Forgive me for
not blogging a thought for last week’s Torah portion. We moved into our new apartment in Ashqelon,
and it took until this week before we could get our internet hooked up. But more on my continuing adventures in
Israeli life in a separate post; in this one I’d like to write about Joseph,
son of Jacob/Israel.
Every year, as
the cycle of readings reaches the Joseph
portions towards the end of the book
of Genesis, I get excited. Joseph is
hands down, my favorite personality in the Torah. So, why do I like Joseph, and his narrative
so much?
For one thing,
Joseph epitomizes why the Torah feels like a living and true document to
me. He seems real. He is talented. He has greatness within him. But at least for the first part of his life,
he seems determined to prevent the greatness from manifesting itself. He squanders it for a time by being full of
himself.
As a child, he’s
spoiled by his father’s favor and seems determined to make an ass of
himself. Dad doesn’t help: sending his youngest son to check on his older
brothers, on the assumption that Joseph will be happy to bring back any adverse
report. When my children were young and
one wanted to give me an adverse report on the other, I would silence them with
Don’t be a stukach! ‘Stukach’ is
a Russian word meaning ‘informer’; when I learned that word many years ago, I
immediately liked its sound and thought it captures the loathsomeness of a
tattletale much better than…well, ‘tattletale.’
So Daddy Israel
gets some of the blame, but still…Joseph was all too happy to participate,
especially given his dream of lording it over to his brothers. And not to ‘blame the victim,’ but when his
brothers throw him in the pit and sell him to the Egyptian slavers, it’s easy
enough to think, he had it coming.
But as we know
from the story, the experience and adversity brings out greatness in him. He became obedient to G-d, and G-d brought
success to all he did. His Egyptian
master, Potiphar, saw this and put him in charge of his household. Unfortunately, this brought him to the
attention of Potiphar’s wife who tried to seduce him. But Joseph, by this time, was acting like the
man he was destined to be and refused to betray his master’s trust. His rejection of Mrs. Potiphar’s advances
stings to the point where she denounces him to her husband, and that lands him
in the Pharaoh’s dungeon. But even under
this adversity, he maintained his integrity.
In the weeks to
come we’ll see Joseph’s story continue to unfold in ways that one would
probably not have anticipated. But for
today, my lesson is that Joseph, as he develops his integrity, sees some of the
greatness that he always knew was his destiny.
And even when he acts with integrity, he finds himself betrayed but he
does not lose heart as he has found his inner man and hears the voice of G-d
calling him to continue on.
How many heroes
do we know of, who have maintained their integrity even under extreme
duress? They have lived, and in each
generation one such hero serves to show us that, when adversity strikes, we
need now sell our souls. Most, facing their
own particular adversity, will not find the strength to bear up. But such heroes – like Joseph – teach us that
it is possible and hopefully, provide the role models that will inspire each
one of us so that when faced with adversity, G-d forbid, we won’t crack.
As we begin to
read, once again, the story of Joseph, let’s take to heart this lesson. G-d willing, none of us will face adversity
of the terrible sort that Joseph faced.
But should that be our destiny, let us pray that we will find the way to
face it and maintain our .
integrity as Joseph did. Shabbat shalom.
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