Parashat Vayigash
Friday Night Shabbat Services, Tonight 12/18, at 7 PM. We hope to see you!
Saturday morning services are the morning of December 26, at 9 AM. Please consider sponsoring an upcoming kidish if you haven’t done so recently. It is a lovely honor and mitzvah. In kind donations are also greatly appreciated.
Cantor Ben Moshe’s Message
This week’s parshah, Vayigash, concludes the story of Joseph’s test for his brothers-and in the beginning of the parshah, Judah passes the test with flying colors. Faced once again with the opportunity to condemn(so he thinks) his father’s favorite son to slavery, he instead offers himself in place of his brother Benjamin. He redeems himself for his earlier sale of Joseph, and proves himself worthy to be the ancestor of kings and ultimately the Messiah. Our Torah, our Tradition, does not present our ancestors as perfect, but as flawed human beings-but also points us toward the possibility of repentance and redemption in our own lives. We are all flawed-but, like Judah, we all have the opportunity to overcome our flaws. Shabbat Shalom.
Hazzan Yitzhak Ben-Moshe
BERS, Sunday school class had a great semester. We will resume Sunday Fundays on January 10 with our super teachers, Bev, Shiry and Anat, and our helper extraordinaire, Judith. We love our teachers!
Rabbi Tarlow’s Weekly Parasha:
The name of this week’s parashah is: “Vayigash,” meaning: “he approached” or perhaps even “he created the conditions for a family rapprochement”. You will find this weekly parashah toward the end of the book of Genesis 44:18-47:27. It is in this section that Joseph revealed himself to his brothers and reunited with both his brothers and father, Jacob. The text is layered with meaning, and Biblical scholars could write whole dissertations on it. In a sense this week’s section also serves as a unifying theme for all of Genesis. Genesis, perhaps the Bible’s most human book, is about conflict and rapprochement, about the ebbs and flows of human relations. In Genesis we learn that both conflict and reconciliation are a constant part of life.In this week’s parashah we learn that after Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, he sent them back to Canaan to bring his father Jacob to him. In chapter 45 verse 24 we read “Vayishlach et achiv vyelchu, vayamru alehem “al tirgzu baderech!” For the reader of the Bible in translation it is hard to hear the tones and cadences of the original Hebrew, but we may translate the verse as something like this: “So he sent his brothers back to Canaan saying to them: ‘behave now, do not get into any arguments along the way.'” Once again, the theme of conflict and reconciliation peeks through the darkness of despair and becomes part of the sunshine of hope.It is somewhat surprising that after all that Joseph had to do and all the lessons that his brothers have had to learn, that Joseph would still have to act as an almost petulant parent toward his older brothers. A closer examination, however, reveals some deep psychological insights. Is Joseph teaching us that not only do siblings often quarrel, but also that all relationships involve ups and downs? Is the text reminding us that often when people are in close relationships they find it is easier to blame the other rather than to address or solve the problem?Joseph may have been doing more than merely warning his brothers not to forget that their task was to save their father from the grips of a famine and not to r-g-z (get angry, blow up, lose one’s temper). Are his words also teaching us that although despite the anger and vitriolic words that often fill family and international feuds, as long as there is life there is also the chance to choose to forget past hurts and to find reconciliation? Can we get past our personal and national anger and find the benefits of peace? Are there times when peace and reconciliation are not possible? Is Genesis teaching us that we can move beyond personal injuries and find reconciliation and hope? What do you think?
Below are some of the photos from the Annual Hannukah party at Beth El last week. It was an amazing evening of great Klezmer music by Los Klezmeros, delicious food, fun and festivities! By far our biggest crowd to date! Thank you to the many, many folks who helped, our anonymous sponsor and all who kindly donated.