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CHUMASH CANDESCENCE
PARASHA VAYIGASH
GENESIS 44:18 to 47:27
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
"United Brothers"
This Shabbat we read , "then he
(Joseph) fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept; and
Benjamin wept upon his neck. He then kissed all his brothers and wept
upon them" (Gen 45:14-15). When Joseph finally removed the mask behind
which he was hiding and revealed himself to his brothers his joy could
not be contained. He had already forgiven them and saw that they indeed
had learned compassion and tolerance by the way they were concerned about
Benjamin and their father Jacob.
The Midrash teaches something else as well. It says that Joseph, the
'dreamer' wept not only tears of joy, but of sadness. He could foresee
that the exile in Egypt which his family was now beginning, would not be
their last exile. He could foresee , the Midrash says, the future
suffering of our people.
Our ancient rabbinic sages expound that Joseph wept over the destruction
of the Temples and that he could also foresee the time when his
brothers again would fight and break up into two kingdoms (after
Solomon's reign). The Zohar takes this even a step further. Joseph also
foresaw the scattering of ten of the brothers' tribes to be lost forever
(after the Assyrian battles).
In this Parasha's Haftorah from the Book of Ezekiel (Ez 37:15-28), our
prophet speaks of the reunification of the 12 tribes of Israel. Ezekiel
prophesied the first Temple's destruction and the exile of Judah to
Babylon. Ezekiel was one of the refugees himself. Out of the despair of
galut (exile), he said that God told him that He would " take the
Children of Israel from among the nations to which they went, and I shall
gather them from around and I shall bring them to their soil" (Ez 37:21)
and "I shall seal a covenant of peace with them" (Ez 37:26).
We as a people have always been stiff-necked and quarrelsome. But we are
commanded to not be like Korach, fighting among ourselves. We were at
our zenith when we accepted our differences and believed that despite
them, we were all Jews.
The Talmud is replete with different opinions of rabbis spanning the
centuries. We can relate the story of how Rabbi Hillel wanted the
Chanukah menorah lit as opposed to the way that Rabbi Shamai wished it to
be done. But the rabbis accepted the fact that different groups from
different areas did things differently. They jested about these groups,
sometimes in unkind ways, but the minhags were accepted.
Talmud Beracoth says that kavenah (intention and concentration) is the
most important part of prayer and that praying in one's vernacular in
an abridged version with true kavenah is better than rushing thru a
prayer service in Hebrew and not understanding it. Talmud Kiddushin says
a Torah service where just three lines are read completes the mitzvah of
reading the Torah. Talmud Sanhedrin relates how Rabbi Hillel was not a
believer in the messiah from scriptural references. Rabbi Akiva thought
that General Bar Kochba was the messiah. And, apropos for the season
just passed, Rabbi Judah ha Nasi, the redactor of the Mishna, did not
wish to codify the celebration of Chanukah into our halacha (Jewish law)
as he wanted us to live in peace and not be constantly reminded of our
past wars. He also wanted to do away with Tisha B'Av and Purim as well as reported by Rabbi
Moishe Sofer. Yet we were great and survived because we respected our
differences to the point that we carefully recorded them.
There are so many ways and paths to reach God. Many gain a closeness to
God by doing ritual and all its minutia. Others gain a spiritual
closeness by doing the mitzvoth of visiting the sick, tutoring a student
in an afternoon program, helping the elderly or raising a family. Many
others enjoy a festive Shabbat meal or singing joyous songs of praise
to God. Still others gain spirituality by quiet study and reflection or
through individual prayer.
We are all made in the image of God, and His emanations are as
different as the sands on the earth's beaches. Man is equally varied.
The time has come to universally realize that no one group of Jews has
the right and only path (halacha) to reach God. Each of us approaches
God differently, and hopefully He reaches us in different ways at
different times in our lives.
An important message from this week's parasha it is that we are all
brothers with different strengths, weaknesses ,customs
and traditions. Yet, like Joseph's siblings, we have the same Father.
"Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us all? Why do we
deal treacherously with one another?" (Malachi 2:10). Let us all strive
to relish our differences, customs, rituals or lack there of, and even
modes of dress. Let us try to banish loshan ha ra from our lips and
ridicule from our hearts. Let the "covenant of peace among the people of
Israel" prophesied by Ezekiel come to pass. We then can "behold how
good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in
unity" (Psalm 133:1).
Amen!
Shabbat Shalom,
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
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