TorahParsha

Israel is Born in Egypt

i
Jacob and his sons come down to Egypt. They are fleeing from famine. This flight begins the time of the Jewish people in that land.

And the verse says, And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen…and they took possession of it.

*
Note how the verse says they. They took possession of it.

Before, Israel was not a they. Israel was a man. Israel was the name that God gave to Jacob, the patriarch, God's angel telling him: Your name will no more be called Jacob, but Israel.

Now, in Egypt, Israel has become a they.

Israel has become a people.

ii
This happens in Egypt.

This happens, too, in Goshen: a land tucked within the land of Egypt.

iii
We are separate from the nations of the world (we were born in Goshen).

We are bound to the nations of the world (we were born in Egypt).

We are both of these things, from our birth.

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Kings from Empathy

i
Tamar marries Yehudah's two sons in succession. In succession, both sons die.

Yehudah promises to marry Tamar to his much younger son, when that son grows older. But Yehudah also fears that Tamar has caused his other sons' death (which is not what happened). And so Yehudah does not marry Tamar to his youngest son.

Instead, Yehudah leaves Tamar a widow in his household.

*
Tamar tricks Yehudah. She dresses as a harlot. She covers her face. So Yehudah does not know, when he hires her and makes her pregnant, that she is Tamar.

*
For payment, Tamar takes collateral: Yehudah's chord, and his staff, and his ring.

Much later, Yehudah condemns Tamar for being pregnant through harlotry (not knowing that she carries his child). And Tamar shows him his chord, and his staff, and his ring, saying: The man to whom these are, I am with child.

Then Yehudah relents of everything, saying: She is more righteous than I.

*
Then Tamar gives birth to twins. One of the twins is Peretz. Peretz is the ancestor to the line of David, king of Israel.

ii
One son is replaced with the next. And one husband is replaced with the next. And a daughter-in-law is swapped for a harlot with no face.

Everything is exchangeable in Yehudah's world. Everything is a commodity.

*
A world of pure economics is a world of cruel power.

Tamar needs a supply of husbands; Yehudah owns the supply. So Yehudah can keep Tamar husbandless, if he chooses.

iii
Tamar does not take money for her act. She takes a chord, and a staff, and a ring. And she says of these objects: The man to whom these are, I am with child.

Nothing is a commodity for Tamar. For her, everything is connected to someone. For her, everything implies empathy. Everything implies responsibility.

A chord and a staff and a ring do not mean payment: they mean a specific man, who is Yehudah, who is a father.

*
In saying: She is more righteous than I, Yehudah accepts Tamar's view. Empathy enters Israel.

With this empathy, Peretz--the ancestor of the line of the kings of Israel--can be born.

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The Empathy of Israel

i
Jacob wrestles an angel, at night, before meeting with his brother Esau.

Jacob has not seen Esau for more than twenty years. Jacob fears that Esau may want to kill him.

*
The angel changes Jacob's name. The angel calls Jacob, Yisrael: Israel.

For, the angel says to Jacob, of Jacob, You have struggled (saritah) with God and with man, and you have prevailed.

ii
But struggle brings pain.

Wrestling Jacob, the angel touches the hollow of Jacob's thigh, by the place on the leg called the sinew of the vein.

That touch wounds Jacob and makes him limp.

*
This wound creates a Law.

The verse says: Because of this wound, when we eat meat, the Children of Israel do not eat of the sinew of the vein until this day.

iii
Thousands of years ago, Jacob was hurt in his thigh.

Now, as we enjoy food, we may not enjoy the meat of the place of Jacob's wound.

*
To be of the Children of Israel is to hold empathy for all that has happened to Israel, ever. 

That empathy is tied to the very roots of our name.

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