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Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Vayeshev Genesis 37:1-40:23
By Shlomo Riskin
Efrat, Israel - I always felt that one of the most inane
messages printed on the casual shirts worn by many of our high-school
students is “Don’t worry, be happy.” Perhaps these words reflect
the desire of a grazing cow, but they certainly ought not serve as the wish
of a serious human being. Our Psalmist, on the other hand, teaches us
that “Happy is the individual who is constantly concerned,’ and a
truly religious personality is called a haredi, one who “trembles” in
his desire to properly serve G-d and in his struggle to overcome evil.
Indeed, the very name Yisroel - given by G-d to father Jacob and the brand
name by which our unique nation is called - means, “he has fought against
godly and human powers, and has emerged victorious” (Gen. 32:29) I can
still hear the words of my maternal grand-mother ringing in my ears:
“There is plenty of time for rest and tranquility after
one-hundred-and-twenty years in the cemetery; this world is a place in which
we must work and struggle.” How can we possibly expect to “perfect
the world in the kingship of the Divine” without waging war against evil
and inhumanity?
From this perspective, one of the most well-known commentaries of Rashi to
this week’s Biblical portion of Vayeshev seems perplexing:
“Jacob wished to live in tranquility (Hebrew, Shalvah);
there sprang up against him the anger (Hebrew rogez) of Joseph. The
righteous wish to dwell in tranquility. The Holy one, blessed be He,
says, ‘ Is what is being prepared for them in the world to come not
sufficient that they also wish to dwell in tranquility in this world?’”
How can the Almighty fault Grand-father Jacob for desiring to live in
tranquility? Did he not take on the battle for the birthright with
“both hands” against Esau because he realized the tremendous importance
of the leadership of the clan of Abraham? Did he not labor against Laban in
order to escape the seduction of assimilation? Certainly Jacob’s
life would have been far more tranquil and perhaps his beloved Rachel might
not ever have suffered such a premature death - had he remained with the
hedonism of his herds and not undertaken the difficult and dangerous journey
back to his father’s home! It was not “Stalbet” but rather
struggle which was the hallmark of Jacob’s life, whose fundamental prayer
was much more in line with Rav Nahman’s, “Dear G-d, I do not ask you to
make my life easy, I only implore you to help make me strong” rather than
with the public relations emblem of “Make me happy, devoid of worry.”
And strength in the face of struggle is what has characterized the righteous
of Israel throughout our ideal-driven and blood-soaked history!
Furthermore, why does Rashi (in citing the midrash) refer to the anger (rogez)
of Joseph rather than the tragedy of Joseph, a most beloved son literally
torn away from his father’s loving embrace for a 22 year period in which
he was thought to be dead? The argument and language of Rashi seems
counter to what Judaism really stands for!
I believe that the answer lies in our understanding of the Hebrew term “shalvah”,
as in “Jacob wished to dwell in “shalvah”, which I translated as
tranquility. The Book of Proverbs (17:1) takes the Hebrew shalvah as
specifically referring to household peace and harmony: “It is better
to have a hard, dry crust of bread in an atmosphere of tranquility (shalvah)
rather than a full table of roasted meats with familial strife.”
Our righteous are prepared to conduct battles and wage wars against the
likes of Laban and Esau, those enemies who would destroy us with their
hatred from without and who would attempt to undermine our ideology from
within; they well understand that such is the mission of Israel, the mandate
of being a ‘holy nation, a Kingdom of priest-Kohanim, a light unto the
nations of the world.” What they seek to avoid are the petty
jealousies and trivial tensions which often take place within the Jewish
family itself - strife which emanates not from our struggle for survival or
our message for messianism but rather from individual ambitions and personal
pique.
Jacob understood that he would have to wage combat against the likes of Esau
and Laban in order to protect the birthright of Israel; such a struggle is
built into the key name Israel. What he resented was the anger against
him felt by his beloved Joseph for his having blatantly favored the son who
deserved - by virtue of his gifts of character and universal vision - to
have been favored; It was after all this paternal favoritism which
aroused the petty sibling rivalry which almost led to Joseph’s death.
And tragically it is such paltry and picayune enviousness which can be most
devastating and destructive. Hence it becomes at least as critical to
extend as much time on familial harmony as we expend on maternal survival
and ideological influence. What we must learn from the Joseph stories
is that the family feeds into - and ultimately determines - the status of
the nation.
I recently led an Ohr Torah Stone Rabbinical Conference in Montevideo,
Uruguay, for our fifteen rabbis serving in South America. I learned
there of the amazing accomplishments of Rav Millevsky, the towering,
scholarly presence in the first half of the twentieth century whose
influence is still felt in Montevideo. He left his first pulpit as the
result of a bitter feud with the butchers and ritual slaughterers, after
which he built a second Synagogue where he remained for several decades.
At the dedication of the second Synagogue, he declared, “Let it never be
said that this newly-established congregation was born out of strife (mahloket);
let it rather be known that it was born out of war (milhamah). Strife
is engendered by petty individuals in search of personal gain: war is fought
by generals on behalf of great ideals.” Father Jacob, like Rabbi
Millevsky, was a great general prepared, if necessary to wage a fateful war,
but had little patience for the jealous strife of picayune personalities.
Shabbat Shalom
Shlomo Riskin
Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone
Chief Rabbi - Efrat Israel
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