This week's portion begins what I consider the greatest story ever told by human beings: the journey of Joseph. It is the ultimate "prequel," the back story of the liberation of the Jewish people and the giving of the law. But it teaches us so much about faith, and dreams, and destiny, and basic human motivations.
Those familiar with Andrew Lloyd Webber's wonderful "Joseph" musical will recognize the story. But the Biblical text adds another layer of richness.
Toward the end of this week's portion, Joseph finds himself in prison, where he rises to a senior rank among inmates and is sought by others for his advice. He hears the dreams of Pharaoh's butler and baker, and interprets their fates.
When he predicts that the butler will be restored to his position, he asks that he remember Joseph once he is out of prison. The Jewish Sages suggest that Joseph erred by asking for a human favor, rather than trusting in God alone.
But I think Joseph's mistake -- for which, the Sages say, he spent another two years in prison -- had to do with the term he used to describe his prison: a "pit." This is not the only word in Hebrew to describe a jail; but it is is an uglier one.
Interestingly, the word "pit" also describes the place into which Joseph was put when his brothers assaulted him, and before they decided to sell him into slavery. In his own mind, Joseph negates the progress he has made since then.
He is so consumed by his present misfortunes that he forgets, for the moment, that he has grown through his travails -- or that he has the opportunity to do good for those around him. He fails to see the potential in his circumstances.
That is why he spends another two years in prison. It is only when he has the self-awareness and maturity to see the possibilities in every situation that he is ready to emerge -- and to help Pharaoh manage Egypt's coming famine.
The story of Noah is familiar; the details, less so.
Noah is often seen as an ambivalent figure. He was righteous -- but only for his generation. What was his deficiency?
One answer suggests itself: knowing that the world was about to be flooded, he built an Ark for the animals and for his own family -- but did not try to save anyone else or to convince them to repent and change their ways (the prophet Jonah, later, would share that reluctance).
Abraham, later, would set himself apart by arguing with God -- with the Lord Himself! -- against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that they should be saved if there were enough righteous people to be found (there were not).
Still, Noah was good enough -- and sometimes, that really is sufficient to save the world. We don't need heroes every time -- just ordinary decency.
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Look for cancelation in the very near future. Thank you for your support!
An interesting weekend -- one of the last of Daylight Savings Time -- in which there is much to celebrate, much to contemplate, and a bit to worry about.
The Gaza peace deal is shaky, but holding, after the living hostages returned; the shutdown is still going on, with no end in sight; the China trade war is heating up; and the confrontation with Venezuela continues to escalate.
The "No Kings" protest was a dud, despite the media's attempt to inflate it. What I find fascinating is that the Democrats have basically stolen the rhetoric and the imagery of the Tea Party protests, circa 2009. They claim they are defending the Constitution -- just like the Tea Party did.
On the one hand, this is good. How wonderful to have a political system in which both sides, bitterly opposed though they are, articulate differences through the Constitution -- and not, as in so many other countries, outside it.
On the other, this is sheer hypocrisy for the Democrats. Not only did they malign the Tea Party as ...
