Good Shabbos,
I am so happy to see you all again and to be here celebrating yet another birthday with my mother Julia. I see A birthday as a new beginning that promises to be full of adventure.
The subject of our portion tonight also as a new beginning. It is a new beginning for our people of ancient times.
This weeks portion is Vayegash Chapter 44 verse 18 in Genesis.
Vayegash brings us to the story of Joseph in Egypt and his brothers. Joseph is working as the Pharaoh's right hand man. Here Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers when they come before him to ask for food. The portion ends with the Pharaoh inviting them to come to Egypt and giving them the choicest lands in a section of Egypt called Goshen. A new beginning for Jacob, his sons and their families. Here they multiply and eventually become the 12 tribes of Israel.
I see here a double theme. One is of forgiveness that can break the terrible separation in families due to, jealousy, and rigidity. The other theme is one of humanity through open heartedness.
Forgiveness is often too difficult for us to undertake because we get stuck in our need to be right. It is so difficult to be objective when enmeshed in the drama of what has occurred. We can be blinded by OUR interpretation of the situation, and are unable to see both sides clearly. I myself have been stuck in just such a drama which goes way back to my childhood where jealousies and misunderstandings began. Since then many events had taken place that brought me to a stand off towards a dear person in my life. I spent three years working to let go and accept the limitations of the other. I would go just so far and then get stuck in my feeling place and did not want to let go in order to forgive.
Does this ring a bell for you? Can you recall finding yourself in a similar situation of not being able to let go and to accept the situation as it exists.
How does one let go and become open to change? First, we need to see and accept our own imperfections with pure honesty. Once we can do this, we can come to the place where we can then accept another's limitations. This takes a deep and honest intention with, the will to be open to change. This is a powerful piece of personal work, which we have the choice to undertake at any time. It takes a lot of personal power and a commitment to be more than our words.
We can learn a lot from the example of Joseph. He was treated as a favored son. He was sold into slavery by his own siblings. He was betrayed again and landed in Jail. Because he was able to interpret dreams, he was promoted to the second highest rank in Egypt, responsible for feeding a whole nation and his own lost tribe itself. He meets his brothers again and cries for joy and gladness as he reveals his identity to them.
When he meets his brothers he is not angry nor hostile or harsh. Instead he is humble, forgiving and loving.
How is he able to do this after all that he has suffered?
I believe that he is grateful to have been given not only the gift of life, but to have found his family again. Therefore revenge or anger never enters his mind.
No matter what we have endured in our life time, I truly believe there is nothing more soothing then the feelings we get from having family to love, and to receive love from.
We ARE capable of forgiveness. First, we have to get to the place where we are able to forgive ourselves for holding tight to our attitudes. It takes a deep honest intention to want to change. It means to be willing to let go of being right and to be open to love in its simplest and purest form.
Once we can forgive our own inadequacies, we have then created the possibility of forgiveness towards others. This form of forgiveness brings, magic to the heart and a pure warm glow both within and without. I now can honestly say this because, I have indeed been able to get there myself.
I leave you with this to digest while I take us on a slightly different journey. A journey into a world of humanity through open heartedness.
In this portion, we have a reversal of what is happening today in our world. We have the Egyptian nation taking care of another nation in time of need. All this is made possible because of the brilliance of one human being that serves to save the lives of both cultures.
This is an incredible story as most bible stories are. There are no accidents only carefully planned out tales intended to teach us how to live the life we are given. These teachings can serve and nurture us and, help us to understand what to do about the difficult situations in our lives.
In this ancient time, our lives were made possible by the humanness of a great leader from an entirely different world. As it turns out under our understanding of the countries of the world, this leader was actually an Arab King.
Much has happened since then. We became slaves again, were freed , wandered 40 years to reach home again. We win and lose over centuries of time and become wanderers again living in every corner of the world. We are a homeless people holding fast to our dream of returning home. This is the same dream that all homeless peoples hunger for.
We now have our own country known as the Jewish State of Israel. It is the tiniest of countries bordered by the Mediterranean Sea and four Arab states. Right smack in the middle of this country is an amazing city known as Jerusalem with a history that boggles the mind.
Much has happened over the centuries. Man has lost the possibility of a very precious innate quality. We create governments with our heads and not our hearts and certainly not our humanness. We hold tight to our own individual ideas, needs, wants, and judgements. We have little trust nor are we able to see how other lost homeless peoples hunger for a homeland as well. A homeland also on the same ground of their beginnings.
We who are in power make rules in order to control others. We make borders to keep ourselves safe, because we believe we must. We hold tight to our beliefs. We value the beliefs of others as less than. We end up with a huge frightening mess where no one really wins, nor shares successfully.
It is indeed a difficult situation at best. We are surrounded by all Arab states and beleaguered by one homeless Arab nation known as the Palestinians. A people that no one wants not even any of their Arab brother's and sister's countries. We treat them as less than a people that hunger for the same thing we had been hungering for, for thousands of lost years. Not only can we not see it; we can not feel it. We are too frightened to lose the little we have.
We are a divided culture, with Reformed, Conservative, Orthodox, Ultra Orthodox, and Secular beliefs. Each group believes it is right. We use different interpretations of text, might, power, example of and influence from, greater powers than ourselves, but, WE DO NOT USE OUR HEARTS.
Coupled with all of this, again we have a situation of deep unrest, terrible times of fighting and loss of precious lives. It is so very difficult, during such times to hold onto our dreams of peace let alone believe in new ideas or in even the reality of its possibility. This is especially true for you and so many thousands of others who have already worked for so long towards having and keeping our Jewish State.
With so much unrest again in Israel, this is a very tender subject. How do we remain open to talking about the needs of others and possible remedies to the situation. The only way is to nurture an open heart. Can we remember back in time how we hungered for so very long to have a homeland. Can we remember that deep longing so that perhaps we will be able to understand that all homeless peoples desire a homeland.
Can we still open our hearts enough to understand that the Palestinians need to have their own home and their own recognized government as well.
My heart believes that it is our duty as a human race to remember to stay open not only to our own needs, but to the needs of others as well. This is not always easy to do however there is no other way. It is the doorway to any possible peace, the entrance to balance, the key to loving kindness and above all else, human rights.
Can a dream actually become a reality?
What if ALL the surrounding countries, including ours, gave a little of their fertile and useful land to these homeless people inorder to create a wonderful homeland for them, and their own government.
We really can not go on as a human race the way we have been at it over the Centuries. Conquering, Raping, Killing, Pillaging each other and the earth itself. Violating and polluting the ecosystems of the earth so on and so forth. There just has to be a time when we all together say, NO MORE. We must come together and love one another. We must share with each other all that we have. We must teach each other how to trust and we must be trustworthy. We must be raised with loving-kindness so that we in turn know how to raise our young with loving-kindness. We must practice a love for all our differences and bury our fear of diversity. We must all decide it is enough and it is time to change. The Rich and powerful, must learn to relax and cultivate a new way by becoming temperate. The need to be more powerful than, and richer than UNDERSTANDING, eventually brings destruction and unhappiness this great planet.
With human nature being all the diversity that it is, this is a big order indeed. However, it is an order that we can dream, hold in our hearts, teach unto our children and practice in our deeds.
May we see the day when war and bloodshed cease?
The day when great peace will embrace the whole world.
Then nation shall not threaten nation,
And mankind will not again know war.
For all who live on earth shall realize.
we have not come into being to hate and to destroy
We have come into being
to praise, to labor and to love.
Compassionate God, bless the leaders of all nations
With the power of compassion.
Fulfill the promise conveyed in Scripture:
I will bring peace to the land .
And you shall lie down and no one shall terrify you.
I will rid the land of vicious beasts
And it shall not be ravaged by war.
Let love and justice flow like a mighty stream.
Let peace fill the earth as the waters fill the sea.
And let us say: Amen
And then all that has divided us will merge
And then compassion will be wedded to power
And then softness will come to a world that is harsh and Unkind
And then both men and women will be gentle
And then both women and men will be strong
And then no person will be subject to another's will
And then all will be rich and free and varied
And then the greed of some will give way to the needs of Many
And then all will share equally in the Earth's abundance
And then all will care for the sick and the weak and the old
And then all will nourish the young
And then all will cherish life's creatures
And then all will live in harmony with each other and the Earth
And then everywhere will be called Eden once again.
(And Then Eden by Judy Chicago)
Thank you and may the blessings of good shine above you.
© 2001 Miriam Jacobs
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Last updated 02/05/2001(rge)