(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
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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