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December 30, 2022 (6 Tevet 5783) Finding Our Jewish Voice Dear Holy Friends, I hope this correspondence finds you doing well and having braved the blustery winter temperatures of a few days ago. Please join us, in-person, this Saturday morning at 10:30am for Shabbat services, which will take place in our beautiful sanctuary and be available on our regular Zoom prayer link. In this week’s Torah portion of Vayigash, our text continues with the familiar story of what is referred to as the Joseph Saga. As a preamble to B’nei Yisrael moving down to Egypt, we are told the story of how Yehuda stands up to an unbeknownst Yosef and offers to trade himself in, rather than have his youngest brother, Benjamin, be subject to incarceration. By doing so, Yehuda demonstrates Teshuva or repentance, by speaking on behalf of his youngest sibling, and thus finding his own Jewish voice of moral responsibility and fulfilling the adage of the Mishna in Pirke Avot, “Where there is no man, stand up and be that man.” In response to this act, Yosef reveals himself to all of his brothers and then Yaakov descends to Egypt with the entire clan. Upon arriving in Mitzrayim (Egypt), Yaakov uses the power of his leadership voice to situate his own tribe in a foreign land under external rule by assuring the Pharoah that the Hebrews are only there for a brief period of time, to ride out the famine in the Holy Land. In a bizarre and unanticipated action, Yaakov then uses his Jewish voice to bring peace and harmony between the Hebrews and the Egyptians by offering words of blessing to the foreign king. These words of confidence guarantee the clan’s safety until the appointment of a new Pharoah, who does not know of Yosef. I would argue that based on these biblical characters, this week’s portion teaches us of the importance of finding our Jewish voice, grounded in morality (Yehuda) and the pursuit of peace (Yaakov). This lesson of finding that Jewish voice was, in fact, demonstrated last week in a very powerful manner at Leffell, the Jewish high school where I teach. At approximately 2:15pm on that Wednesday afternoon, I was teaching a Mussar (ethics) class to our seniors. The course focuses on Jewish ethics and wisdom literature from the 15-20th centuries. On that day, our school’s basketball team was scheduled to play the team from Bronxville (NY) High School. During independent research time, a student approached me to express her discomfort and disgust when she saw a post on Instagram from her friend, who attends the visiting school. The social media post, announcing the game and encouraging classmates to join and support their team, was captioned with a picture and song from the hip-hop music artist Kanye, a noted anti-Semite. Now, the last thing that teenagers want to do is stand out in a crowd and be the proverbial “squeaky wheel.” Who wants to be the one person who can’t take a joke? Who wants to be the one person who may be characterized as being overly sensitive? And finally, who wants to be the one person to make a mountain out of a molehill? Nonetheless, Daniella, a proud and a committed Jew, sensed that a line had been crossed. Before I knew it, she had spoken up against this “joke” by demanding that her friend take down the post. The aftermath of the exchange resulted in the student removing the post, the Bronxville High School’s administration disciplining the students, the visiting team forfeiting the game and the school’s principal insisting that the non-Jewish students travel to Leffell and personally apologize for the thoughtless and hate-mongering post. Personally, I could not have been prouder of how Daniella exercised her Jewish voice and stood up for what was right. Her Jewish voice enacted change and her Jewish voice created a platform of dialogue and sensitivity that did not exist prior to the incident. Whether it is from our older biblical heroes of Genesis or from our lesser-known younger heroes who surround us, may the New Year offer us all the courage to continue to speak up in the face of injustice, to rally against racism, and to use words of comfort, apology and reconciliation, to make the world a better place. If we can accomplish that, we will fulfill the vision of the Aleinu prayer, based on the Mishna of Gittin 4:2, לתקן עולם במלכות שדי , we will repair the world to a perfect social order in the Name of God’s Kingship. Shabbat Shalom and a Happy & Healthy New Year of 2023, Rabbi Eric L. Wasser, EdD, Hon.DM
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