Va'era - Thank (and don't overthink)

Va’era/He Appeared

“I will redeem you with an outstretched arm…” (Ex. 6:6)

            Dai-dayenu, dai-dayenu… Although we just celebrated Hanukah, this week’s Torah portion really puts us in the Passover spirit, advancing the exodus story and including some significant sections found in the Passover Haggadah.  (Or perhaps it's just that all this snowfall is making me long for spring!)

For the second time, Moses and Aaron go before Pharaoh, demanding that he allow the Israelites to go worship God in the desert.  Pharaoh remains unwilling to accede to the demands of Moses and Aaron, or the hitherto unknown deity whom they represent. As a result of this stubborn defiance, the Egyptians are struck by seven plagues—blood, frogs, lice, wild beasts, pestilence, boils and hail.  Despite the devastation that ensues, Pharaoh still refuses to let the enslaved people go free, setting the stage for the final three plagues in next week’s parasha.

According to the text, it is Aaron and not Moses who strikes the Nile with the staff, in order to bring the first plague of blood.  Why doesn’t Moses do it himself?  The commentator Rashi explains that Moses did not want to strike the Nile because the Nile saved him long ago, when his family shielded him from Pharaoh’s murderous decree and sent him in a basket along the river to safety.

Why did Moses care so much about the “feelings” of an inanimate object; would the water really care if Moses struck it?  Moses’ actions model an important lesson for us, which is to habitually practice hakarat ha-tov (“recognition of the good”) or gratitude toward others, as a matter of course.  The alternative—namely to over-think the situation, or calculate how much effort we think someone put in for us –may result in our coming up with excuses not to show them the proper thanks.  Instead, it is important to cultivate the habit of showing gratitude whenever it is due.  If Moses showed such consideration and gratitude toward the water, all the more so we are obligated to give thanks to the actual people who help us in so many ways. 

This Shabbat and New Year’s Eve, as we reflect on the blessings of the past year, let’s remember to reach out and thank all those who helped us along the way.  Personally, my sincerest thanks this week go to the intrepid snow plow drivers…

Shabbat shalom! 

Parashat Shemot - Striving to Step Up

Shemot/Names - Shabbat 12/25/10

                                                                         

“He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.” (Ex. 3:2)

            What do science fiction writer Robert Heinlein, Popeye the Sailorman and pre-teens have in common? It turns out they all have Parashat Shemot to thank for quotations that made them famous.  Cases in point:  When Moses flees Egypt and marries Tziporah, he names their son Gershom because, as Moses says, he has been a “stranger (ger) in a strange land,” thus lending Heinlein the perfect title for his classic book about life on Mars.  Later, God instructs Moses to go to Pharaoh and tells him, “Ehyeh asher ehyeh,” translated as “I will be what I will be”, or “I am that I am.”  When Popeye’s famous cartoon short “I Yam what I Yam” was made, he was lucky not to have to pay divine royalties.  Finally, there are the indelible words of a pugnacious Israelite.  After Moses asks this Israelite why he is striking his fellow, the man retorts, “Who made you chief and ruler over us?”  This infamous phrase lives on among adolescents everywhere in the form of “You’re not the boss of me!”

             Aside from famous one-liners, this theme of intervention is the major subtext of the parasha.  In the face of Pharaoh’s decree that Israelite boys be killed, the midwives Shifra and Puah put themselves at risk to save newborns;  Pharaoh’s daughter adopts the endangered baby Moses, despite indications that he is a Hebrew;  Moses intervenes three times when faced with injustice, first breaking up a fight between Israelites, then defending a slave from a taskmaster and finally helping Tziporah and her sisters ward off harassing shepherds; and of course, Aaron joins his brother to intercede on behalf of the oppressed. 

           

When Moses saw the taskmaster who was beating an Israelite, he "looked this way and that way, and when he saw there was no person (ish) he smote the Egyptian."  Commentators note that there probably were other people, yet when Moses looked around he saw that no Egyptian would defend the slave, and neither were any Israelites willing to get involved.  He realized that he needed to do something, and took action.  In this way Moses followed the teaching of the Mishna (Pirkei Avot): “In a place where there is no ish, strive to be one.” 

Now that’s a quotation worth remembering.

Shabbat shalom!

Micah Liben, Legacy Heritage Rabbinic Fellow

Vayechi - Blessing Each Other

Vayechi/He Lived - Shabbat 12/18/10

“May the angel who has redeemed me from all harm bless these lads.”

            I consider myself to be a polite person; I hold the door for others, RSVP promptly, even fold my dinner napkin before placing it on my lap.  Emily Post would surely give me high marks.  However, I refuse to say “God bless you” when someone sneezes.  Yes, I know it is a social convention, but I just don’t get it.  Why should a semi-autonomous, convulsive expulsion of air from the lungs through the nose and mouth warrant a blessing?  Jerry Seinfeld’s response to a sneeze (“you’re so good-looking!”), while perhaps not entirely appropriate, at least has the advantage of making someone feel good after the sneeze’s force has thrown their head and face out of whack.  But “bless you” just never seemed right to me. 

           

            Notwithstanding this small personal protest, I believe that giving and receiving blessings can be very profound.  Jewish ritual prescribes occasions for doing just that: parents bless their children on Friday nights, rabbis bless students who become bar/bat mitzvah, kohanim (in many synagogues) bless the congregation, and brides receive a special blessing during their veiling ceremony.  Additionally, many brides follow the custom of giving out blessings to their guests during the kabballat panim reception, drawing on their role as “queen for the day.”  And I know of one shul with another beautiful tradition—when parents of a newborn have an aliyah, everyone together blesses the child, singing words right out of this week’s parasha.

           

            In Vayechi, Jacob blesses his grandsons Ephraim and Menashe, and also offers each of his own sons a blessing in what is one of the Bible’s most poetic passages.  The parasha brings to a close the age of the Matriarchs and Patriarchs.  It is a fitting theme for a Torah portion that always comes around the time of the new calendar year.  As we prepare for this transition, we have the chance to reflect on the blessings we’ve received up to this point, and on the blessings we wish for ourselves and our loved ones in the time ahead.  This week, find the opportunity to offer a blessing to someone—a family member, a neighbor, a friend.  The word for blessing (b’racha) is related to the word for knee (berech), the joint supporting over half the weight of the human body.  Indeed, when we bless each other sincerely, what we gain is a sturdy source of support.

           

            With brachot for a week of health and happiness (and minimal sneezing).

Shabbat shalom!

Micah Liben, Legacy Heritage Rabbinic Fellow

Parashat Vayigash - Arguing for Heaven’s Sake

Vayigash/He approached - Shabbat 12/11/10 

             In the wake of last week’s cliffhanger ending (what would become of Benjamin after being framed for stealing Joseph’s goblet?), Judah makes an impassioned plea for his brother Benjamin’s fate, asking the “Egyptian ruler” to imprison him in Benjamin’s place.  Moved by this act of integrity, Joseph decides to finally reveal his identity to the stunned brothers.  In a great show of decency, Joseph tells them he has no hard feelings towards them for their past actions.  This is indeed rather surprising; a more cynical reading might be, “Now that I’ve made you feel powerless and reduced you to groveling before me, I have no hard feelings – anymore!”

    Letting bygones be bygones, Joseph gives his brothers gifts and sends them to settle in the province of Goshen.  After twenty-two years, Jacob is reunited with his beloved son.  When Jacob arrives in Egypt to settle with his childrens’ families, he comes before Pharaoh and offers a cynical statement of his own.  Having already played the roles of a simple tent-dweller, a cunning charlatan, a misguided parent and everything in between, Jacob shows that he can play a grumpy centenarian, as well, telling Pharaoh, “Few and hard have been the years of my life, nor do they measure up to the life spans of my fathers!” 

Other than the sweetness of revenge and the bitterness of old age, what does Vayigash teach us?  When Joseph sends his brothers home, he tells them, “Do not be quarrelsome on the way.”  Rashi explains Joseph’s words to mean, “Do not engage in arguments over halacha (Jewish law), lest the road become unsteady for you.” Like Joseph’s brothers, the Jewish community is comprised of many groups, whose conceptions of Jewish law vary.  The Mishna teaches that sometimes machloket (argument or debate) is a good thing, like in the case of the Rabbis Hillel and Shammi; such debates will endure because they were for the sake of Heaven.  But when Jews get caught up in the passion of their arguments because of factional disputes or personal aggrandizement, they truly risk losing their way.  In such cases, machloket will not bring us closer to Heaven, but will only leave us bitter and cynical. 

May this Shabbat bring peace among brothers and a sense of life's fulfillment, and may all of our arguments be for the sake of Heaven. 

Vayeshev - The Power of One Act of Kindness

Vayeshev/He Returned - Shabbat 11/27/10

            Repeating his parents’ mistakes, Jacob favors Joseph over his other sons and gives him a colored tunic.  Joseph has recurring dreams – which he readily shares - of his family bowing to him.  If all that weren’t bad enough, Joseph is also a tattle-tale.  The jealous brothers plot against Joseph and sell him into Egyptian slavery, where he serves Pharaoh’s adviser, Potiphar.

               The Torah takes a break* in the narrative to tell the story of Judah--one of the brothers--and Tamar (this is that chapter they skip in Hebrew School!).  Judah chooses Tamar as a wife for his eldest son, but his son dies prematurely before having children. As per the custom, Judah’s second son then marries Tamar, but he dies also.  Instead of marrying off Tamar to his third son, Judah tells her to wait.  Many years go by as she is unable to start a family and is barred from marrying someone else.  Finally, when Judah’s own wife passes away Tamar seizes the chance to achieve justice for herself.  Dressed like a prostitute, she seduces Judah and conceives.  When Judah hears that Tamar has become pregnant, he calls for her execution; but Tamar presents the items that he himself paid her with, and Judah realizes he has wronged her.

               Meanwhile, Joseph impresses his master in Egypt – and his master’s wife, as well.  When Joseph refuses her advances, Potiphar’s wife retaliates by accusing him of assault.  Joseph is imprisoned and interprets the dreams of his fellow prisoners while in jail.    

            Among the colorful cast of characters in Vayeshev, perhaps the most significant is the one with no name.  When Joseph cannot find his brothers at the beginning of the portion and gets lost in the fields, an anonymous man sees him wandering and helpfully points him in the right direction.  The result is a chain of events that leads Joseph and eventually Jacob’s whole family to Egypt, a prelude to the Israelites’ redemption and encounter with God at Sinai.  The powerful lesson this nameless character teaches is that we never know how the smallest deed can affect others.  Performing acts of chesed (kindness) can have profound and far-reaching effects; indeed, they may even change the course of history.  May we merit to change the world through our actions - one deed at a time. 

* In our Continuing Education class we discussed whether this story was indeed a "break" from the Joseph narrative, or whether it was an integral part of the story, using different lenses of reading and interpreting the text.  See here for the source sheet! https://sites.google.com/site/tassourcesheets/source-sheets/TorahthroughMultipleLenses.JudahandTamar.doc?attredirects=0&d=1