VAYIGASH 1995

In the Torah portion Vayigash we learn about reconciliation. We learn how Joseph is reconciled with his brothers. This rivalry between Joseph and his brothers was actually continued on after the kingdom of Solomon was divided. The primary tribe of the north was Ephraim, was, of course, from the tribe of Joseph because was divided in to, Ephraim and Menashe. The primary tribe in the south was Judah. Hope was always that Judah and Joseph would be reconciled.
Throughout Jewish history we have had divisions among the Jewish people. We see this clearly today in Israel where half the population admires European ways and European thinking and wants actually to jettison the Jewish tradition almost completely while half the population still wants to fulfill Jewish dreams and still wants to be beholden to Jewish aspirations.
Joseph and Judah were diametrically opposed as to the way that they felt that Judaism should proceed. Joseph was the one who realized that change was in the air and you had to accommodate the change, although he kept the Jewish values entirely. Judah, on the other hand, was represented by the brothers who really did not want to change their way of life at all, but it ended up by them being so immovable as far as changing conditions were concerned that they actually ended up breaking Jewish values by selling their brother into slavery.
We all know that in the United States today secular Judaism is doomed. Judaism can
only exist as a religious phenomena in America. In fact, this was mentioned very clearly
at the UJA Rabbinic Cabinet, which I recently attended, where Jonathan Richer mentioned
specifically that ethnic or secular Judaism is dead. Judaism in American only exists
as a religious phenomena and if we want Judaism to survive we must strengthen its spiritual
base. In Israel they still do not understand that. Half the population still does
not want to conceive of Judaism as a spiritual value. There is great spiritual yearning
in Israel today. Unfortunately, when many of the young people get out of the army
they, instead of looking to their own heritage for spiritual values, go and travel
to the far east and to India and Nepal and Malaysia and China looking for spirituality,
not realizing that spirituality can actually be found in their own backyard. We have
also seen, too, how recently the two halves of the Jewish population have been at loggerheads,
not only about the peace process but also about the future of the Jewish people generally.
Therefore, we need reconciliation today just as we needed reconciliation at the time
of Joseph.
This Torah portion tells us exactly what is needed in order for their to be reconciliation
between the Jewish people. The first thing that Joseph says to his brothers after
he proclaims that he is Joseph is, I!I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?11 Here
the rabbis explain it is not just referring to Jacob as an individual but refers to
the traditions of the father. Are you, Judah, and the rest of the brothers still adhering
to the tradition of our fathers? In other words, in order for there to be reconciliation
of the Jewish people there must be appreciation for the common heritage that we have.
There must be a desire to be part of this heritage, not to spurn it but to be part
of it. Ben Gurion understood this. Ben Gurion might not have fulfilled all the different
rituals of our faith but he wanted to be a part of Jewish history. He stressed the
Bible. He wanted to make sure that Israel was a light unto the nations. He wanted
to be, at least to his way of thinking, true to the Jewish tradition. He did not want
to break with it, as some in Israel today want to do even going to far as to try to
institute English instead of Hebrew as the language of instruction in high schools.
The second thing that Joseph said was, "Approach, please, to me." In other words, you have to communicate. There has to be a willingness to interact one with another. There cannot be a distance between them. Even though views differ they still have to be heard and communicated and there has to be much dialogue. Without this coming close then there cannot be any hope of even reconciliation. Unfortunately, today in Israel there are many who do not understand what free speech is talking about. What they think is that if a person announces a theoretical position, that immediately that
is going to lead to violence of some sort or nature. They do not realize that free speech means that you can take any position that you want as long as you do not advocate acting upon these concepts. For example, in Catholic churches throughout America and in many fundamentalist churches they preach every week that abortion is murder and that people who perform abortions are murderers but this does not mean that the Catholic church or these other fundamental churches condone or even encourage people to get out and kill people who perform abortions, although it has happened in America before. Abortion clinics have been firebombed and several doctors have been killed but no one holds the church culpable for that. In Israel today, unfortunately, there are some people who would hold large sections of the Jewish people responsible because they feel that the peace process is going to lead to a Holocaust. Of course, on the other hand, just because different Jews hold that the Arabs have a just cause does not mean that they should feel that certain Jews become traitors to the Jewish people and assist Hamas and the PLO earlier that they should brand the people who feel that the Arabs have a just cause as completely outside the pale. We all know that there is a line between advocating a position and between urging someone to violate the law in order to uphold your position. People can hold any positions they want and people should communicate on these positions. That is what communication means. It does not mean to stifle your opinion. When we have free dialogue that means that you interchange ideas.
The third element that Joseph told them was, "Now don't be sad and don't be angry in your eyes that you sold me." In other words, the past is past. Forget about the past. There are many wrongs on both sides. The left has no patent on morality. In fact, it was the left who actually killed Jews in the incident and 14 Jews were shot while they were swimming away from a ship that Ben Gurion had ordered to be seized from the Urgun. Not only that, there were Jews who were actually hunted down by the Palmachian and tortured and handed over to the British. There is no right side in
this whole area. Therefore, we should forget about the past and concentrate on the future.
The next element is, which is probably the hardest of all, was that when Joseph said, "And G-d sent me before you to put before you as a demand to cause you to live as a great deliverance and there was a recognition by all involved that the Jewish people are witnesses of G-d in the world." That is, of course, what we say when we say the Shma. In the Shma the last letter of the first word of the Shma is an Ayin and the last letter of the last word of the Shma is a Dalet, which stands for a witness. We have to be a witness of G-d in the world. We have to recognize that the basis of Judaism is religious and we must speak in religious terms and not in secular terms. If we recognize this fact then we can become reconciled because we will have a common vocabulary. We may not have common practices or may not be exactly sure how to define the religion but we will definitely have a common vocabulary. This is essential. We need to have these four things. We need, first of all, to have an appreciation for our tradition and want to keep attached to our tradition. We must enter into dialogue one with another. We must let the past be past and not dredge it up every time, and, finally, we must realize that we are supposed to be a religious people, witnesses of G-d in the world, and we must act accordingly and speak accordingly. This, too, was why Joseph told the brothers as they were leaving back to the father, he said, "Don't take big steps," Rashi explains, and he said, "Don't enter the city when it is still light," and also he said, "Don't get involved in; all sorts of Halachic disputes." What is Joseph telling them? He is telling them don't take giant steps. Don't go from one ideological position to another. Be conciliatory. Explain. Take small steps. Don't try to take giant steps at a time otherwise you will just end up breaking the people in different parts. The second thing is, enter the city when it is still light. In other words, prepare for adversity when things are still good. Every group in the Jewish people have to understand to prepare their position so they do not put themselves in a corner so that they are able to be flexible when they deal with every other group of the Jewish people.
Also, you should not get involved in Halachic disputes on the way. Why on the way? Because when you are in the thick of a personal dilemma don't try to decide Halachic disputes yourself. That is why a rabbi, too, when he is involved in a dispute with somebody else, he cannot decide the Halacha for himself. He has to call for someone else to do it because you are not a disinterested party. Make sure that when you; get involved in different things that you consult people who are disinterested, not people who have a stake in the outcome because then they will not come to a correct opinion. So, when it comes to Jewish unity, when it comes to the future of the Jewish people it is important to remember that we must reconcile one with another. Israel must be reconciled with the diaspora and in Israel they must be reconciled one with the other, that they cannot continue to be split up into two halves because this will only end up in destruction. We must somehow learn how to communicate with each other. If we can agree that the tradition is important, if we can agree that we must continually communicate, if we agree that we must put the past behind us, and if we also agree that we are religious people who need spirituality in order to continue we can rest assured that the Jewish people will be reconciled one with another so the Mashiach will come quickly in our day.
I am reminded of the story they tell about a man who used to go into a bar every day and order 3 drinks. The bartender used to ask him, "Why are you ordering 3 drinks?11 He said, "The reason I am ordering 3 drinks is because one is for me, and my mother said before she came to the United States that she had twins in Europe and the other drinks are for my twin brothers." So every day he used to come in and order 3 drinks. One day he came and ordered only 2 drinks. The bartender got concerned and looked at him and said, "Tell me, did something terrible happen?" The man said nothing terrible happened. The bartender then asked, "Well, why are you only ordering 2 drinks?" He said, "Well, you see yesterday I went to the doctor and the doctor said I should stop drinking, so now I am only drinking for my 2 brothers." Of course, this is a case of reconciliation which is probably carried too far but in any event we all have to
be sympathetic and empathetic to one another, and we all have to remember, as Joseph said, that we have a common father and it is this heritage that should allow us to reconcile one with another so that truly the Jewish people can fulfill the purposes which G-d gave us so the Mashiach will come quickly in our day. Amen.