VAYESHEV 5778
ENABLING THE LIGHT
December 7, 2017
19 Kislev 5778
This week's Torah portion opens with the verse, "Now Jacob was settled in the land where his father had sojourned, the land of Canaan." A Midrash pictures a serene Jacob luxuriating in finally being home following his twenty-two year exile in Aram where he received sanctuary with his uncle and father-in-law, Laban. Jacob successfully outfoxed the devious Laban and thus departed with his large family, significant flocks, and many servants. Upon returning to Canaan, he reconciled with his estranged brother, Esau, and the two parted company amiably. Jacob and family now looked forward to future of peace and harmony.
The Midrash reminds us that this hope was dashed because of the rage surrounding his favorite son, Joseph. We know the story of how his older brothers detested him, not only because he was clearly Jacob's favorite son, but also as a result of his dreams of future day when he would lord it over all of them. When the opportunity presented itself to isolate Joseph in their midst, rather than kill him, they sold him into slavery.
They then rent apart his coat of many colors, dipped it into the blood of an animal and brought it before their father who surmised that this was evidence of Joseph's having been torn apart by a wild beast. Jacob, now led to believe that Joseph was dead, mourned his loss for the twenty-two years he was separated from his most beloved son.
Yet, a reading of the text and an awareness of human nature indicate that Jacob was hardly an innocent victim of the events that swirled around him. After Rachel's untimely death, Jacob continued to spurn Leah, the mother of six of his oldest sons. He should have been sensitive to the fact that the sight of Joseph, Rachel's son, prancing around in this coat of many colors, was a constant source of resentment.
Jacob was thus not an innocent victim of events beyond his control; he was an enabler who, in his own way, drove the agenda. In his delightful book, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Bernard Bach aptly described the enabler, "every person, all the events in your life, are there because you have drawn them there. What you choose to do with them is up to you."
What was true for Jacob is true for us. We are enablers whose decisions impact upon our lives and the lives of others. We are an enabler when we postpone needed medical checkups that might catch a potential disease in its early stages. We are enablers when we choose foods with high caloric and fat content knowing full well that they can harm our health and affect our well-being. We are enablers when we give in to the temptations that we know may well have us skating on thin ice.
We are also enablers when we extend ourselves to help others in need. We are enablers when we support causes that advance justice and peace. We are enablers when, in the spirit of the Maccabees, we will not let the light of our tradition and faith go out. We are enablers when we build families of mutual respect and love where spouses are each other's best friends and siblings are there for one another throughout their lives.
We all pine for a life free of tension, worry and strife. The bottom line is that we do have significant control over the quality of our lives; we have the power as enablers to be a positive or a negative force. May it be said of us that we were among the enablers who "didn't let the light go out."
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From the holy city of Jerusalem, my best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom u'Mevorach, a Shabbat of peace and blessing, and a festive Hanukah celebration.
Rabbi Arnold M Goodman
VAYISHLACH 5778
DINAH AND THE WEINSTEIN MOMENT
November 30, 2017
12 Kislev 5778
The first incident of sexual harassment recorded in the Bible is the explicit account in this week's Torah portion of the rape of Dinah by Shechem, the prince of the town of Shechem. "The daughter of Leah went out to see the daughters of the land" where she was accosted by Shechem who "took her and lay with her by force" (Genesis 34: 1, 2).
Shechem subsequently brought disaster upon his city when two of Dinah's brothers, Simeon and Levi, created a situation enabling them to slaughter all the males in the town of Shechem. Their defense for this brutal response was, "shall our sister (who was attacked) be treated as a whore?" Simeon and Levi were incensed by this low regard of their beloved and innocent sister.
Dinah's story is especially relevant, living as we now do in what has been described as the Weinstein Moment. His egregious and cavalier treatment of women was obviously an open secret in his circle. Following the New York Times story of his sordid behavior, Weinstein has now paid a price for treating women as a commodity for his gratification.
This revelation has opened floodgates as woman after woman has come forward to describe the harassment and even rape they suffered at the hands of employers, colleagues, supervisors, and bosses. Caught up in this explosion of #MeToo tweets are leading politicians, entertainers, and TV personalities. Many women have now gone public to tell, how at various times in their lives, they were harassed and demeaned in their workplaces.
Clearly sexual harassment is morally repugnant and appalling, but men who act so poorly believe, as did Shechem, that they are immune from condemnation, stricture, and punishment. Hopefully, today, in this Weinstein Moment, women who are sexually harassed or abused will be believed when they courageously come forward to tell their stories.
There is, however, a lesson here for all of us. It's not unusual to believe that our moral failures, whether it be dishonesty in business, violations of the marital bond, addictive gossiping, or other moral shortcomings, will remain unnoticed. There is a human tendency to fall prey to the illusion that it's cheating only if you get caught and to believe we can cleverly cover our tracks to prevent this. We do well to keep in mind the teaching in the Ethics of the Fathers that true wisdom is being aware of tomorrow's consequences for today's behavior.
Often we know what to do and what not to do and yet do succumb to temptation. A fundamental teaching of our tradition is that life's basic challenge is to resolve the tension between our good inclination (yetzer tov) and our evil inclination (yetzer ra). I suspect that the men who are now paying the price for their illicit moral behavior were well aware that they were doing wrong, yet they were unable to restrain their yetzer ra. By succumbing to its wiles, they have subsequently brought shame upon themselves and now suffer professionally and personally.
The lesson for all of us is to strengthen our resolve to avoid evil that may well morph into a problematic past. May we have the inner fortitude and the wisdom to respond to the still small voice of our good inclination and to craft lives that are truly and deservedly respected.
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From the holy city of Jerusalem, my best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom u'Mevorach, a Shabbat of peace and blessing.
Rabbi Arnold M Goodman
