TorahParsha

How different are we from each other?

(For Parshat VaEireh)

 

i

Joseph’s brothers are cattlemen

and the life of cattle is an abomination to Egypt.

When they meet the Pharaoh

Joseph’s brothers request a separate land in Egypt to live in,

to be cattlemen in.

*
The Pharaoh says:

Let Joseph’s family dwell in the best part of the land,

and let them be officers even over my own cattle.

*

Though he is an Egyptian,

the Pharaoh in Joseph’s time 

finds his own life

in  the world of Joseph’s brothers,

in the world of cattle.

 

ii

A later Pharaoh enslaves Israel

and does not let Israel serve God.

God punishes him:

all the cattle of Egypt died

but not one of the cattle of the Children of Israel died.

*

God reminds this Pharaoh:

You wish to separate yourself from Israel

but you, too, hold cattle;

you, too, are of the world of Joseph’s brothers.

 

iv

We each hold each other’s lives within us.

To deny this is to come to cruelty

but more than this:

to deny that we each hold each other’s lives within us

it is to deny the life within us.

It is to destroy ourselves.

 

                                                                     

____

Shabbat Shalom, Abe

For a printer-friendly version of this piece, click here (word document).

 

Please pray for the premature infants Kalev Ezra and Baer Yakov bnei Emunah. Please continue to pray for  Achinoam Rina bat Avital Hodaya, Batya Shira bat Chasida, Ahuvah Rachel bat Orah and for Rachel Tovah bat Yehudit Esther

 

TorahParsha.com

Join TorahParsha on Facebook

 

 

Is freedom independence from others?

(for Parshat Shemot)

 

God commands Moses

to command Pharoah

to send Israel out

to serve God in the Desert.

*

God could have brought freedom in other ways.

Israel could have won a war against Egypt,

or Israel simply could have walked away.

*

But Israel’s freedom is not the story of strength over enemies

or even the story of Israel standing alone.

Israel’s freedom comes in Moses’ bringing Pharoah to send Israel to worship God:

in bringing Pharoah to send Israel to God.

*

When Israel brings God into the deeds

of even the most wicked, then freedom comes.  

 

                                                                     

____

Shabbat Shalom, Abe

For a printer-friendly version of this piece, click here (word document).

 

Please pray for the premature infants Kalev Ezra and Baer Yakov ben Emunah. Please continue to pray for  Achinoam Rina bat Avital Hodaya, Batya Shira bat Chasida, Ahuvah Rachel bat Orah and for Rachel Tovah bat Yehudit Esther

 

TorahParsha.com

Join TorahParsha on Facebook

 

 

How can parents guide a family?

(for Parshat VaYechi)

 

i

Ishmael is the older son. Abraham loves Ishmael first.

Esau is the older son. Isaac loves Esau most.

Of course the older son is loved:

he willl carry the family.

*

But God tells Abraham: your seed will be named through Isaac.

And Jacob, not Esau, receives Isaac’s blessing.

Isaac and Jacob become the patriarchs of Israel.

The younger son takes hold.

 

ii

Jacob has grandsons: Menashe and Efraim,

the sons of Joseph, Jacob’s beloved.

Menashe is Joseph’s older son.

Efraim is the younger.

Jacob blesses Efraim—the younger one—first.

Jacob tells Joseph: Efraim is younger,

but he will be the greater one.

*

Then Jacob’s family becomes the Children of Israel,

The nation of Israel begins.

 

iii

You are a mother, a father, a son:

you live in fixed roles within a family.

But in a nation, your role is the personal greatness you bring to bear.

*

Jacob reaches beyond the family.

Jacob reaches to the person:

not to the youngest son Efrayim,

but to the great one Efrayim.

*

The person comes forth.

A nation springs forth.

 

 

                                                                     

____

Shabbat Shalom, Abe

For a printer-friendly version of this piece,   click here (word document).

 

Please pray for the premature infants Kalev Ezra and Baer Yakov ben Emunah. Please continue to pray for  Achinoam Rina bat Avital Hodaya, Batya Shira bat ChasidaAhuvah Rachel bat Orah and for Rachel Tovah bat Yehudit Esther

 

TorahParsha.com

Join TorahParsha on Facebook

 

Should Your Truth Come from Within?

(for Parshat VaYigash)

i

Joseph tells his brothers: I have dreamt that your sheaves of wheat bowed to my sheaves of wheat.

His brothers ask: Shall you rule over us?

And they… hated him for his dreams.

They could not speak to him peacefully.

They send him to slavery in Egypt—

saying: Let us see what becomes of his dreams.

 

ii

Decades later, they meet again. 

There is famine. Joseph rules over all Egypt.

He gives Egypt food, he gives his brothers food.  

Joseph says to his brothers: Do not be ashamed at what you have done:

You planned harm; but God had His plans:

that I would come here, that I would rule over Egypt, that I would save a whole nation from hunger, that I would save you from hunger.

And he kissed all his brothers

and they spoke to him.

*

Healing begins.

 

iii

First, Joseph gleans meaning from within:

from his own dream.

This dream spawns hatred.

*

Later he culls meaning from God,

from God’s hand in actual life,

from the way the presence of God in life means that you must care for others.

It‘s only in this Truth that healing comes.  

 

 

Based on the Philosophy of Rav Yehudah Amital

                                                                     

____

Shabbat Shalom, Abe

For a printer-friendly version of this piece, click here (word document).

 

Please pray for the premature infants Kalev Ezra and Baer Yakov ben Emunah. Please continue to pray for  Achinoam Rina bat Avital Hodaya, Batya Shira bat ChasidaAhuvah Rachel bat Orah and for Rachel Tovah bat Yehudit Esther

 

TorahParsha.com

Join TorahParsha on Facebook

 

 

How do we relate to wealth?

For Parshat MiKeitz

i

In Joseph’s first dream, Joseph and his brothers gather wheat.

His eleven brothers’ wheat bows to Jacob’s wheat.

*

In Joseph’s second dream, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars bow to Joseph.

 

ii

In Pharaoh’s first dream, cows that Pharaoh has not seen the likes of in the whole land of Egypt stand by the River.

Recall that Egypt is the country of the Nile.

So the River is a sign of Egypt.

And these cows stand in reference to the land of Egypt.

*

In the second dream, Pharaoh dreams of ears of corn.

 

iii

in Pharaoh’s dreams, the cows and the River of Egypt become Egypt’s crops.

The culmination of the whole nation is mere wealth.

Later, Egypt becomes an enslaving nation:

people become chattel.

*

Joseph’s dreams do not come to human chattel.

Joseph dreams of family.

And in these dreams of family, crops become the stars and the sun and the moon:

mere wealth reaches to the cosmos.

 

 

Inspired in part by Rabbi Alex Israel’s reading of Joseph

____

Shabbat Shalom, Abe

For a printer-friendly version of this piece, click here (word document).

 

Please pray for the premature infants Kalev Ezra and Baer Yakov ben Emunah. Please continue to pray for  Achinoam Rina bat Avital Hodaya, Ahuvah Rachel bat Orah and for Rachel Tovah bat Yehudit Esther

 

Join TorahParsha on Facebook