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TEMPLE EMANUEL
CHERRY HILL, NEW JERSEY
SHABBAT SHALOM FROM TEMPLE EMANUEL
WE HOPE THAT THIS WILL ADD TO YOUR FAMILY'S ENJOYMENT OF SHABBAT
Shabbat January 3, 2009 / 7 Tevet 5769
Vayigash - Genesis 44:18 - 47:27
Parasha Overview
Judah pleads with Joseph to free Benjamin and offers himself as a replacement. (44:18-34)
Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and forgives them for selling him into slavery. (45:1-15)
Although the famine still rages, Pharaoh invites Joseph's family to "live off the fat of the land." (45:16-24)
Jacob learns that Joseph is still alive and, with God's blessing, goes to Egypt. (45:25-46:33)
Pharaoh permits Joseph's family to settle in Goshen. Pharaoh then meets with Jacob. (47:1-12)
With the famine increasing, Joseph designs a plan for the Egyptians to trade their livestock and land for food. The Israelites thrive in Egypt. (47:13-27)
This week's Torah portion, Vayigash, tells of Joseph's reconciliation with himself, his brothers, and his father. It raises timeless questions about the human potential to change.
"Vayigash aylav Yehudah...." (Genesis 44:18) And Judah drew near to Joseph to plead for his brother Benjamin's freedom. Judah volunteered to be taken as a slave in Benjamin's stead, so that his father Jacob would not 'lose' another son. [What a change from the brothers that threw Joseph into a pit and left him to die!] Hearing Judah's passionate concern for his father's feelings, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers. He told them not to feel guilty for having left him in the pit. It was God's plan that Joseph should end up in Egypt, where he could predict the famine, become Pharaoh's administrator, and save his own family from starvation. Joseph told his brothers to return to Jacob and bring the entire clan to Egypt where he will ensure their well-being for the remaining years of the famine.
Jacob was predictably overjoyed to hear that Joseph is alive and, after being assured by God of divine protection, goes to be reunited with his long lost son. The famine continues. When the Egyptians ran out of money with which to purchase bread, Joseph agrees to trade food for livestock. When the livestock was depleted, Joseph traded bread for land. In this way all the money, flocks, and land in Egypt came to be owned by Pharaoh. Joseph provided the Egyptian people with seeds to plant and decreed that one fifth of all that grows would belong to Pharaoh, while four-fifths remained the property of the one who cultivated the land.
COMMENTARY
When Judah approached Joseph, his willingness to be held in lieu of Benjamin demonstrated his capacity to change. In Hebrew, this is called 't’shuvah'. We know we have changed when we face a situation we have faced before, when we made a mistake, and we make a different, better choice. Judah had actively participated in the abandonment of his brother Joseph. He did not offer to be thrown into the pit himself. This time though a different Judah faced the same situation. This changed Judah was prepared to sacrifice himself for his brother Benjamin and his father Jacob. is willing to give up his own freedom for the sake of his youngest brother and his father. Judah had done 't’shuvah'. He had changed his behavior and he had grown in character.
TABLE TALK
When the Torah first introduces Joseph, he is wearing a rainbow-colored coat and flaunting his personal dreams. In this portion, he is managing the welfare of an entire hungry nation and saving his family from starvation, both physical and spiritual. What has happened to cause Joseph to change? Think about a significant way in which you have changed. What external factors contributed to your change? What internal things inspired you?
According to the Torah, it was only after Joseph hugged his brothers and cried that his brother's were able to say even a word. How did Joseph's actions free them to speak? Why might the brothers have been silent after Joseph told them who he was?
Jewish law and lore regards a person who had affected t’shuvah, who has demonstrated the courage to change behavior, as greater than someone who has not had to make that change. What do you think? Why?
Jacob is overwhelmed to hear that Joseph is alive yet he does not go to Egypt without talking with God. After God assures Jacob that God will travel with him and his family, Jacob agrees to the move. Why is the presence of God so important to Jacob? How have you experienced the presence of God?
Approaching someone when you have an important request (as Judah did) or a significant piece of information to share (as Joseph had) can be frightening. Think about a time when you have been in a situation like Joseph or Judah. What did you do? What would you do if you had the chance to do it over again?
DID YOU KNOW...that Rabbi Asher ben Yechiel taught: "Each night before going to sleep, forgive whoever wronged you."
WHY DON'T YOU TRY...contacting old friends or relatives with whom you have been out of touch for a long period of time. Send them a personalized message (and perhaps a small symbolic gift) inviting them to get together. Whether you are able to meet in person, on the telephone, or through the mail or email, spend some time telling them what your relationship has meant to you, relive some significant moments from your past, and, together, think of ways to stay in touch and to continue to get together in the future.
Live Life
by Adam Lieberman
When Jacob and his family arrived in Egypt, Joseph brought Jacob, his father, to meet Pharaoh. The first words Pharaoh said to Jacob were:
"How many are the days of the years of your life?" (Genesis 47:8)
A LIFE LESSON
Of all the things that Pharaoh could ask Jacob, why did he first want to know how old Jacob was? Or did he?
Pharaoh didn't really care to know Jacob's chronological age. Rather, Pharaoh wanted to know how many days that Jacob actually felt alive in his life. Just how many days were there where Jacob lived life to its fullest? It was these days that would actually determine the years of his life.
People often confuse activity with accomplishment. We can be busy all day long, but how much was actually accomplished? And it gets even worse. What if someone spent the entire day watching television and eating ice cream? Would that really be a day that could be counted as a fulfilling day in our lives? Of course not.
Sadly, many of us are watching television and eating ice cream in our own way. God gave each of us a unique and special talent that He wants us to use. Living each day as though it might be your last is a true day in your life.
A task will contract or expand depending on how much time we're given. People will inevitably wait until the last minute to finish most anything. Whether it's packing for a trip, buying gifts, or completing a project, we all seem to take as much time as we've been given. On Friday night, minutes before the Sabbath begins, Jews around the world are rushing to complete their Sabbath preparations. It doesn't matter whether it's winter and the Sabbath arrives at 4:00 or the summer time when it arrives at 8:00, everyone always uses all the time they've been allotted.
Similarly, any personal goals in our life will also contract or expand depending on just how much time we have for it. And since most goals are ones which we want to accomplish during our lifetime, then in theory you have your entire life to achieve them. This is why most people never scratch the surface of their potential. Sadly, the world is full of elderly people in their rocking chairs looking back on a life gone by who are still waiting for the perfect time to begin their goals and live their dreams.
And this is exactly what Pharaoh was asking Jacob. He wanted to know how many days there were that Jacob actually lived. Pharaoh knew Jacob was such a wise and revered man, so he wanted to know just how many days it was that Jacob was able to fight his instinctive urge to put off working toward his goals and aspirations and actually live each day like it might be his last.
Since a task will contract or expand depending upon the time we've been given for its accomplishment, then you can see it's vital to begin right now to live all the days... of your life.
Adam Lieberman is a business consultant and who advises executives and companies across a spectrum of industries. He also runs a non-profit foundation which helps Jews of all backgrounds to see the beauty and relevance of their heritage. The insights he receives from the weekly Torah portion enable him to live a happy, meaningful, and balanced life. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and children.
Comment by Birgit Sacher, R.J.E.
The Torah tells the story of God's role in history. As this segment of our people's story unfolds, we may recall God's earlier words to Abram, "Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years; but I will execute judgment on the nation they shall serve, and in the end they shall go free with great wealth' (Genesis 15:13). In Parashat Vayigash, Jacob is clearly motivated to go to Egypt, to save his family from starvation and to reunite with his favorite son whom he had presumed dead. Nevertheless, Jacob is about to make a move that will lead to 400 years of suffering of his (Israel's) children. How can this be part of God's plan? During the lowest points in our history and in our lives, was God with us?
Jacob and his family faced the challenges of being strangers in a new land. They and their descendants confronted the serious questions of assimilation as they struggled with a new language, culture, and national identity. Jacob's family learned to adapt in order to make a livelihood, and yet find a way in which to retain their sense of peoplehood, their integrity as the children of Israel. The challenges that they faced there have been repeated throughout Jewish history and continue to pose a threat to Jewish continuity.
In A Torah Commentary for Our Times, Harvey Fields explains, "Interpreters of the Joseph story are correct when they point out two responses to the challenge of assimilation. One is to segregate into ghettos, to seal yourself off from the rest of society around you; the other is to participate fully in the society but also to work at retaining your historic traditions. ... For centuries, Jews have struggled with the stress and strains of assimilation. In some places, they have flourished, contributing richly to the greater society while also preserving and advancing Jewish culture and faith. At other times, they have suffered the brutality of anti-Semitism or even the rejection and abandonment of some Jews in their own community' (116).
God tells Jacob not to be afraid, and God's words call out to us who know the years of suffering that lie ahead. God reassures Jacob that God will be with him throughout this sojourn. God may have only said lech l'cha to Abraham, but Jacob heard the same divine voice. He went on a journey, trusting God. It is a journey we continue when we hearken to the Psalmist (23:4) "Though I walk through a valley of deepest darkness, I feel no harm, for You are with Me.' When we find ourselves in a valley, we are enjoined to walk through it, not try to avoid it or to dwell in it. We are asked to defy reality, not to deny it, to accept our fate and our faith at the same time.
Through Israel's experience in Egypt our people is given its charge--to serve God instead of any human master. Gunther Plaut reminds us that "in Canaan the people of Israel could not or would not become what they were destined to be... In Goshen there would be isolation and segregation, both of which would provide future soil for the development of a particular national characteristic' (Torah: A Modern Commentary, 297). Following our experience in Egypt we repeatedly read "for you were strangers in the Land of Egypt" as the justification for various commandments. We learned empathy in Egypt, or at least we were supposed to.
In our own lives we may wish to protect those we love from pain, but indeed this is rarely a possibility. Rather, these experiences are part of what shape us, as is the knowledge that our loved ones will support us in trying times. This short selection from this week's parasha points not only to the cycles of our history but also to the core our theology. In reflecting on our history and even in experiencing our own lives, we choose to see God's hand. And when we see suffering that we cannot stop, we are compelled to soothe it rather than abandon it. We believe that God is with us even, maybe especially, when we suffer. There is the ultimate hope that the suffering will prove to be ephemeral, and in retrospect, we may even learn from the suffering a lesson that otherwise would have been lost on us. Remember to walk through the valleys. You are not alone.
- How have Jewish people assimilated in different times and places? Do you think any of these things have put us in danger of losing our Jewish identity? To what extent is it okay to assimilate into the general culture? How have these choices affected the Jewish people?
- Even though God told Jacob's grandfather that a future generation would suffer, God still allowed them to go to Egypt. Think of a difficult experience in your life. What did you learn? How are you different? Do you wish you had not had that experience, or does it seem to have served a purpose?
D'VAR TORAH
We have now come to the denouement of the dramatic story of Joseph and his family. After having been sold into slavery by his brothers, Joseph, with the help of God and his own cleverness, has risen to the position of second in command in Egypt. He has finally revealed himself to his brothers, who had come twice to procure food to sustain their families during the famine that had afflicted both Egypt and Canaan. And he has sent for his father and the rest of his extended family, intending that they will survive the remaining five years of the famine in the rich pastureland of the Egyptian region of Goshen. It seems that all is going well and that Joseph’s position in Egypt is so secure that his family’s future is assured. Yet something peculiar happens: Joseph instructs his brothers to dissemble when Pharaoh asks what their occupation is. Even though Joseph himself plans to tell Pharaoh that his brothers are shepherds, he asks them to say that they are breeders of livestock because “all shepherds are abhorrent to Egyptians.” However, despite this clear request, the brothers Joseph introduces to Pharaoh tell him that they are shepherds, and Pharaoh is clearly not troubled by this information. In fact, he offers to hire some of Joseph’s brothers to tend his own livestock.
Let us consider Joseph’s motivation for wanting his brothers to lie to Pharaoh. Was he afraid that his brothers might embarrass him by portraying themselves as poor shepherds rather than rich breeders of livestock? Did he fear offending Pharaoh by having his brothers acknowledge that they practiced a profession that was “abhorrent to Egyptians”? Was he perhaps secretly anxious that his position was not as secure as he thought it was and that one false move on his brothers’ part could erase everything that he had worked so hard to achieve?
Whatever the source of Joseph’s insecurity was, his brothers did not share it: They straightforwardly told Pharaoh that they were shepherds and Pharaoh, in turn, gave them the best pastureland in Egypt. Pharaoh’s positive response to their request proves that Joseph need not have worried: His standing with Pharaoh was so well established that royal favor was extended to Joseph’s entire family.
So why was Joseph so insecure despite his high position, and why were his brothers so confident despite their status as guests and recent supplicants? Perhaps their attitude was due to the fact that until very recently, Joseph’s brothers had been living in their own land, whereas Joseph, beneath all the trappings of power and privilege, was still a foreigner. Throughout Jewish history, since our people’s slavery in Egypt, Jews in the Diaspora have felt insecure. We are all familiar with the scene from Fiddler on the Roof in which the Jews of Anatevka are told during a wedding reception that they must leave within a few days, and many of us have heard stories about older relatives who always kept a packed suitcase under the bed. Even we American Jews in the early twenty-first century who are accepted in this society sometimes feel that our security is illusory and that one false move could lead to massive anti-Semitism.
So what do we do as a result of our fear? We pray and work to ensure our continued thriving in this land, and we pray for peace and security in Israel, so that our fellow Jews there may also continue to have the confidence of Joseph’s brothers.
Jacob's Elderly Appearance
by Rabbi Yehuda Appel
The powerful book "Chassidic Tales of the Holocaust" tells the story of a mother and her daughter, Livia, who somehow managed to survive the war. Looking out for each other, encouraging each other day after horror-filled day, they made it through the terror of several concentration camps.
After the war, a sympathetic German woman looked at Livia and commented, "It must have been very difficult for people your age to endure all this suffering."
"How old do you think I am?" Livia asked her.
"Maybe 60 or 62," replied the woman.
"No. I'm 14," replied Livia.
Terrified upon hearing this, the women crossed herself and fled.
The enormous effect that sorrow can have upon a person's visage figures prominently in this week's Torah portion, Vayigash. In the narrative, the aged patriarch Jacob is brought before Pharaoh and gives him a blessing. Pharaoh then asks Jacob how old he is. Jacob responds: "Few and bad have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not reached the years of the life of my forefathers in the days of their wanderings."
The commentaries note that in fact Jacob did have a miserable life. For decades, he lived in fear that his brother Esav would murder him. Then he spent 20 years working for his wicked uncle Lavan, who constantly cheated him and made him work under the most difficult physical conditions. Then Dina, Jacob's only daughter, was tragically raped. Later, Jacob spent many years in sorrow, convinced that his beloved son Joseph had died.
But, despite going through all this pain (and perhaps in part because of it), Jacob managed to become a great tzaddik. In fact, he worked so hard on improving his character, that many classical sources describe Jacob as "the most righteous person who ever lived."
Given that he had reached such a high level of righteousness, Jacob's comment to Pharaoh about his "life of great difficulty" seems inappropriate. While the average person may complain about life's trials, a tzaddik is not supposed to!
The Midrash goes on to describe God's consternation with Jacob's comment. The Almighty tells Jacob: "I provided you with a refuge from Esau and Lavan, returned to you both Dina and Joseph - and you're complaining?!"
The Midrash concludes that Jacob's life was shortened as a result of these words of complaint. For if Jacob (or anybody else) does not fully appreciate life, then why should he be granted longevity?!
Other commentaries, however, explain the incident with Pharaoh differently. They say that Pharaoh was overwhelmed by the ancient-looking appearance of Jacob, and asked about his age. Jacob, realizing that his appearance made him seem far older than he actually was, felt compelled to explain to Pharaoh the cause of this phenomenon, and described the difficulties he had faced in his life.
Thus, in the view of these commentaries, Jacob's words were not a complaint, but rather an explanation of his appearance. As a great tzaddik, he would not (especially to a public personage such as Pharaoh) utter bitter complaints about his life. Rather, Jacob was explaining how the tragedies of life had become etched on his visage ... just as they would on his great-granddaughter, Livia, some millennia hence.
SHRAGA'S WEEKLY by Rabbi Shraga Simmons
"EXILE AND RETURN"
At the end of last week's parasha (Miketz), things look grim. Joseph - having not yet revealed his true identity - has accused his bothers of theft and spying, and now Benjamin is to be arrested and imprisoned. Joseph has the brothers on the ropes and they're going down for the 10-count.
And then Parashat Miketz ends.
THE STORY CONTINUES
Here it is one week later and we resume the story in Parashat Vayigash. The Jewish world is crumbling further: Yehudah threatens to send the brothers on a violent rampage if Joseph doesn't stop his oppressive tactics.
At this very moment - with the brothers toe-to-toe, locked in a explosive struggle that seems insolvable... Joseph reveals himself as their long-lost brother. With three words, "I am Joseph" (Genesis 45:3), everything now becomes clear. The previous 20 years of doubt and suffering were all worth it, says Joseph. It's all part of God's master plan. The reunited brothers hug, and all is back to normal.
Rabbi Zev Leff asks: Why did Parashat Miketz have to end on such a bad note? Why didn't the Torah simply extend Miketz a few more verses and include the resolution of the story? Why do we have to wait a whole week to find out what happens?!
Recall how this whole story began with Joseph sold into slavery, then sitting in an Egyptian dungeon. More than any other Biblical account, this story illustrates the lesson that "everything turns out good in the end." In order to drive home this lesson, the Torah makes us wait one week to find out the ending!
LIMITED PERSPECTIVE
In a great sense this is the story of our own lives as well. We work, we plan, we struggle - and things often end up a big mess. The righteous suffer and the wicked prosper. How do the pieces of this puzzle possibly fit together?
The premise for this question comes from a certain lack of perspective. Somehow we imagine that the world began when we're born, and ends when we die. Everything that happened beforehand is lumped together as "ancient history." If I can't understand it today, then it must not make sense at all.
The truth is that we are here on earth for a short time. We do not see the "Big Picture." We don't know all the details that happened before we were here, and we certainly don't know what will happen after we're gone. It is unfair to take a single event out of context. Why did it happen? We might not see the answer immediately; we might not even see it in our lifetime.
Perhaps that's why older people seem to have more wisdom -because through the perspective of time, they've seen how seemingly unrelated events connect together.
FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT
In truth, it is often when things look the most grim that they turn around. The night is at its absolute darkness just moments before the first rays of morning sun begin to illuminate the sky.
In the morning service, we say: "Blessed are You, God, Who forms light and creates darkness..." It is understandable thanking God for light. But why for darkness?
Because Judaism says the darkness is not negative. Rather it is a necessary step in the process toward light. Only because of our limited perception, do we perceive the darkness as an end unto itself.
A seed in the ground is in a dark, cold and dirty place. Then the seed begins to decay. To the onlooker, it looks like death. And then, at the very moment the seed has completely broken down, something miraculous happens. It begins to sprout.
Think about your life, your career, your most cherished relationships. Was the process smooth? Unlikely. In general, haven't you experienced greater growth when times have been tough - more so than when times have been smooth? In fact the night is darkest at the moment just before the first rays of morning light. From the darkness comes light.
FAMILY PARSHA FOR PARENTS AND KIDS
In life, sometimes things happen that we like and sometimes things happen that we don’t like. Is it all just up to chance?
In this week’s Torah portion, Joseph’s brothers, who had sold him into slavery many years before, are shocked to find him as viceroy (a position like vice-president) in Egypt. They are afraid that he will now get even with them.
But instead of being angry, Joseph reassures them: “It wasn’t you who sent me here, but God,” he explains. Joseph goes on to say that God caused a chain of events so that he (Joseph) would become a ruler in Egypt to save his family from the great famine that had come into the world.
The Torah wants us to learn the lesson that was so clear to Joseph -- that everything happens according to God’s plans and nothing is merely left to chance.
In our story two sisters learn that everything in life happens for a reason.
STORY
“Guided Tour”
Charming rural towns and patches of green forest whizzed by as Becky and her sister Sue gazed out the window chatting excitedly.
They had been looking forward to their yearly bus trip to spend a long weekend with their grandparents in the country.
“Hey I don’t remember this hotel from last year,” remarked Becky.
“No, neither do I,” answered her sister with a trace of panic in her voice. “As a matter of fact a lot of things on this trip look different. I hope we’re on the right bus.”
Sue marched up to the front of the bus to speak with the driver. A moment later she rushed back with a look of panic in her eyes. “Becky, bad news! They changed the bus route six months ago. The ‘342’ doesn’t go to Pikesville anymore. It goes straight to White Hill! This is terrible!”
But to her surprise, her sister only giggled. “Well, they say White Hill is very pretty this time of year,” she cheerfully replied.
Sue plopped down onto the seat next to her sister. “I don’t get it. Why aren’t you freaking out? We’re on the wrong bus. Don’t you understand?”
“What’s not to understand?” answered Becky, still calm. “If we’re on this bus, it’s for a good reason. Nothing happens for nothing, you know.”
Sue eyed Becky with a confused look. “Huh?” was all she could manage to get out.
Becky pried open the bus window for a bit of air and went on, “When these kind of things happen, instead of panicking, I try to look at them as a sort of ‘message from heaven.’ There is a reason that this is the bus we were meant to take. So why get upset?”
Sue wasn’t satisfied. “Do you mean to tell me you know why we took the wrong bus?” she asked.
“No,” admitted Becky. “But God knows why and a lot of times when I keep my eyes open He shows me too.”
Just then the bus driver announced through the loudspeaker: “Last stop -- White Hill Station. Thank you for ‘leaving the driving to us.’”
The girls unloaded their heavy travel bags. They walked over to the departure board. “Well,” said Sue. “More bad news. According to this schedule there isn’t a bus to Pikesville for another 2 hours. We might as well go call Grampa and Grandma and tell them we’ll be really late.”
But when they got to the pay phone, it was covered by a sign that read “Out of order.”
Sue moaned. Looking over to her sister, she said with a sarcastic tone. “Another ‘message from heaven,’ I suppose?”
Becky nodded. “Nothing happens for nothing,” she said.
Stepping out of the bus terminal in the hopes of finding another pay phone, the girls noticed a plant nursery across the road. “Tropical Gardens,” read the sign hung crookedly across the front. “Maybe they’ll let us make a collect call,” suggested Becky.
They walked into the plant store. Making their way though rows of rubber-tree plants and purple ivy, they reached the cashier. There he was just finishing up with an older gentleman buying an exotic-looking plant. “Can I help you girls?” asked the cashier.
They were about to speak up when the customer turned around to leave. As their eyes met, Sue gasped. “Grampa Sam?!”
Three voices chorused out at once: “What are you doing here?!”
The girls explained what had happened. Their grandfather laughed and said, “Well, as you know your grandma loves tropical plants. I wanted to surprise her for our anniversary next week, 38th I think, with a special African violet plant. This is the only place within 20 miles that sell such things, you know. So I drove out to pick one up. But I guess I’m going to come back with two even bigger surprises,” he winked.
The three of them walked out of the nursery past the open-mouthed cashier.
As the girls were loading their bags into their grandfather’s trunk, Sue turned to her sister and said, with shock still in her voice. “I don’t believe it! If we hadn’t taken the wrong bus … If they pay phone hadn’t been broken … If Grandma didn’t like African violets … If …”
But Becky interrupted her with a big smile. “If,” she said, “we just keep our eyes open to heaven’s messages; we’ll be amazed what we see.”
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Ages 3-5
Q. How did Becky feel when she found out that she and her sister were on the wrong bus?
A. She felt secure that everything would be okay, and that it was really the bus that God wanted them to be on.
Q. How should we feel when we don’t get what we want? Should we feel mad or sad?
A. Neither. It’s better to try to remember that it really was for the best, even if we don’t know why.
Ages 6-9
Q. What do we stand to gain by living with the idea that “nothing happens for nothing” and that everything that happens is for the best?
A. Like Becky in the story, we will be able to maintain a bright and relaxed outlook on life. We will face life with a smile even if things don’t turn out as we wished. Living with the knowledge that all is for the best is one of the biggest keys to happiness that a person can acquire.
Q. Let’s say that the sisters in the story didn’t meet up with their grandfather in the store, and they had to make a long and difficult extra bus trip to get to their grandparent’s house. Could we then still say that it turned out for the best that they took the wrong bus? Why or why not?
A. While it certainly is nice when we get to see how things turn out for the best, it doesn’t always happen. Yet we can still be confident knowing that it is so. God watches over each of us all of the time. Many times He helps us in ways we never find out about. For example, in the story, it could be that the bus that the girls wanted to take would have broken down or gotten into an accident. Or perhaps getting to their grandparents’ home later than planned was really better for them, even if they never discovered why.
Ages 10 and up
Q. Our sages teach us that, “Everything is in the hands of heaven except for the recognition of heaven.” How do you understand the meaning of this statement?
A. Many things happen to us in our lives. Some we perceive as fortunate and some as unfortunate. But in a deeper sense everything that happens is for only one purpose -- to help us develop a more spiritual outlook and to realize that God is directly and lovingly involved in every aspect of our lives. The many things that we experience are given to us as tests and opportunities to apply this perspective.
Q. Does the knowledge that everything is in God’s hands give us permission to be insensitive and unresponsive to others in need? May we justify ourselves by assuming that the difficulties they are experiencing must be for “the best”?
A. Although it may be true that the difficulties others experience are for their best, it is not for us to judge how and why. Instead, the Torah directs us to help others and try to make their lives as pleasant as possible. By doing so we actually “volunteer” ourselves to become one of God’s instruments to bring more of the good into people’s lives which they have coming to them. For example, just as it may be God’s will that somebody loses his wallet, it is also His will that somebody else finds it and returns it to him. We should feel grateful if we have been given the privilege to be that “somebody else.”
Shabbat Shalom,
Mayda Clarke
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