Parshas Vayigash
Yaakov's Message To Us
The Midrash teaches us that at the moment of Yakov's meeting with his
beloved son, Yosef, after twenty-two years of anguished separation, Yosef
wept but Yakov concentrated on reciting the shema - the core prayer of
Judaism. What are we to make of this Midrash and what is its intrinsic
message to us? There are many excellent interpretations of these words of
our rabbis but I especially treasure the insight I heard long ago from one
of my teachers in the yeshiva I attended in Chicago. Yosef wept out of
personal emotion. He relived all of his dreams and struggles as well as
the deep remorse he felt at having caused, even indirectly, so much
suffering to his father. Understandably, Yosef's emotions overcame him and
he wept. Yakov, on the other hand, saw the events of Yosef's life, not as
a personal or even familial matter. Rather, he saw it in terms of the
national identity and story of the Jewish people. He saw in his coming to
Egypt not merely the moment of rediscovering and being united with his
long lost son but rather he realized that this was the beginning of the
realization of God's words to Avraham at the great covenant bein habetarim
that the Jewish people would have to be annealed in the fire of exile and
hardship before becoming the Chosen People. How would Yakov's children and
grandchildren survive this great test? Only by their faith in the Creator
and in their eventual redemption and inherent sense of mission. And all of
this was embodied in the prayer of the shema. Tears would not sustain
Israel in its centuries of testing. Only faith would do so.
In our times, the Jewish people are again being tested. The scars of the
Holocaust have not healed and the State of Israel faces great and mortal
dangers. Much of the Jewish world is caught up in a struggle to merely
survive as Jews - to have Jewish grandchildren and a Jewish future. There
are many tear-stained faces in the Jewish world of today and justifiably
so. But as understandable and emotionally-releasing as tears are they
offer no solution to our problems nor do they indicate a path to our
future. The bedrock foundation of the Jewish people is our faith. It is
not Western democracy, pluralism, liberalism, gay-rights or unrestricted
abortion. Until our generation of Jews strengthens its resolve and
beliefs, until it recites the shema with conviction and fervor, there is
little hope for a lasting solution to the ills that plague us. Yakov sees
himself in an historical perspective while Yosef is limited to his own
personal viewpoint. Yosef weeps while Yakov prays. Only by broadening our
own perspective, by seeing ourselves, our lives and deeds, in the backdrop
of eternal Jewish life and its story of perseverance and faith, can we
also rise above our tears and anguish and help build a stronger and more
serene Jewish world.
Text Copyright © 2004 by Rabbi Berel Wein and Torah.org
Visit www.rabbiwein.com for a complete selection of Rabbi Wein's books and tapes.
