Silence in the face of evil

 Vayeshev

Gen. 37:1 - 40:23

 

Précis: The story of Joseph begins with the words, “And Jacob dwelt (vayeshev) in the land of his father’s travels.” We learn that Joseph is Jacob’s favorite son. Joseph receives the famous coat of many colors, and dreams strange dreams and relates them to his brothers and father, creating additional concern (jealousy) on their part. The sons conspire to do away with Joseph, but before he dies, they sell him into slavery. Jacob is devastated when the sons present evidence of Joseph’s “death.” 

            We then have an intervening story about Judah. He marries off his first son to Tamar. The son soon dies, and, the next son is married to the widow (“levirate marriage.”) The second son (Onan) dies, and Judah is loath to offer the third son. The widow dresses as a harlot, seduces Judah, becomes pregnant, and reveals herself to Judah as a woman wronged. He acknowledges her as a rightful daughter.

           The scene shifts back to Joseph, who is now a servant in the household of Potiphar, an Egyptian official. Potiphar’s wife attempts to seduce Joseph but he refuses her advances. She accuses him nonetheless of attempted rape, and Joseph is tossed into prison. There, he meets jailed servants of Pharaoh, for whom he interprets dreams successfully. When the chief butler is restored to his post, he promises to “remember” Joseph, but the parasha ends with the words, “but he forgot him.”

 

Gen. 37:32-33 “…. We found this. Is this your son’s tunic or not? He recognized it, and said, ‘My son’s tunic! A savage beast devoured him! Joseph was torn by a beast!’”

           

            Joseph’s brothers present “evidence” of his death, which Jacob accepts. They never tell their father the truth. Rachel Farbiarz reminds us (MyJewishLearning.com, 12/9/14) that midrash says that there actually was one person who was aware of their conspiracy of silence: their grandfather, Isaac. Isaac had been the object of trickery in the matter of the blessings between Jacob and Esau, and he could spot the deception (even though he was aged and blind).

            What is the purpose of this midrash? Farbiarz suggests that Isaac remained silent because of the trauma of the Akedah. He would not break his silence, and he assumed it to be the “will of God” because he felt that the violence done to him by his father was also God’s will. The midrash may teach us that those who suffer at the hands of others are loath to air their grievances, and fail to support others who suffer.

            On the other hand, the midrash can be looked at in an entirely different way. Isaac’s silence caused real harm to his son Jacob, who grieved for decades over the assumed death of his beloved son. Silence in the face of knowledge of wrong-doing is wrong. It is not "accepting God’s will," nor the will of a political leader. It is cowardice. 

We, not I

 Vayishlach

Gen. 32:4 - 36:43

 

Précis: As he nears his return to his homeland, Jacob sent (vayishlach) messengers to Esau to ascertain Esau’s state of mind after their 20-year separation. While he awaits a reply, Jacob encounters an “adversary” (most assume an angel) with whom Jacob wrestles through the night. As dawn breaks, the adversary announces that Jacob’s name is to be changed to Israel: “He who wrestles with God.” On the following day, Esau approaches, and despite Jacob’s fears, there is a happy reunion.

            We then read the story of how a local prince rapes Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, and then asks to marry her. Jacob agrees on condition that all of the men of the city are circumcised. While the men are recovering, Jacob’s sons Simon and Levi attack the city and kill all of the inhabitants in revenge for the insult to their sister. Jacob soon travels to Beth-el (the site of his ladder dream), and on the way, Rachel gives birth to Benjamin and dies in childbirth. Thereafter, Isaac’s death is noted, as is his burial by Esau and Jacob. The parasha ends with a genealogy of Esau and his descendants.

 

Gen. 32:27 – “Send me away (shalheni) because the dawn is breaking.”

 

Rabbi David Hoffman, writing in JTS Parashah Commentary (12/4/14) , cites Rabbi Sholom Noach Berezovsky (z'l), the Slonimer Rebbe, who suggested that this week’s reading emphasized this idea of a unique personal mission, represented by Jacob. Jacob wrestles and his assailant cries out in the words of this week’s verse above.

            Why does the adversary demand to be sent away now that dawn is breaking? The Rabbis suggest a dialogue between Jacob and his foe. Jacob demands to know, “Why must you run away at daybreak? Are you a thief or are you a kidnapper who fears the dawn?”

            At this moment, the adversary confesses his angelic nature, and Jacob demands a blessing.  The Slonimer Rebbe builds on this Talmudic midrash. This angel, like other celestial beings, was created by the Divine and tasked with a particular mission; the angel becomes worthy of singing to God only after the mission is accomplished.  This angel’s task was to test Jacob, and to try to keep him from meeting Esau to make peace with his brother and fully commit to his (Jacob’s) allegiance to God. As daybreak approached, the angel realized he had completed his mission and could now come before God and sing a song of praise to Him.

            But the Slonimer Rebbe next makes an audacious claim: what is true for angels is true for human beings. Each of us – every human being – has a role to play in the world as an agent of God. We each have an individual mission which each of us alone can accomplish. Each of us is therefore unique and irreplaceable.

            I add that our individual mission may be difficult to understand, just as Jacob’s wrestling was difficult. But one way in which we may uncover our individual mission is to grasp that it is part of a greater whole. As Rabbi Sacks (z’l) notes in his final work, Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times:

            “Societal freedom cannot be sustained by market economics and liberal

            democratic politics alone. It needs a third element: morality, a concern for

            the welfare of others, an active commitment to justice and compassion,

            a willingness to ask not just what is good for me but what is good for ‘all of

            Us together.’ It is about ‘Us,’ not ‘Me;’ about ‘We,’ not ‘I.’”