VAYIGASH 1987

In the Torah portion Vayigash we learn about the tragic consequences that happen when people make the wrong assumptions. We learn in the beginning how Jacob makes the assumption that Joseph is dead and, therefore, he mours for 22 years for him never being able to be reconciled. We learn how the brothers made a terrible assumption that if they got rid of Joseph, sold him or killed him, that their father would love them more.  It turned out that their father loved them less. He did not have the strength to love anybody after Joseph was sold into slavery. We also learn how Judah was ready to even attack the Viceroy of Egypt. He assumed that he was a vicious, cruel man and would not listen to his plea to release Benjamin. We learn, too, how Joseph makes the assumption that what is good for Pharaoh is good for the Jews. This, of course, turned out tragic because Joseph destroyed the power of nobility. During the famine when the nobles came to him for food because they had not stored their grain properly or not set aside enough grain during the famine, Joseph said he would sell them grain if they would sell Pharaoh their land. Therefore, they were forced to sell their land to Joseph and they then became tenants of the king. Joseph gave them very good terms. They only had to pay 20% taxes. We today pay more than 20% taxes in America. However, he switched them from their ancestral lands to new lands. The rabbis say he did it in order that his own brothers should not be considered interlopers in Egypt because they were settling land that was not theirs so, therefore, all the other Egyptians, the nobility and serfs, were on land that was not theirs except that Joseph had just now given it to them. Other rabbis tell us the reason Joseph this also was to strengthen Pharaoh's hand. Pharaoh was his friend. There were probably a lot of anti-Semites among the nobility. After all, they considered Joseph an interloper, a foreign Hebrew, who was taking away power from him so Joseph
responded, but, of course, by concentrating all power in the hands of Pharaoh only one man had to change his man for the Jewish people to be persecuted, and that, of course, is what happened. A new Pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph, and the Jewish people were immediately enslaved.
This has been repeated throughout history. We sometimes make the wrong assumptions. We assume that if we work very hard for our host ruler it will be to our benefit, but many times it has not.  In fact, Poland was the most liberal country in the Middle Ages. We Jews had a very good life in Poland. When we were expelled from Germany and other countries in western Europe we went to Poland where we were welcomed with open arms. We worked very well with the Poles. We worked for them. We were their managers of estates, their tax collectors, etc., but in 1648 when Chamaninsky rebelled, who led the Cossacks, the Ukrainians, the Greek Orthodox Ukrainians against the Catholic Poles, who do you think suffered? The Greek Orthodox Cossacks took out their wrath against the Jews and over a third of the Jewish people were killed in that time. Poland ruled the Ukraine and most of European Russia, and because of our close attachment to them, we were singled out. Afterwards the Poles, too, blamed us and anti-Semitism started its strong and heavy hand on the Jewish people in Poland from that time on.
We also did the same thing in Spain. We favored the Christians over the Moslems, and, of course, once the Christians got in they expelled us.  In a certain sense we did not have a choice because in 1138 a fanatical Moslem sect took over Spain and wanted to kick us all out, but there were other sects who came in later, but we Jews favored the Christians and when the Christians won we were expelled. This has happened in many areas of Jewish history, that we Jews have helped the host country develop and then, when
there has been a change of government or there has been a reverse like in Germany, we are the scapegoats, and we are the ones who are expelled or persecuted or killed. We sometimes make the wrong assumptions in life.
In this Torah portion, too, we learn about how, after Pharaoh told Joseph to bring his family down to Egypt, Joseph brought his family down to Egypt, and that Jacob, his father, had an audience with Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How many are the days of the years of your life?" And Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my sojourney are 130 years, few and evil they were, the days and years of my life, and they did not even reach the days of the years of the lives of my father in the days of their sojourney." The rabbis criticize Jacob severely for these words. Why was he complaining so bitterly to Pharaoh? Why was it Pharaoh's business anyway to hear these complaints? They say that Jacob was supposed to live 180 years but, because of these 33 words that were uttered (25 by him and 8 by Pharaoh), they say that 33 years were taken away from his life.
Jacob knew that in life family was more important than money. He did not make the assumption that many people make today that money is more important than family. He, though, suffered. He was forced to leave his home at an early age. He did not get to be and see his beloved mother, Rifka. He had to flee from the wrath of his brother, Esau. He then went to Mesopotamia where he was cheated by his uncle, where he had worked for Rachel for 7 years and was given Leah and then had to work another 7 years for Rachel. He was a man who knew that family was more important than money. He was a successful man, but what good was his money if he could not see his father and mother, his brother hated him, he had trouble with his uncle? He was always filled with anxiety. Finally he managed to come back to the land of
Canaan and made peace with his brother. He was even willing to give him a munificent gift because he wanted to have peace in the family, but then the trouble of Joseph came upon him and he was not able to sit contentedly among his family because his beloved Joseph was taken from him. He now comes down to Egypt and the family is reunited.  Jacob knows that family is more important than money, but why, at this particular time, did the past weigh so heavy on him that he could not enjoy the future? It was true that he had a bad past.  It is true that he was not able to fulfill life the way he thought he should have fulfilled life, but now he was going to be able to, but the cloud of the past hung so heavy on him that he was not able to enjoy his family now. His assumption was that his life was so filled with pain that it would continue to be filled with pain. That was a wrong assumption. We know that many times Holocaust survivors come here and they are so engrossed in the past that they cannot enjoy the family they have now.  It is not an easy thing to do to enjoy the family they have now, but the burden of the past so outweighs the future and the present that they destroy their future and present. That, of course, is what happened to Jacob. He had glorious years ahead of him, but, instead of having 50 years ahead of him he only had 17 because he could never shake away the anxiety and fears of the past.
We should always concentrate on the future. We should always make the correct assumptions in life. We should devote ourselves to our family1s wellbeing. We should devote ourselves to our religion, to develop those sources of strength which allow us to concentrate on the future and the present instead of the ugliness of the past. That has always been the Jewish people's strength:  to rebound from adversity and to continue on. Many times we will make wrong assumptions and will waste energy and
resources following assumptions that are false. After all, everyone thought the stock market was going to go up to 3000, and many people lost money because of it. Many people make other types of assumptions, but these assumptions are not important as long as you have your family, as long as you have your health, and as long as you can start over again. What is important in life is to think about the future and the present and not let the past weigh you down.
I am reminded of the story of a wife who came home and found husband sitting in the hot tub with a yarmulka on his head, a tallis around him, a prayer book in his hand, davening very, very quickly.  She said, "What are you doing? Why are you davening so intently? What are you doing in the bathtub?" He looked at her and said, "My doctor said I have to take hot baths religiously." Unfortunately, that is the way people deal with many aspects of life. They make the wrong assumptions as to what is important and what is not important. They let the past overshadow the present and the future, and they spend all their time making money instead of developing their family. The most important thing in life is family, is relationships. It is not money. Money you can recoup. Relationships, when they are gone, are difficult to re-establish. Let us all hope that we will all make the right assumptions in life so that we will be able to lead a happy life and concentrate on the future and the present and dwell on the ugliness of the past.