Voices of WRJ: Vayishlach

November 27, 2015
by Hilda R. Glazer This parashah is full of family and of life-changing events: Jacob becomes the last individual to receive a personal covenant with God. Meeting God face-to-face is a life-changing event. Jacob’s name is changed to Israel. Jacob and Esau meet and reunite. At the end, Rachel dies in childbirth. The midwife attempts to comfort Rachel with the statement that while she is dying, her healthy son lives. Another significant event is story of the rape of Dinah and the subsequent destruction of Shechem’s city by Dinah’s brothers. This portion considers what it means to be a family. How do brothers who fought for most of their lives reconcile and reconnect? What is the relationship between them? What is the relationship between the men of Jacob’s family and the community in which they live? We can apply this to our lives by looking at the relationships between siblings and think about how we can enhance or improve those relationships. Do you talk to or email your siblings frequently or do long periods go by without contact? What is behind the way that you treat each other? In the greater scheme of things, what is important? The ties of the families throughout the parashah are strong no matter what the obstacles. The story of Dinah has us consider woman’s relationship to her partner, what it means to have been a victim of rape, and the concept of revenge. In the introduction to the parashah in The Torah: A Womens Commentary, the authors note that the women are seen as intermediaries who link the groups of men together. While our understanding of family and women has come a long way since Biblical times, we find ourselves still addressing this issue. We believe strongly in a woman’s right to her own voice, to choose, to full access to contraception, to pay equity, and so on. We now stand as individuals in our own right, not defined by the men in our family or the sons we give birth to. We do not hear Dinah’s voice; we do not know what she felt, or what she wanted. But we do learn that it is important for women to have a voice. The empowerment of women is important. Sexual violence is destructive to women and to the community. We learn from Dinah how important women’s empowerment truly is and how sexual violence is destructive for women and their communities. For over 100 years, WRJ has been and is the voice of Reform Jewish women. WRJ has consistently taken positions on women’s issues from suffrage to reproductive rights, to pay equity, to women’s health. We are in the synagogue board room, we are at the UN, we are at the RAC, and we are at the Kotel. We have made our voices heard and others listen. As you read this, we will have just returned from the WRJ Assembly 2015 in Orlando, FL. We studied together, we shared ideas, we prayed together, we sang. We voted on resolutions, continuing a 100-year tradition of taking a stand on significant social justice issues: Pay Equity, Paid Family and Medical Leave, and Distracted Driving. Statements from earlier this year include The Crisis of Syrian and Other Refugees from the Middle East and The Crisis of Racial and Structural Inequality in Law Enforcement. We made decisions that will affect the future of Reform Judaism and of WRJ. We made a difference. We made our voices heard. Hilda R. Glazer, Ed.D., is a WRJ Board member and was most recently the Constitutional Revisions Committee chair. She is a WRJ Central District past president. 

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