Deception

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. 39:7-8 “After a time, his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and said, ‘Lie with me.’ But he refused….”

           When Joseph refuses Potiphar’s wife, she grabs an article of his clothing, which is used as “evidence” of rape. The Hebrew word for the clothing is “beged” and has the Hebrew root of bet-gimel-dalet. Another word with this root is “begidah,” usually translated as “treachery” or “deception.” What is the connection between clothing and deception?

            Here, clothing was used as false evidence. If we take this a (modern) step forward, we see that truth also can be concealed by ignorance and hatred.  

            In Israel and around the world, the so-called “main-stream media” as well as countless “influencers” in social media have quickly turned from the inhumane, animalistic attacks of Hamas on Israelis into tirades against Israel and Jews everywhere. The deception is found not only in outrageous statements condoning the genocide of Israelis and Jews everywhere (a self-acknowledged aspect of the Hamas agenda), but also by the canard of equating Zionism with colonialism and oppression. At its core, antisemitism (more accurately called “Jew-hatred”) is based on millennia of lies, holding Jews and our state to a double-standard.

            The term “intersectionality” has gained a foothold, particularly on college campuses. Intersectionality stands for the proposition that the world is divided into the oppressed and the oppressors, and that those who are oppressed must unite to fight against the oppressors. Jews conveniently fall int the camp of “oppressors” because of a deep-seeded antisemitic rationale This week, we saw Congressional testimony by the heads of MIT, Harvard, and Penn who refused to state that calls for genocide against Jews were not prohibited in their universities. Just imagine their reaction if we substitute “Black” or “transgender” for the word “Jew.” This is another example of the double standard at the core of Jew-hatred. 

             As Senator Schumer recently so eloquently pointed out, Jews have been among the oppressed for thousands of years, and continue to be oppressed today.

            When evidence is revealed (including videos shot by Hamas terrorists themselves) of the use of rape and torture against Jewish women, where are the voices who defend (non-Jewish) women around the world? I guess Jewish women who have been raped, sexually violated, and butchered don’t fall into the category of the “oppressed.”

            Truth in the Joseph story was hidden by deception. Today, the truth about Israel and Jews everywhere is being hidden by an ignorance of history and by Jew-hatred. We cannot remain quiet. Like Joseph, we will ultimately prevail. 

Fear and Courage

 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. 32:12 “Rescue me, I pray, from the hand of my brother.” 

             Rabbi Sacks discusses Jacob’s fear, and our own (Covenant and Conversation, 12/8/22). He calls the episode of Jacob’s fear “one of the most enigmatic episodes in the Torah, but also one of the most important, because it was the moment that gave the Jewish people its name: Israel, one who “wrestles with God and with men and prevails.”

            Jacob is terrified by news of his brother’s approach with an armed band. He attempts appeasement, prayer (as in the cited verse) and divides his household to lessen the chances of complete demise, as he prepares for war. Still, he remains fearful, and wrestles with a stranger until dawn, when he is renamed “Israel.”

            Rashbam, the grandson of Rashi, sees this episode as what modern commentator Robert Alter calls a “type-seen.” As is the case of man-meets-woman-at-the-well, or the birth-of-a-son-to-an-infertile- woman, the text is putting us on notice that there is more to the scene than meets the eye at first. Rashbam compares the story here with the near-death experience of Moses when Zipporah circumcised their son, and with Book of Jonah,

            Jonah, in particular, may hold the key to understanding the matter. Jonah sought escape from his mission, and fled for Tarshish. After being swallowed by the great fish, Jonah realizes that escape is not possible. Rashbam notes that Jacob remains afraid, but recognizes that escape was impossible only when he wrestles God’s messenger. Moses and Jonah were reluctant about their missions. So, too, was Jacob. This reluctance reappears again and again among the prophets as well.

            Courage, Sacks reminds us, does not mean having no fear. It means having fear but overcoming it. We may feel inadequate to undertake the great mission of the Jewish people: being a light among the nations. He concludes with words which are so applicable today: “To feel fear is fine. To give way to it is not. For God has faith in us all even though, at times, even the best of us lack faith in ourselves.”