanukkah, and we took pride in the victories of the ragtag army of Yehuda the Maccabee, we chose not to remember, not to mention that in his time, too, there had been divergence and acrimony, animosity and rancor among the sons of Yisrael. There had been betrayal, too — in fact, Yehuda himself did not survive to celebrate the full measure of his victory over Antiochus, because he had to pay the terrible price of the scapegoat. In dying he bequeathed life and perpetuity to us.

All this teaches us a lesson that we must relearn in every generation. It is the lesson of the unique nature of the People of Yisrael, the Yehudim, the Jews: We are a multi-faceted people, and we must pay a price for our membership in the family. We pay that price by commitment to the special nature of our very being. We cannot be ‘like everyone else.’ We cannot be secular, we cannot be ignorant, we cannot appeal to heart alone. We must have a total commitment, of intellect as well as emotion. This ‘wholeness’ cannot be achieved except through training and devotion, conviction and fidelity to the cause. There is not one single aspect of Judaism that will suffice in and of itself to keep our heritage alive. It must be all — or it shall be nothing. We are the heirs to Yehuda, both the son of Ya’akov and the offspring of Mattityahu. This was made manifest so very clearly in this year’s events connected to celebrating the Festival of Lights: There were Jewish children at the White House to help light the first candle in a "national" Khanukkya with the President of the United States. In Rome, at the Arch of Triumph of Titus, erected to celebrate the expiration of free Judea, the Premier of Italy, a representative of the Pope, the chief Rabbi of Rome and the Ambassador of Israel lit the first candle of a thirty foot menorah in a special celebration marking the victory of the Maccabees and the fiftieth anniversary of the State of Israel Imagine that sight: an ancient arch, upon which is carved the images of the Exiles of Judea, the spoils of the Temple — including a huge menorah, and the legend, ‘Judea capta’ – and the scions of those captives singing the prayers for lighting the candles in Hebrew, signifying our miraculous survival!

This shabbat is the first for the year 1998, the Jubilee year of the reestablishment of Israel, the centennial year of the Zionist movement, and we, the sons of Light and of Enlightenment celebrate our unique nature. May we never forget the full meaning of our existence — as a People of the Book, a People of the Land, a People of the tongue of the Prophets, and a People of the Covenant of Abraham.

Amen

5759

The reading in the Torah this Shabbat continues recounting the dramatic events in the life of our third patriarch, Yisrael, his sons and their families. Yosef framed his brother Binyamin for the theft of his ‘divining cup,’ and now has condemned him to slavery. What will the other brothers do? Will they let him rot in Egypt while they return to their father with bad news, again? And the text recounts, " Then Yehuda came near to him, and said, ‘Oh my lord, let your servant, I beg you, speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant; for you are as Pharaoh.’"

Yehuda, the brother who advised against killing Yosef, who came up with the idea of selling him rather then allowing him to die in the pit, (feeling, maybe, that Yosef’s destiny is preordained and will be fulfilled unless the boy is killed) wishes to impress this Egyptian who is ‘as Pharaoh’ with the sincerity of his plea. He does not speak Egyptian, and should have an interpreter -- yet he wishes to speak directly to the man, and he probably noted that this man listened intently to the brothers speaking to one another. Almost intuitively he knows that this man will understand him, and he wants him to hear the urgent current in his voice. Yehuda recollects the events that led to Binyamin coming to Egypt. He pleads for the sake of his father, concluding with the words, "It shall come to pass, when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die.... For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? Lest perhaps I see the evil that shall come on my father..." Yehuda falls silent.

How did Yosef become such an understanding and compassionate man? One explanation is that he learned it from his mother, Rakhel. The story of the ‘Sons of Yisrael’ is laced with the deeds of women of valor and merit. Sarah our Matriarch was the first to share the limelight and the praise with her husband. Rivkah, the second matriarch, arguably had a more pivotal role than our father Yitzkhak, and Rakhel, Ya’akov’s beloved, figures prominently not only in our history but even in our hope for redemption. "Thus says the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. Thus says the Lord; Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope for your future, says the Lord, that your children shall come again to their own border." [Jer. 31:14-16]

In this week’s portion we read about another daughter of Yisrael whose merit plays an important role in the survival of our people. The story unfolds that Yosef sends his brothers back to Canaan to bring his father down to Egypt, and we read, "And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gained in the land of Canaan, and came to Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him; His sons, and his grandsons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and all his seed brought he with him to Egypt. And these are the names of the people of Israel, who came to Egypt, Jacob and his sons; Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn. And the sons of Reuben; Hanoch, and Phallu, and Hezron, and Carmi..." The list goes on to the names of the sons of Asher, where we read, "And the sons of Asher; Yimnah, and Ishvah, and Isui, and Beriah, and Serakh their sister; and the sons of Beriah..." And the list goes on to its conclusion, "All the souls who came with Jacob to Egypt, who came from his loins, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were sixty six." [Gen. 46:6-26] The Torah does not often mention daughters or sisters. Verse seven speaks of ‘sons, and his grandsons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters,’ but in reality makes mentions of ‘sons’ only -- with the exception of Dina, sister of Shim’on and Levi who had the terrible misfortune in Sekhem when Yas’akov first arrived with his family in Canaan, and the mysterious ‘Serakh their sister’ about whom nothing further is told. What is not told in the text is revealed in folk tales and legends.

In these stories Serakh bat Asher takes her place among the great heroines of Israel. Her story begins at the time when the brothers come back from the pasture to inform Ya’akov their father that Joseph is ‘gone.’ Serakh bat Asher was a musician, playing on a stringed instrument to accompany her singing. The brothers came to her and asked her to come to their father’s tent to play and sing to him to soothe him in his anguish. Thus, while she played her music they came and brought Joseph’s coat to him. The legend tells us that Serakh sang a new song directly to her grandfather Ya’akov, who chased his sons out of his tent to grieve alone for his beloved Rakhel’s first born son, his favorite.

"He still exists, he’s still alive;

Yosef’s in Egypt, he shall thrive.

There he shall have his sons, two;

In time of trouble he’ll come through!"

Jacob hears the words, and he asks, ‘what is this that you sing?’

"I sing true words, spoken from on high --

Master Joseph lives, kha’y kha’y kha’y!"

Jacob repeats, ‘who is this Joseph, of whom you sing? Is it truth or rhyme you present me with?’

"My song is true, my words are plain -

Joseph lives is my refrain.

He was not consumed by a wild beast --

Worms in the earth on him did not feast..."

Hearing this, Jacob regains his composure, and he blesses the girl:

"Lovely daughter, mistress of song

You did not let me grieve for long

God will grant you favor, too --

A place in heaven is reserved for you!"

Thereafter Jacob lived in grief over the fact that he did not have the company of his preferred son, Joseph -- but he knew that this first born of his wife Rakhel was still alive and would come through in time of trouble. Serakh bat Asher does not die but is taken to heaven, where she is welcomed by sixty thousand angels, equal to the number of men who would leave Egypt at the time of God’s redemption. This, in turn, is the source of another story about Serakh. This legend tells us that it was she who recognized the redeeming mission of Moshe. Asher, her father, told her that the redeemer will bring a message of ‘double P’ to announce himself. When God commissioned Moshe, he told him to tell the Israelites, "Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, ‘Pakod Pakadeti’ -- I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt; And I have said, I will bring you out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey." [Ex. 3:16,17] The Israelites did not know if Moshe is truly the agent of God sent to take them out of Bondage. Serakh bat Asher came down from Heaven to console them in their suffering, and they came and asked her about Aaron and his brother. When she heard ‘Pakod Pakadeti’ she knew, and she approved of them, and immediately we read, "And the people believed." [Ex. 4:31]

Thus, Serakh bat Asher joins the list of ‘bnot Yisrael,’ daughters of Israel who stood by and succored their people, from Sarah, Rivkah and Rakhel, to Yokheved, Miriam and Deborah, to Esther the queen, to Henrietta Szold, Golda Meir and Khanna Senesh. Women of valor, precious far beyond rubies, mothers and mainstay of our people midor ledor, from one generation to the next. And may we never lack their like in future generations.

Amen

5760

This Shabbat’s reading in the Torah continues the dramatic narrative of the confrontation between Yosef and his brothers. Yosef, Ya’akov’s favorite son, was sold into slavery by his brothers. Now, at "payback time," he arrested Shim’on to force his brothers to bring Bin’yamin down on their second ‘shopping visit’ to Egypt. He framed his little brother for the theft of his ‘divining cup,’ and condemned him to slavery. What will the brothers do? Will they allow Bin’yamin to rot in Egypt while they brought the bad news to their father, once again? This week’s text relates, " Then Yehuda came near to him, and said, ‘Oh my lord, let your servant, I beg you, speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant; for you are as Pharaoh.’" [Gen. 44:18] Yehuda, the brother who tried to save Yosef when most of the brothers wished him dead, appealing to their avarice by suggesting selling him to the Yishma’elites, possibly reassuring himself that Yosef’s destiny is preordained, by his dreams, now steps forward to impress this Egyptian who is ‘as Pharaoh’ with the sincerity of his plea. He does not speak Egyptian, and should have an interpreter — yet he wishes to speak directly to the man, and he probably noted that this man listened intently to the brothers speaking to one another. Almost intuitively he knows that this man will understand him. He wants him to hear the urgent current in his voice. Yehuda recollects the events that led to Bin’yamin coming to Egypt, and pleads for the sake of his father, concluding with the words, "It shall come to pass, when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die.... For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? Lest perhaps I see the evil that shall come on my father..." Yehuda falls silent.

The text continues, "Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all those who stood by him." Everything that had occurred in the life of Yosef to this point had been a part of God’s plan to bring him to this poignant moment in his life and in the history of the family of Israel. Every event in his life — the good and the bad, the highs and the lows, the suffering and the abounding, the sad and the happy — have now brought him to say to his brothers: " I am Yosef your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here; for God did send me before you to preserve life." [Gen. 45: 5–8]

The story of our third patriarch continues to unfold in the text as we read, "And Jacob rose up from Beersheba; and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gained in the land of Canaan, and came to Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him; His sons, and his grandsons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and all his seed brought he with him to Egypt. And these are the names of the people of Israel, who came to Egypt, Jacob and his sons;" [Gen.46:5-8] This account of the descent to Egypt is a bittersweet moment in our history: Ya’akov is about to be reunited with his favorite son — but the price of this reunion is nothing less than exile! It is a fulfillment of prophecy, given to Abraham at the time of the ‘Brit Beyn Habetarim’ — the covenant in the split sacrifice: "And he said to Abram, Know for a certainty that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterward shall they come out with great wealth." [Gen. 15:13,14] So it is not surprising that God appears to Ya’akov and blesses him, "And he said, I am God, the God of your father; fear not to go down to Egypt; for I will there make of you a great nation; I will go down with you to Egypt; and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph shall put his hand upon your eyes." [Gen.46:3,4]

In the words of Dickens, "this was the best of times, this was the worst of times..." This was the reward of Ya’akov for all his suffering, for all his faithful adherence to His God’s teachings — and it is also the most bitter moment of his long life, when he was giving up his autonomy, to fulfill his son’s grandiose dream of the sun and the moon bowing down before his star... Ya’akov, who bested the hunter Esau, who proved more cunning than the Aramean, Laban, to return to his homeland as a great family man laden with children, servants, and wealth - Ya’akov was is going into exile! That may be the reason that our great sages chose a companion for this week’s reading from the prophet Ezekiel, with the following message: "Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from among the nations, where they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land; And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, nor shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all; Nor shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them in all their dwelling places, where they have sinned, and will cleanse them; so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd; they shall also follow my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant, where your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell in it, they and their children, and their grandchildren for ever; and my servant David shall be their prince for ever." [Ez. 37:21-25]

Ya’akov, in his moment of joy at the miracle of rediscovering his son Joseph alive and well and prospering in Egypt, is also saddened at the realization of his seed’s enslavement in Egypt. And his seed, the Jewish people, as they read year after year, of this seminal moment in their history, were encouraged with the message of unity, repatriation and resurgent sovereignty under the leadership of their greatest monarch, King David’s, lineage. Ezekiel taught his brethren the secret of hope, both long term — for a return to the promised sovereignty in the land of the patriarchs, and short term — even in exile — in the last words we read this morning in his text, " My tabernacle also shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the nations shall know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore." [Ez. 37:27,28] The ‘tabernacle’ that the text speaks of is "Mishkani" – the Presence (Shekhinah) of God, which is with us always and everywhere. How do the nations know that God sanctifies Israel? Precisely because they taunt and persecute them — and yet Israel, the Jewish people, is not deterred from its mission of consecrating God, for that is the true meaning of "when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore" — Israel is an active member in the relationship of God and the Seed of Ya’akov. They choose to live by Torah, to celebrate His hallowed day, the Shabbat, and His appointed holy days. They give Him honor, and He gives them eternity.

Amen

5761

The story of the life of the sons of Yisrael continue in this week’s portion. Last week’s reading left us in suspense: Yosef framed his brother Binyamin for the theft of his ‘divining cup,’ and now has condemned him to slavery. What will the other brothers do? Will they let him rot in Egypt while they return to their father with bad news, again? And the text recounts, “ Then Yehuda came near to him, and said, ‘Oh my lord, let your servant, I beg you, speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant; for you are as Pharaoh.’” He then proceeds to recount the story of the brothers, the ‘loss’ of Joseph and he pleads for the sake of his father, concluding with the words, “It shall come to pass, when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die; and your servants shall bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, If I bring him not to you, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever. Now therefore, I beg you, let your servant remain instead of the lad a slave to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brothers. For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? Lest perhaps I see the evil that shall come on my father...”

What Yehuda has done is the essence of Judaism. He has invoked the sensibility of the viceroy, making him aware of the history of these men that stand before him, making him realize that what he sees before him is more than just a tribal purchasing delegation — it is a dedicated family that cares for each and every member as much or maybe more than each cares for himself.

This sense of family has not changed nor abated in the four thousand years since Yehuda spoke his words - maybe that is why we are called “Yehudim,” descendants of Father Yehuda. I have received a letter a few days ago from a good friend who moved to Israel a number of years ago and made a home in Modi’in, the hometown of Mattit’yahu the Hasmona’in and his sons, most famous of whom is Yehuda, the Maccabee. Please listen to the words of this generation’s voice of Yehuda:

“This year has been a very difficult one for the State of Israel. The problems really began in earnest with the beginning of the talks with the PLO that culminated in the signing of the Oslo agreements. Those of us who are old enough can remember Israel having said again and again and again, "We will never negotiate with terrorists." It was the breaking of that pledge that began the steady decline that has resulted in the horrific acts of the last 3 months. We should never have begun to talk to Arafat, the architect of so many murders. But Oslo was supposed to be a process whereby the two sides would build confidence by making relatively painless agreements and then fulfilling them so that each side would see that the other was trustworthy. Not a bad idea. The only thing that was bad about it was when the Arabs violated every agreement they made and Israel continued to give more and more. Over the last several years, the "peace process" has become ever more clearly to be seen as the capitulation process-- something that looks like what a defeated country might do. But we continued and continued... and now, with Barak having offered a deal that on the face of it is too ridiculous for even the most left-wing Israelis to accept, Arafat asks for "the right of return" in order to very quickly take over the entire country. But why should we be surprised. He has never changed his tune. He has never offered a hand of friendship and now we continue to run after him to beg him to please accept our holiest places so that he will finally stop his people from murdering us. And he continues to incite his people to violence by means of his radio and television that have actors portray Israeli soldiers beating, murdering, raping and mutilating. So on Sunday, another family was destroyed. 5 children saw their parents murdered. The oldest is 10 years old. The youngest is 2 months. They all were injured, one seriously. Their 9 year old brother got out of the car just before the attack to go to school. At the same time, a Fatah (terrorist) leader was killed. And the news media equate the two.

How do I feel? Enraged. How do most people here feel? Enraged. We are angry and we are becoming restless and irritable toward our government and in our personal relationships. Next Monday there will be a large demonstration in Jerusalem. Ever single person I have spoken to in the last two days will be there. No exceptions. I believe it will be the largest demonstration in Israel's history. The world must know that it is time to stop. The Arabs don't want peace. They want us dead.

Yes, I know there are good Arabs. There are people just like you and me who just want the violence to stop. But they cannot even speak about it because they will be imprisoned or killed. Think about this... in Lebanon, there are families of people who left Israel in 1948. They live in "refugee camps." They are locked in. They cannot leave at will. They cannot even bring cement into the camp to improve the quality of their homes because their Arab "brothers" are worried they might get too comfortable. Why is there no outcry about this? And if this is the way they treat their own, then what would they do to us, given the chance?

And last night, for the second time in 2 weeks, a car on the road that passes by our house was fired upon. A week ago Thursday, a 28 year old man was killed. He left a young wife and a 4 month old son. Last night, less than a mile from here two people were injured... one shot in the jaw, the other in the head and chest... the second is very critically ill...

Yesterday, [my daughter] Leah and I joined a group of about 150 local residents on one of a number of "marches" to Jerusalem. These have been organized by the members of the community where Binyamin and Talia Kahane lived, Throughout the country each day, citizens will be taking to the roads in an effort to urge the government to make our roads safe. This is NOT a right wing concern; it is the concern of every citizen of the State of Israel.

Today Aaron and Leah and I set our for Jerusalem, driving down route 443, the route where last night two people were injured, one critically, by gunfire. We believe that if we don't drive on our roads and instead we sit in our homes and are afraid, they will have won. So we went and we drove and the road was almost empty of private cars, although there were a few trucks. The buses in the area have started taking road 1, the main Jerusalem/Tel Aviv highway road because of the danger.

We arrived in Jerusalem, parked the car and walked over to the tent outside of the Prime Minister's residence where the brothers and other male family members of Talia and Binyamin Kahane were sitting shiva. The tent had a steady flow of people coming to comfort the bereaved family. The women are sitting shiva in Tapuach, the place where the Kahanes lived. It was all very subdued and very sad. Leah spoke to someone outside the tent who said that the nine-year-old son's response to the fact that his father and mother had been killed was "Now who will make kiddush for us on Friday nights?"

From there we went to the tent in Safra Square where a number of people, many of them university professors, are carrying on a hunger strike in protest of the government's willingness to give up parts of the country as a reward for terrorism. While we were there, a group of fighters from (all of the militias active in) the War of Independence arrived. They spoke and said that we must be brave and not be afraid. This is a struggle that we must win. They offered their support to the hunger strikers and only wished they could form a militia now to do what the government is not allowing the Army to do.

From there we went to the Old City. What a delight is was to see it teeming with people. there were Israelis and tourists of all sorts and we were particularly thrilled to meet up with several groups of the "Birthright" kids. Wow! What vitality and enthusiasm they bring. We asked a few of them what they thought of their trip and they were excited and happy and several of them were talking about returning here, One, when we asked her where she was from told us and said that she was planning to move to Colorado when she finishes school next year, but now, she's thinking about the possibility of coming here!

We went to the building where Ehud Olmert has his temporary office, just up from the Kotel, and waited until he returned (from lunch?). We told him that we were glad that he had relocated his office and he asked us if we thought there was a better place for it to be.

All of these visits we made to try and strengthen others, and at the end of the day as we walked back to the midrachov (also teeming with people) we were the ones who were strengthened.

Am Yisrael Chai!”

All I can add to this is, “Kol Yisrael Arevim Ze Baze - all Israel are held accountable for one another. May God grant us strength, and peace upon Israel.

Amen.

5762

The thing I like most about people is how they love to stereotype everyone and everything. Most entertaining is how we generalize about our fellow Jews. If other people would look at us as we look at ourselves... Why, we would surely call them anti-Semites!
Take, for an example, events that took place this past week. Two Jewish men were placed in jail in California on charges of terrorism - for planning, rather amateurishly, to bomb a mosque and the offices of an Arab-American congressman. We have reacted in two ways to this news: some people said", "this must be a trumped up charge. Jews are not terrorists..." Others, on the other hand, were singing a different tune, bemoaning the fate of Judaism: "How could they do something like this? So unJewish I could cry!"
Well, in this week's portion of the Torah, Va'yigash, the dramatic events in the life of the sons of Yisrael continue. Last week's reading left us in suspense: Yosef framed his brother Binyamin for the theft of his ‘divining cup,' and now has condemned him to slavery. Do we ask, "How could he?" Do we wonder why Joseph chose to frame the one blood brother he had, or why he chose the only brother who was not in the field that day when he was attacked by his brothers. Did we ask, when it happened, how nice Jewish boys could turn on their brother? Or did we just assume that this all happened before Egypt and Moshe and Sinai, and therefore "it does not count..."
Or maybe we were with Joseph - thinking through his mind, reasoning that the brothers who sold one son-of-Rakhel may well give up another of her issue to save their own skin. Do we ask with Joseph, "What will the other brothers do? Will they let Ben rot in Egypt while they return to their father with bad news, again?"
But that was not to be. The text tells us, "Then Yehuda came near to him, and said, ‘Oh my lord, let your servant, I beg you, speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant; for you are as Pharaoh.'" [Gen 44:18]
Yehuda, the brother who came up with the idea of selling Joseph rather then allowing him to die in the pit, wishes to impress the Egyptian who is ‘as Pharaoh' with the sincerity of his plea. He speaks directly to him, so that the man will hear the urgent pleading in his voice. Yehuda reviews the events that led to Binyamin coming to Egypt. Ignoring totally the issue of the theft of the cup, he pleads for the sake of his father, concluding with the words, "Now therefore when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the lad's life; It shall come to pass, when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die; and your servants shall bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, If I bring him not to you, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever. Now therefore, I beg you, let your servant remain instead of the lad a slave to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brothers. For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest perhaps I see the evil that shall come on my father." [Gen 44:30-34] Yehuda falls silent.
This selfless act of Yehuda, his concern for his father and his willingness to take the place of Joseph full brother and become a slave has an immediate effect on his interlocutor: "Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all those who stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept aloud;" [Gen 45:1,2] Everything that had occurred in Yoseph's life to this point had been a part of God's plan to bring him to this poignant moment in his life and in the history of the family of Israel. His birth to Rakhel after years of childlessness; his favored status with his father; his dreams; his brothers' jealousy; his sale into slavery; his service at the household of Potiphar, his confrontation with Potiphar's wife and the imprisonment that followed; his favor with the chief jailer; his interpretation of the two prisoners' dreams; and especially his big chance, when he heard and understood Pharaoh's dreams; finally, his promotion to second in command over all of Egypt, all worked together to put Yoseph in exactly the right place at the right time. His ear, as it were, was readied to hear the sound of Yehuda's outpouring.
So, I go back to the issue of terrorism. Is there Jewish terrorism? I believe not! There are Jews who after a long time of suffering wish to avenge their fellow Jews'lives upon their enemies. Some Jews find their way to a life of crime. But the sheer mad terror that is perpetrated in our world today - Jews would not and could not condone such acts. Through a series painful experiences, Yosef became a man of discernment, understanding and compassion -- as well as wisdom and tact. Yet, remarkably and evidently, he did not become angry, vengeful or vindictive, despite great provocation from every direction. His high rank of authority did not go to his head. On the contrary, the Torah shows us a man prepared in position and personality for his specific calling. Every event in his life—the good and the bad, the suffering and the abounding, the sad and the happy—have now brought him to say to his brethren: "Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here; for God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two years has the famine been in the land; and yet there are five years, when there shall neither be plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance." [Gen. 45: 5–7]
We may safely assume that it was extremely difficult for Yoseph to arrive at this time and status in life. He had suffered pain and privation, he had been brought low time and again. Would such an experience not make you be angry? Bitter? Seeking revenge and redress? At the very least, you would certainly wonder why you'd been singled out for such grief and suffering. Is God pulling the strings and running us through the hoops as a puppeteer? Where is free will? Ah, and don't forget the classic question of those who suffer, why me?
We faced a similar situation in the early fifties, when the sovereign state of the Jews had to come to terms with the new government of the German state - the same state that condoned and promoted the annihilation of the Jews in the "Final Solution." It would have been very easy to keep an enmity to the German people "in perpetuity." It was much more in keeping with our teachings to resume relations and accept reparations.
There have been many other events in which forgiving was the difficult path to take, yet the one that the Jews chose to tread. Esther was a refugee from Jerusalem, carried off to Shushan in Persia. An orphan, she had been raised by her uncle Mordekhai. Because of a royal decree, this "nice Jewish girl" was gathered up with other young women and given a place in the King's harem—and subsequently crowned queen. Daniel was carried off to Babylon where he entered the king's personal service. Like Joseph, he was able to interpret his king's dream and became ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief of all the wise men of Babylon. He appointed Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah over the administration of the province of Babylon.
They all overcame their handicap and succored their people in time of danger. All of them loved God and walked in the path of peace. All of them dreaded violence and terror and believed in the establishment of law and order. May we, like them, live for peace and the safety that God wishes all his children to share.

Amen

Vayigash 5763

This Shabbat's portion of the Torah, Vayigash, continues the dramatic (and not necessarily flattering) narrative of the confrontation between Yosef and his brothers. To summarize, Yosef, Ya'akov's favorite son, was sold into slavery by his brothers. When the brothers came to Egypt to buy food, at "payback time," he arrested Shim'on to force his brothers to bring Bin'yamin down on their second ‘purchasing trip' to Egypt. He framed his little brother for the theft of his ‘divining cup,' and condemned him to slavery. What will the brothers do? Will they allow Bin'yamin to rot in Egypt while they brought the bad news to their father, once again? This week's text relates, "Then Yehuda came near to him, and said, ‘Oh my lord, let your servant, I beg you, speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant; for you are as Pharaoh.'" [Gen. 44:18]
Yehuda, the brother who tried to save Yosef when most of the brothers wished him dead, appealing to their avarice by suggesting selling him to the Yishma'elites, possibly reassuring himself that no harm could befall him, since Yosef's destiny is preordained by his dreams, now steps forward to impress this Egyptian who is ‘as Pharaoh' with the sincerity of his plea. He does not speak the Egyptian tongue, and should actually have an interpreter — yet he wishes to address the man directly, and he probably noted that this man listened intently to the brothers speaking to one another. Almost intuitively, he knows that this man will understand him. He wants him to hear the urgent current in his voice. Yehuda recollects the events that led to Bin'yamin coming to Egypt, and pleads for the sake of his father, concluding with the words, "It shall come to pass, when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die; and your servants shall bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, If I bring him not to you, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever." [ibid. 44:31,32 ] Yehuda falls silent.
The text continues, "Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all those who stood by him." Everything that had occurred in the life of Yosef to this point had been a part of God's plan to bring him to this poignant moment in his life and in the history of the family of Israel. Every event in his life — the good and the bad, the highs and the lows, the suffering and the abounding, the sad and the happy — have now brought him to say to his brothers: "I am Yosef your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here; for God did send me before you to preserve life." [ibid. 45: 5–8]
"I am Yosef your brother, whom you sold into Egypt." The words turned again and again in my mind as I was studying and preparing for this Shabbat. We have a wonderful young woman who teaches Hebrew in our school, Danielle Barav. Her parents are Israeli, and for winter break they are taking her to visit her family in our ancient and dangerous homeland. Danielle is a senior in high school, and is contemplating which college to choose for her continuing education. I was wondering if she "knew Joseph..." After all, she was born after he had been sold off.
Lest you think that I have completely lost my marbles, let me tell you that I am not talking of Yosef ben Ya'akov. I am talking of another dreamer - not Yosef but Yonatan. Eighteen years ago, before we called Saadam Hussein "public enemy number one," before 9/11, before Al Quaida and the Taliban, and even before the Gulf war, Israel was threatened by Iraq and its plans to produce weapons of mass destruction. Our secretary of defense had no love for Israel or Jews. In spite of an Exchange of Information Agreement between the U.S. and Israel, he withheld information that was vital to the security of Israel – about PLO positions in Libya and Tunisia, Syrian and Iraqi poison gas capabilities and the arms received by the Arab states from the Soviet Union. This information about other nations, a son of Ya'akov, Yonatan Pollard transmitted to Israel, even though it was classified "secret" by our government. Therefore, by definition, he broke the law.
In June 1981, Menakhem Begin, then Prime Minister of Israel, faced the same dilemma that faces the U.S. today concerning Saddam Hussein's Iraq. The Israelis had watched apprehensively for two years as Saddam appeared to be nearing a nuclear weapons capability. The centerpiece of his effort was a French-built Osirak-type nuclear reactor turning out weapons grade plutonium at Tuwaitah. Intelligence reports supplied by Yonatan informed Begin that Iraq had a 5 MW nuclear research reactor and radioisotop production lab, a 40 to 70 MW nuclear research reactor building, an 800 KW ISIS reactor, and associated laboratories. After considerable internal debate within the Israeli cabinet, Begin ordered the Israeli Air Force to bomb it out of existence – to derail the Iraqi nuclear bomb effort. The raid was a perfect surgical operation to remove a cancer that threatened Israel - but the world was unanimous in its condemnation of the Jewish state. When American forces were sent to Saudi-Arabia to prepare for the Gulf war, different winds were blowing, and the media praised Israel for eliminating the possibility of our boys being threatened by nuclear armaments.
Yonatan Pollard was arrested three years after the Osirak raid.
For the past eighteen years, longer than the life-span of Danielle, Yonatan Pollard has been serving a life sentence in one prison or another. Despite widespread misconceptions, Pollard was never indicted for harming the United States or any of its citizens, nor compromising codes, agents, or war plans; nor was he ever accused or convicted of treason. Yonatan was indicted on only one charge: passing classified information to an ally Israel. The normal sentence for this offense is 2-4 years – yet Yonatan Pollard received a life sentence – the only person ever to have received such a sentence – even for spying for an ally! Judge Steven Williams of the U.S. Appellate Court, in a dissenting opinion, had described the Pollard case as a "fundamental miscarriage of justice".
Pollard was kept in solitary confinement in the mental asylum wing of a federal prison for an extended period -- a form of punishment that is more commonly known to be inflicted on political prisoners by the U.S.S.R.. Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Law Professor, has stated, "[Pollard's treatment has been]...the greatest miscarriage of American justice...[Pollard] got a sentence four times harsher than the average murderer, [and] ten times harsher than the penalty given out to any spy ever convicted or pleaded guilty for spying for an ally."
Consider also the following facts about other spy cases:
-- In 1982, Stephen Baba was sentenced to eight years in jail for selling secret electronic warfare to South Africa. He served two years!
-- In 1985, Samuel Morrison, former Navy intelligence analyst, received a two years sentence for stealing secret Navy documents and selling them to a British publisher.
-- In 1981, David Barnett, former CIA agent, was sentenced to 18 years for selling information on U.S. intelligence operations, including the names of some thirty covert U.S. agents to the Soviet secret police, the KGB.
-- The Walker family, who sold secrets compromising the U.S. pacific fleet, NATO documents and other secret U.S. documents in a spying career that spanned seventeen years and netted the Walkers over 3/4of a million dollars were tried and jailed, and John Walker, who is serving a straight minimal term, will be eligible for parole in less than five years.
-- Pollard was given a life sentence - not eligible for parole. John Walker is in a regular jail, Pollard has been for almost seven years in virtual solitary confinement! Only after that was he transferred to a medium security prison where his conditions are still subhuman! And here we must add the consideration of the fact that Pollard did not betray the U.S. to an enemy but merely helped a friend and ally.
Consider further that Pollard actually surrendered to the authorities – and agreed to a plea bargain, in which he was promised a reasonably light sentence in exchange for cooperating with the authorities. As a consequence of this plea-bargain, his trial was not held before a jury. Somewhere between the time Yonatan gave himself up and the time he came before the judge, however, the U.S. Attorney and the Secretary of Defense decided to "throw the book at him." The U.S. Attorney spoke before the judge of a "conspiracy," and the Defense Secretary wrote, in a secret memo that was leaked, that Pollard was the "worst American traitor in our generation" and deserved to be hung. Still, Yonatan Jay Pollard was indicted on a single count of transmitting classified information in support of the security of Israel. A second count, that of "harm to the security of the United States," was dropped!
The Jewish community did not stand by this man when he was on trial, and it was upset at the very thought that an American Jew put anything before his country. The leaders of the American Jewish community were scandalized that Israel would ask an American Jew to "betray his American homeland." In fact, however, Pollard volunteered the information of his own free will – and Israel, in its peril, cannot refuse information vital to its continued survival.
It was long after the birth of Danielle and the humiliating incarceration of Yonatan that the Jewish community woke up to the realization that here was a Jewish criminal who was being treated harshly – conceivably only because he was a Jew.
On February 15, 1991, the Wall Street Journal pointed out that the Americans may have brought about the very reason for the war which the world was bracing for in the Persian Gulf. The photos that Yonatan Pollard turned over to the Israelis were of a number of Iraqi chemical weapons manufacturing plants which the U.S. Government at the time did not want to admit existed. Why is Yonatan still imprisoned?
In a recent New Yorker Magazine article, "Annals of Government In the Loop: Bush's Secret Mission," a clear picture is provided of the direct involvement of the U.S. in arming Iraq. The article shows how the U.S. provided Saddam Hussein with technology, weapons, intelligence and funding, enabling Iraq to amass the nuclear, biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction that now threaten the world. Is it possible that the Secretary of Defense was covering his own backside when he requested of the federal judge to "bury" Yonatan, never to allow him to tell what he knows of American officials who acted against their nation's best interests in the Gulf? As long as the U.S. does not own up to its responsibility in its role in arming Iraq, Yonatan Pollard will probably continue to be buried alive in prison by successive American administrations, who fear exposure and embarrassment. Unless we speak up and protest!
"Seek the peace of Jerusalem; those who love you shall prosper. May there be Peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces. For the sake my brothers and companions, I will now say, let Peace be within you. For the sake of the house of the Lord our God I will seek your good." [Psalm 122:6-9]

Vayigash 5764

We have two more segments to read in the Book of Beresheet, this week's and next. This week's Torah portion, Va' yigash, continues the story of the life of the sons of Yisrael. You may recall that last week's reading left us "in suspense:" Yosef had framed his one full brother, Benyamin, for the theft of his ‘divining cup' – and condemned him to slavery for his "crime." What will happen next? What will the ten half-brothers do? More than two decades had passed since his last encounter with them. Have they changed – or are they as cold and callous as they had been back then? Will they have compassion for their little brother, or will they leave him behind in Egypt, in bondage to the Egyptian, and return to their father bearing bad news once again?
Our text recounts, " Then Yehuda came near to him, and said, ‘Oh my lord, let your servant, I beg you, speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant; for you are as Pharaoh.'" This man, Yehuda, (the brother who tried to prevent the death of Yosef after the brothers dumped him in the dry well to die while "no blood was on their hands," appealing to their avarice by suggesting selling him to the Yishma'elites, possibly reassuring himself that no harm could befall him, since Yosef's destiny was preordained by his dreams) now steps forward to impress this Egyptian who is "as Pharaoh" with the sincerity of his plea. He has changed much, having tasted of the bitter pill of life, with the death of two of his sons, and with being upstaged and shown his unjust ways by his daughter in law, Tamar.
He proceeds to retell the events that led to Benyamin coming to Egypt, and ignoring the issue of the theft of the cup, he pleads for the sake of his father. He speaks to Yosef, and there is nothing in the text to suggest that there was an interpreter. Did he speak in Egyptian or in Hebrew? Did he know that the man he was speaking to understood Hebrew, and maybe even that it was his wronged half-brother Yosef? He certainly had signs! The money that was replaced in their bags, the order of the brothers' places at the table when they took a meal with him that was "as Pharaoh." Maybe that is why is uses words that seemed to humiliate the brothers - and even their elderly father – their "ace in a hole," their bond, their connection to the Viceroy of Egypt.
"My lord asked his servants, saying, Have you a father, or a brother? And we said to my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him." [Ibid 44:19,20] And he goes even further, "And your servant my father said to us, You know that my wife bore me two sons; And the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I saw him not since; And if you take this also from me, and harm befall him, you shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol." [Ibid 44:27-29] Yehuda plays his hand like Houdini, the magician. He completes the "victory" of Yosef, by calling Ya'akov, "your servant my father" – and touches on the death of Rakhel, Yosef's mother, while reminding him that this man he wishes to enslave is his only full brother. "Son of my strength, Ben Oni," his mother called him with her dying breath. Finally he drives home his verbal dagger, right into the heart of his estranged sibling, by pointing out that Ya'akov could not possibly take the loss of his second favorite son, and offering, "Now therefore, I beg you, let your servant remain instead of the lad a slave to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brothers. For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest perhaps I see the evil that shall come on my father." [Ibid 44:33,34] Is anyone at all surprise that Yosef cannot contain himself?
Yet, would you be surprised to learn that many of our sages, hundreds of years later, condemned Yehuda for his verbal lack of respect for his father?
Well, we certainly don't have to guess how Ya'akov reacted to his sons' return with the good news, "the spirit of Jacob their father revived; And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive; I will go and see him before I die." [Ibid 45:27,28] – nor do we have to ask ourselves whom he trusts among all his sons, "And he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to show the way before him to Goshen; and they came to the land of Goshen." [Ibid 46:28]
Ya'akov arrives in good time, and is greeted by his loving and doting beloved son. Yosef hugs his father, as we read, "and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while" [Ibid 46:29] Again, I wonder if the tears were tears of joy, or where they tears of anticipation of the wrong moves he knows his brothers will make in Egypt, which will lead inexorably and inevitably to their eventual enslavement. Did Yosef envision all that will go wrong with his brothers and their seed, mixed with his seed, in the next thirty nine hundred years? Did he foresee the exodus and the drowning Egyptians; the Sinai meeting with God, and the golden calf; the destructive report of the spies, and the destruction of the first and second Temples. Could he, with his keen and sensitive understanding of human nature, foretell the persecution, the cruelty, the heartless, mindless slaughter of innocent children, mothers, elderly grandparents, in a wanton, senseless blood orgy that began in Egypt that long ago and is yet to end?
And when will we learn? When will the seed of Ya'akov – the descendants of Yosef and his brothers, come to realize that we are family, that we must hang on together, or we shall be hanged till every last one of us is gone? When will we accept the fact that to be Jews and be free and remain alive – well, it will take vigilance, and diligence, and blood and sweat and tears. We shall have to fight for our lives, and lose some lives in the process. We cannot let go, not even for a minute. We cannot trade anything for peace – for peace is not purchased. It has to be earned. It has to come in its time – and its time had not yet come. It has been promised, though – and the faithful and the brave may one day see its dawn. As for now, as for us – just knowing that it is possible keeps us hoping.

Shabbat shalom and a happy new Civil year.

5765

What an amazing story we read this week! The portion is called Va’yigash, from chapter 44, verse 18 in the Book of Beresheet, Genesis, to chapter 47, verse 27. It is the continuing story of Yosef’s encounter with his brothers at the end of twenty-two years of hard labor that resulted from the brothers’ hatred and jealousy for the “dreamer.” Yosef had his moment of viondication, seeing his brothers bow before him, arresting Shim’on, framing Benyamin and making the brothers think that once more they will have to face their father minus one brother. What will they do? How will they react? Will they wash their hands of “communal responsibility” and allow Benyamin to become a slave of Pharaoh’s vice-roy?
The questions are answered this week with Yehuda stepping forward and volunteering to pay the penalty for his brother Benyamin’s “transgression.” The text reads, “Then Judah came near to him, and said, Oh my lord, let your servant, I beg you, speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant; for you are as Pharaoh. My lord asked his servants, saying, Have you a father, or a brother? And we said to my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him. And you said to your servants, Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes upon him. And we said to my lord, The lad can not leave his father; for if he should leave his father, his father would die. And you said to your servants, Except your youngest brother come down with you, you shall see my face no more. And it came to pass when we came up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. And our father said, Go again, and buy us a little food. And we said, We can not go down; if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down; for we may not see the man’s face, except our youngest brother be with us. And your servant my father said to us, You know that my wife bore me two sons; And the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I saw him not since; And if you take this also from me, and harm befall him, you shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol. Now therefore when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the lad’s life; It shall come to pass, when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die; and your servants shall bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, If I bring him not to you, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever. Now therefore, I beg you, let your servant remain instead of the lad a slave to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brothers. For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest perhaps I see the evil that shall come on my father.” [Genesis 44:18-34]
Now, we need to keep the vital statistics clear in our mind: “The lad” in question is not a child, nor is he even a young and inexperienced teen. He is a man of about thirty, who has a wife and ten sons, whose names are given a little later in our portion among the family that came to Egypt with Ya’akov: “the sons of Benyamin were Belah, and Bekher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh, Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard.” [Ibid 46:21] Surely, such a man must take responsibility for his own actions. This, and more: we have to ask ourselves why did Yehuda plead for the sake of the old father, and not for the sake of the ten children, who will remain without a father, and will be shamed because their dad was a slave in Egypt.
And, while we are contemplating the problems of Yehuda and Benyamin – and of Yosef, who is finding it more and more difficult to pretend to be a “tough Egyptian” while his heart pines to stop the charade and reveal to his brothers that he is their long lost brother – we need examine another problem: How will Ya’akov react to the news that his long lost favorite son, taken for dead, is in fact alive and prospering in Egypt? Would he survive the good news? The vice-roy of Egypt reveals himself and sends his sons back to Canaan to report to Ya’akov and bring him down to Egypt to see Yosef and stay under his protection until the famine ends in their homeland. He sends his father “ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten female asses laden with grain and bread and food for his father by the way.” [Ibid. 45:23]
Our text continues the narrative: “And they went up from Egypt, and came to the land of Canaan to Jacob their father, And told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob’s heart fainted, for he believed them not. And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them; and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived; And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive; I will go and see him before I die.” [Ibid. 45:24-28]
How did the sons tell their father the news without causing his heart to overflow with joy and kill him? Different commentators explain it differently – and I like in particular the following story: Ya’akov had a favorite grand-daughter, Serakh bat Asher. It was she who consoled him when the blood soaked coat of many colors was brought for him to recognize and conclude that Yosef had been devoured by a wild beast. She stayed with him and soothed his rage and his sorrow. Now she was charged by her father and uncles to bring the good news to her father without upsetting him unduly. She went to his tent at sunset, when he was immersed in his prayers. She stood near him, feigning prayer. She whispered, as he did, words of praise for the creator. After a while she began a new verse: “Is it true that Yosef lives?” She asked under her breath, barely loud enough for her grandfather to hear. “Could it have been he who sent these wagons I see outside...” The patriarch turned around to look at his grand-daughter, ill at ease with her prayer – and as he did, through the opening of the tent he spied those wagons, and “the spirit of Jacob their father revived.”
These events explain why Ya’akov blessed his son Yehuda and gave him the mantle of leadership over all his brothers, and why Asher’s daughter, alone among the female children born to Ya’akov and to his sons, is mentioned in the text among those who came down to Egypt with our patriarch.

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