I have always enjoyed it when Chanukah
and Christmas overlap. On a very basic level, everyone is in the supermarket or
the mall for the same reasons. They are buying food for the Holiday parties and
feasts. So I happened to be at the supermarket this week and I bumped into a
friend who, like us, has a daughter preparing to study in Israel next year. We
discussed where our daughters applied, their first choice and what we hope they
learn while learning for the year in Israel. The friend explained why he wanted
his daughter to study at a particular seminary. One of their considerations for applying to a
Seminary was the institution’s ability to protect and shield their daughter from
all the shmutz of modern society, all the hedonistic behavior, the drugs, and
all the difficult things that teenagers have to deal with. The father continued
and explained that he quietly hoped that she would spend not one but two years
learning, meet a boy, return from her two years as very religious and very
observant and gets married. I smiled and I pointed that it seemed like my
friend was hoping that a year or two at Seminary would allow her to retreat from
and provide a sanctuary and protection for his daughter from all the negative
aspects of secularism, of hedonistic western culture. After he finished, I was
prepared to depart and continue with my shopping. Unfortunately, he made the
mistake of asking me my opinion. So I
offered my opinion. I explained that I had great difficulty in ascribing such
power to an institution to protect my children from modern secular
culture. I explained that I was far more
concerned that the institutions, like our home, offer our daughter the tools to
deal with, and not deny the negative aspects of secularism in our everyday
culture. The question, I said to my friend, is how assimilated will our
children become, how assimilated with they be in their home, in their daily
behavior, in attitude, and in the acknowledgment of the world around them. We
wished each other good luck and continued with my Chanukah food shopping.
This Shabbat we read from Parsha
Mikeitz. Mikeitz always coincides with Chanukah. The Parsha begins two years from when
VaYeishev concluded. Pharaoh has a dream. He is unsatisfied with all attempts
to interpret it. Pharaoh's wine chamberlain remembers that Yosef accurately
interpreted his dream while in prison. Yosef is released from prison and
brought before Pharaoh. He interprets that soon will begin seven years of
abundance followed by seven years of severe famine. Pharaoh appoints him as
viceroy to oversee the project. Egypt becomes the granary of the world. Yaakov
sends his sons to Egypt to buy food. The brothers come before Yosef and bow to
him. Yosef recognizes them but they do not recognize him. Without disclosing
his identity, Yosef sells the brothers' food but keeps Shimon hostage until
they bring their brother Binyamin to him as proof that they are who they say
they are. Yaakov refuses to let Binyamin go to Egypt, but when the famine grows
unbearable, he accedes. Yehuda guarantees Binyamin's safety, and the brothers
go to Egypt. Yosef welcomes the brothers lavishly as honored guests. When he
sees Binyamin he rushes from the room and weeps. Yosef instructs his servants
to replace the money in the sacks and to put his goblet inside Binyamin's
sack. When the goblet is discovered, Yosef demands Binyamin become his slave as
punishment. Yehuda interposes and offers himself instead, but Yosef refuses.
For the first time, beginning in
last week’s Torah portion, VaYeishev and again in Mikeitz, we read about an
individual encounter a dominant culture while still retaining his sense of code
and morality. Avraham left the dominant culture and encountered it periodically
but did so accompanied by his wife. Yitzchak encountered a different culture
but had never left home in a spiritual nor a physical sense (he always remained
in the land). Even Yaakov never had to confront a dominant culture. Yes, his
uncle Lavan was an idol worshipper, but it was family and besides Uncle Lavan’s
was a tribal culture. When Yaakov encountered Shechem, he did so accompanied by
his sons. However, Yosef was in his late teens, early twenties when arrived in
Egypt. He worked for Potifar. He had to stave off the sexual harassment of
Potifar’s wife and accept the injustice of prison. At the beginning of Mikeitz,
we find Yosef in prison, still referred to as Naar Ivri- Hebrew Youth
even though he is 30 (Gen. 41:46). Even
after interpreting Pharaohs’ dreams, becoming a Viceroy, wearing Egyptian
clothes, looking Egyptian, being clean-shaven like an Egyptian, speaking
Egyptian, marrying an Egyptian woman (Asnat) and receiving an Egyptian name (Zaphenat
Paneah), and essentially living an Egyptian lifestyle; Yosef somehow manages to
maintain his tribal loyalty, his Jewishness, his sense of morality and code.
When Pharaoh tells Yosef about his dream and is asked to interpret it; VaYa’An Yosef et Paroh Leimor, Biladai
Elohim Ya’Eneh et Shlom Paroh – Joseph
answered Pharaoh saying, That is beyond me; it is God who will respond with
Pharaoh’s welfare. The Or HaChaim
comments that Biladai is not only a humble expression “that is beyond
me”. Biladai means “this does not depend on me”. This is not
only an indication of Yosef giving credit for his “Dream Telling Gift” to God.
Yosef subtly indicates that his code and his theology will not waver within
this overbearing and all-encompassing culture. Yosef adds the words Shlom Paroh- literally, the peace of Pharaoh. Yosef is merely a
vessel, and he isn’t so much interpreting a dream, instead, he is providing a
prophecy. As a result, Yosef must speak truth to power and cannot bend or
interpret the meaning to satisfy some other agenda or plan except God’s plan.
Yosef, at the relatively young
age of 30 has accepted the fact that his path, although his choosing, is part
of God’s plan. Yes, some people are lucky to sense that a plan has been revealed
to them. Yosef’s spiritual strength, his unwavering sense of belonging to a covenantal
relationship means that no matter the name, no matter the clothes, no matter
the culture, he is acutely aware that certain constants will keep him grounded
in his relationship with God. As
parents, we don’t really know the paths any of our children are supposed to
take. We can hope, and we can offer them guidance as they make their way along
the path most suited to them, a path that fits their values and for which they
are passionate. Eventually, they will need to make those decisions for
themselves. While we light the Chanukah candles, we are reminded of Judaism’s
survival within a powerful Hellenistic culture, we are reminded of Yosef
surviving within a powerful Egyptian culture. We only hope that we have
provided them enough tools, enough education and enough grounding in values
that we deem important so that their decisions are an expression of a moral code
and covenant to which they belong.
Peace,
Rav Yitz
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