Parshat Vayigash: Every Act We Take...

This week's Torah portion is Vayigash (Genesis 44:18-47:27). We are not yet slaves in Egypt. Judah and all the brothers have come to Egypt searching for food and while they meet Joseph, they do not yet know/recognize who he is. Last week, Joseph planted a goblet in Benjamin's pack to frame him for stealing - an excuse to keep his favorite (and only brother from the same mother) in Egypt with him as the rest of the brothers were preparing to go back to Canaan and Jacob. Judah (the one who was behind Joseph's alleged death) approaches Joseph to plead for Benjamin's release and to offer himself as a slave to the "Egyptian" Joseph. Joseph is so overcome by witnessing his brothers’ loyalty to one another that he finally reveals his identity by saying, "I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?"

These acts of brotherly love, remorse, and forgiveness set into play the final steps that will cause us to become slaves in Egypt. The brothers rejoice in finding their lost, and not dead!, brother. They return to Canaan to tell Jacob the news and then return with Jacob to Egypt to settle. It is only a matter of time before every one of this generation, most particularly Joseph, has died.  Then (in two weeks) we will read the fateful words in Exodus 1:8, "And there arose up a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph."  From there our 400 years of slavery will begin. 

 

We know, because it is in the Torah, that it was God's intention all along for the Israelites to become slaves, for Moses to become our leader, and for us to enter into the Promised Land. So this story had to play out as it did.  But what does it mean for us today? 

 

I often think of it as a cautionary tale - every individual action we take, every decision we make, leads to another and another and another. We have little control over "things" once they reach a certain point. Judah was the brother who encouraged the others to do away with Joseph. He felt he was able to control things on his end up to the point they told Jacob and eventually headed to Egypt for grain. After that... well we know what happened.

 

We are about to enter into a new year – 2024! For some reason, it still sounds futuristic to me. But what is very present is that we are living through one of the most difficult and confusing times of our lives. So what do we do? We remain aware that every decision we make will lead to another.  We use our words wisely and we remember that both the big and the small actions that we take can and DO make a difference. We must also permit ourselves to change course if and when needed. The one thing we can’t do is to give up. 

 

Shabbat Shalom

 

#BringThemHomeNOW #peace #OsehShalom #עושהשלום# שבתשלום

 

 

Living in multiple civilizations

Parshat Vayigash Genesis 44:18–47:27

In Vayigash we meet Jacob and sons as they go down to Egypt to escape a famine. When they arrive in Egypt they reunite with Joseph and the family is made complete again. They were given a new home, a land, and a future.  We learn this from the final verse in Vayigash: Thus Israel settled in the country of Egypt, in the region of Goshen; vaye’achazu va, and were fertile and increased greatly (Genesis 47:27).

What is the meaning of vaye’achazu va? Some, Rashi (12^th century, France) included, translate it to simply mean that they acquired something material: land or possessions. Others, including the Or HaChaim (18^th century, Morocco), interpret vaye’achazu va to mean that they were not the possessors of the land, but were possessed by it.

Rabbeynu Bachya (14^th century, Spain) translates vaye’achazu va as meaning that “they acquired property in it.” He notes that the word vaye’achazu suggests “the acquisition of permanent, hereditary property.” He says that the passive form of the word vaye’achazu means that “instead of becoming masters of that soil they became enslaved to it. The word is reminiscent of something taking root.”

He concludes that the reason that the Torah earlier had written:  “these are the names of the Israelites who came to Egypt, [46:8]” is because only that generation was still “master” of its destiny. Later generations became “possessed” by the land instead of actively possessing it.”

‎The Hassidic master Kedushat Levi (18th century, Eastern Europe) takes an opposing view to Rabbeynu Bachya.  He teaches an alternate meaning of veye'achazu, namely that it means that the Israelites ‎"adopted," i.e. were taken captive by, the prevailing ‎cultural values of the Egyptians. But here, the meaning is that they were ‎able to sublimate these values and yet remain Yisrael at the ‎same time.

What Rabbeynu Bachya describes is a process of assimilation. Kedushat Levi describes a process that is a form of acculturation, of choosing which cultural traits or social patterns of those around us that we want to adopt and make uniquely Jewish.  This is one of the tactics that has enabled Judaism to survive over time. With each country a Jew lives in, with each move a Jew makes, they must decide what path they will walk.

The relevance of this teaching is clear, especially in this time of year when many deal with different variations of the “December dilemma,” though in reality the dilemma for some is never ending. How do we walk as Jews in a society that is overtly not-Jewish? What does being Jewish mean to each of us and how can we sit comfortably with the understanding that we don’t all think, feel, believe in the same way? How do we act like our ancestors in Egypt and, as Kedushat Levi taught, analyze and pick among the prevailing values to yet remain part of the Jewish Project?

One way to begin is to know our history and the foundations of our people. Our sages gave us a great gift in having us read a weekly Torah portion year after year. Whether or not one believes in all the Torah says is not at issue. What is at issue is that we learn from the examples of our ancestors (like the Israelites in Egypt) and the stories of tradition and use this knowledge as a basis for our personal ethics and values. By doing this we can strive to live fully and completely in multiple civilizations, as Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan taught when writing about living as both Jews and Americans.

Also published in WJW 1/2/20