Voices of WRJ: Parashat Vayigash

by Rabbi Stanley M. Davids It will happen precisely at 6:12 a.m. today: The Winter Solstice. According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, this will be the earliest start of the winter season since 1896! The sun’s path is at its southernmost point, and things are going to get a lot colder before the spring warm-up begins. My personal calendar has another notation as well: “World comes to an end.” The Mayan calendar, which dates to some 5000 years ago, comes to an abrupt end on this very day. But don’t worry: An official U.S. government blog tells us that there is no need for panic, because all that the Mayan calendar was indicating is an end of a cycle and not the end of our world. And NASA, apparently with free time on its hands, has issued a YouTube video, debunking apocalyptic nonsense. If only that NASA video had been performed by the South Korean mega-phenomenon, PSY, we probably would be paying much closer attention. We could at least spend our last days trying to learn how to dance Gangnam Style. The day is very short, and the notion that yet another threat to human existence lurks on some distant horizon can be a bit depressing. I found my usual comfort in reading the Torah portion for this week: Vayigash, Genesis 44:18-47:27. After all the horrendous talk of dysfunctional human relationships, our Sedra fairly glows with the prospects of reconciliation. Judah begins to act like a mentsch. Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers, as he cries out, “I am Joseph. Is my father truly alive?” Jacob is told that his beloved son is thriving in Egypt and wants to be reunited with his family. Interestingly, after Joseph has declared to his brothers his name, he saw that they had recoiled from him. Is it out of fear? Is it out of guilt? So Joseph tries another path to reconciliation: “Come, draw near to me… I am Joseph your brother.” To be a brother. To be a sister. To affirm family ties despite all of one’s history. To refuse to feed upon dreams of revenge that dominate how we look at our world. I am your flesh and blood, and I will allow nothing, no matter how justified, to rip us apart. I share the world with you, and being right or wrong cannot become an acceptable basis for our turning our backs on each other. Sisters and brothers living in an America trying to heal its social, economic and political schisms. Sisters and brothers living in a Middle East that cannot get past ancient sins and contemporary ideologies. Sisters and brothers living in a society that thrives on finding some ‘other’ against whom we can discriminate. Shabbat is upon us. I wish you and your loved ones renewed opportunities for reconciliation, for discovering the ties of sisterhood and brotherhood, which can turn the shortest day into blazing sunlight and threats of extinction into dreams of rebirth. Rabbi Stanley M. Davids is immediate Past President of ARZA and lives in Jerusalem, Israel.