Dear {{first_name}},
Do you remember the first movie that you ever saw? I bet it isn’t the easiest question to answer. I grew up with movies and really cannot for the life of me guess what was my first movie. I know that I saw Return of the Jedi in the theatre, hence my lifelong obsession with Star Wars in general and Ewoks in particular. I am certain that numerous Disney movies made up my childhood, all with the same structure. They all had a beginning in which a conflict presented itself, and main part of the story, and the end of story with a resolution of the conflict. It was a bookend system in which everything was neatly put together with a lesson at the end.
The book of Genesis is the greatest book ever written. It is our foundation, and in essence, the foundation of all of humanity. It is also the paradigm for all stories in the way they open and conclude in perfect bookend fashion. The book opens with the brokenness of humanity. It was the second generation and already we had senseless violence and murder. Cain killed Abel and we were never told why. What we were told was that Cain was jealous of Abel and that he killed him. After the murder, God asked a profound question of Cain “Where is Abel, your brother?” To which Cain responded: “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” The question of God and the question of Cain are both deeply meaningful and foreshadowing, not only of the book of Genesis, but the entire Torah itself.
When Cain asked God his question of responsibility, there is silence… no answer is given at all. But we must assume that there is an answer to the question, and in reality the answer is “yes, yes you are and I (God) will now spend the next number of years proving this to you.” We then learned of Abraham and his sons, Ishmael and Isaac, and their very broken relationship. We then learn about Isaac’s sons, Esau and Jacob, and their broken relationship. Lastly, we learn about Jacob’s twelve sons and their broken and dangerous relationship which led them to sell their brother into slavery. The whole family tree is messed up and it’s all part of the legacy of Cain and Abel.
This week’s portion, Vayigash, is the second to last in the book of Genesis, Bereshit. Joseph, in his thirst for revenge for the torment he went through by his brothers’ hands, concocted an elaborate way of torturing his youngest brother Benjamin, his only full brother, and set him up as a thief. It’s at this point our broken story takes a turn and resolution is suddenly found. Judah, the brother whose tribe will be the last remaining segment of the nation of Israel, came forward and said no. He stood up and said no to Joseph, still in disguise, and begged him to take him in place of Benjamin. It was at this point that Joseph could not stop himself and asked everyone to leave the room aside from his unknowing brothers. His cries were so loud that everyone in the kingdom, including the Pharaoh, heard him. With that moment of a brother choosing to protect and standup for another brother, the legacy is broken and the story is completed. What began as brokenness is now wholeness as the healing began and the family came back together.
Our religion began in a world of darkness. A world filled with paganism and idolatry. The world was chaotic and filled with people who did not care for others so much as they cared for themselves. Our religion calls on us to live in community and in connection with others around us. Our religious tradition demands that we care about how others are treated and how we behave. Our tradition pushes us to always be “brothers’ keepers” and to never back down. Of course the book of Genesis is not the Torah but rather the first book of it, and as such, the story and lesson goes on for the entire five books.
Throughout the Torah we are reminded time of again to treat other people as we want to be treated because we were strangers. We are taught to be concerned about the welfare of others. We are taught to not oppress other people. We are also given order to usher us out of chaos. All of this exists to demonstrate that we need to take the time to stand up, to care about, and to be there, for other people. We have a legacy to build from. We have a religious tradition that paves the way for us. We all need to heed our tradition and find our place in this tradition and to carry the torch to care for and help others whenever needed.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Hearshen
