This week, in Vayeshev, we read that Jacob finally settles, he rests in the Land. All the comings and goings that have marked his life until now have ended, and he now simply dwells in the Land. But even as this word implies a settling in, his life quickly and tragically becomes unsettled with the drama of the staged ‘death’ of his precious son, Joseph.
Mann Tracht, Un Gott Lacht, Man plans and God laughs. We read this phrase in Talmud; perhaps the rabbis were remembering all of the ways we each have been victims of our own hubris.
The Joseph saga begins with this parashah and will continue for the following three sidrot. Joseph, as with his father Jacob, is a complicated man. A favoured child, Joseph is gifted with prescience, and that gift, combined with paternal favouritism is seen by his jealous older brothers as undeserved. And so, the trajectory of jealousy leads them to behave in unconscionable ways – throwing him into a pit, selling him, and faking his death. What will become of this boy, who not long after being sold to the Egyptians, is thrown into the depths of prison?
As we hold the hundred hostages still held in Gaza in our prayers, this story resonates so painfully. We pray for their return daily, matir assurim, that they will be freed from captivity, returned home. As we begin to think about Hannukah – the lights, the oil, the story of redemption and reclamation that is fundamental to Hannukah, we must also hold that this season also marks civil discord within the Jewish people. Brother against brother. Those who wished to assimilate and hold more universalist values versus those who demanded that the people Israel enforce their particularist peoplehood, values, customs and commandments. Hannukah is probably our most complicated historical commemoration.
The story we hold about Hannukah is that the Temple was redeemed. The Maccabees defeated the Assyrians. Order was restored. But perhaps it was an embroidered k’tonet, a coat, that the Rabbis transformed into a small yet miraculous vial of oil, to validate such a victory.
As we have seen throughout Torah already, dissension can breed enmity. Or, if we truly see panim el panim, God’s Face-Presence in each human encounter, perhaps that same dissension can move us forward into dialogue. Into listening, just as Joseph listened deeply, even whilst imprisoned. His careful listening led him into freedom, and into a place of very profound reconciliation with his brothers. But that, dear friends, is for another day.
With deep love,
Rabbi Lynn
Vayeshev
December 18, 2024 by Rabbi Lynn Greenhough • From the Rabbi's Desk
This week, in Vayeshev, we read that Jacob finally settles, he rests in the Land. All the comings and goings that have marked his life until now have ended, and he now simply dwells in the Land. But even as this word implies a settling in, his life quickly and tragically becomes unsettled with the drama of the staged ‘death’ of his precious son, Joseph.
Mann Tracht, Un Gott Lacht, Man plans and God laughs. We read this phrase in Talmud; perhaps the rabbis were remembering all of the ways we each have been victims of our own hubris.
The Joseph saga begins with this parashah and will continue for the following three sidrot. Joseph, as with his father Jacob, is a complicated man. A favoured child, Joseph is gifted with prescience, and that gift, combined with paternal favouritism is seen by his jealous older brothers as undeserved. And so, the trajectory of jealousy leads them to behave in unconscionable ways – throwing him into a pit, selling him, and faking his death. What will become of this boy, who not long after being sold to the Egyptians, is thrown into the depths of prison?
As we hold the hundred hostages still held in Gaza in our prayers, this story resonates so painfully. We pray for their return daily, matir assurim, that they will be freed from captivity, returned home. As we begin to think about Hannukah – the lights, the oil, the story of redemption and reclamation that is fundamental to Hannukah, we must also hold that this season also marks civil discord within the Jewish people. Brother against brother. Those who wished to assimilate and hold more universalist values versus those who demanded that the people Israel enforce their particularist peoplehood, values, customs and commandments. Hannukah is probably our most complicated historical commemoration.
The story we hold about Hannukah is that the Temple was redeemed. The Maccabees defeated the Assyrians. Order was restored. But perhaps it was an embroidered k’tonet, a coat, that the Rabbis transformed into a small yet miraculous vial of oil, to validate such a victory.
As we have seen throughout Torah already, dissension can breed enmity. Or, if we truly see panim el panim, God’s Face-Presence in each human encounter, perhaps that same dissension can move us forward into dialogue. Into listening, just as Joseph listened deeply, even whilst imprisoned. His careful listening led him into freedom, and into a place of very profound reconciliation with his brothers. But that, dear friends, is for another day.
With deep love,
Rabbi Lynn