11 Tevet, 5784
Parsha Va-Yiggash (Genesis 44:18 – 47:27)
Seventh Portion: Genesis 47:11 – 47:27

Shabbat Shalom! We are finishing up the second to last Parsha of Genesis today, and then tomorrow? We begin the ending of the beginning (Genesis).  What is interesting, next week we have the full moon coming up – and we will see the full light of the beginning coming to an end.

Ok. Enough of the word play, let’s dig in.  When we left off, Jacob and his sons came to Egypt and all stood before Pharaoh.  Jacob BLESSES Pharaoh.  With the name of Jacob (not Israel).  Jacob released Benjamin, and by doing so was reconciled with Joseph. And was blessed with abundance. In return, Jacob blesses.  Let’s dig in:

11Joseph settled his father and his brothers, and he gave them property in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had mandated.

12And Joseph sustained his father and his brothers and his father’s entire household [with] bread according to the young children.

Joseph settles his family in the choices of land. Now – the belief is we are about to time travel back into the past.  My read of the Torah isn’t clear on that. But either way, let’s see what happens:

13Now there was no food in the entire land, for the famine had grown exceedingly severe, and the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan were exhausted because of the famine.

14And Joseph collected all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan with the grain that they were buying, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.

So basically, Joseph had the monopoly on food. And instead of “giving it away” he took it into Pharaoh.

This also feels like the beginning of slavery, doesn’t it? Greed? They were all free and settled in Egypt – and almost IMMEDIATELY, the Torah shows us Joseph’s greed.  That creates a lot of dissonance. Let’s keep going:

15Now the money was depleted from the land of Egypt and from the land of Canaan, and all the Egyptians came to Joseph, saying, “Give us food; why should we die in your presence, since the money has been used up?”

16And Joseph said, “Give [me] your livestock, and I will give you [food in return] for your livestock, if the money has been used up.”

Wow Joseph.  Compassion?

I’m reflecting.  For a while, Joseph seemed to live a spiritually free life.  He was thrown into a pit, sold to slavery, rose to prominence in Potiphar’s house, falsely accused and put in prison.  All the while, the Torah seems to communicate Joseph was free the entire time.

Now? Joseph is free – he has abundance – and he seems enslaved to greed.  Has he assimilated Egyptian culture so much that he cannot see his own choices here?  Let’s keep going:

17So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food [in return] for the horses and for the livestock in flocks and in cattle and in donkeys, and he provided them with food [in return] for all their livestock in that year.

18That year ended, and they came to him in the second year, and they said to him, “We will not hide from my lord, for insofar as the money and the property in animals have been forfeited to my lord, nothing remains before my lord, except our bodies and our farmland.

19Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our farmland? Buy us and our farmland for food, so that we and our farmland will be slaves to Pharaoh, and give [us] seed, so that we live and not die, and the soil will not lie fallow.”

The Egyptians are now CHOOSING to enslave themselves to Joseph and Pharaoh.  Is it possible, Joseph accepting this is what CAUSES or at least is connected to the Jews becoming slaves to Pharoah later on?  Like the restoration and healing of what is happening right now.

In a famine. Instead of just providing. Joseph collects all the wealth. Let’s see what he does with it:

20So Joseph bought all the farmland of the Egyptians for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians sold, each one his field, for the famine had become too strong for them, and the land became Pharaoh’s.

21And he transferred the populace to the cities, from [one] end of the boundary of Egypt to its [other] end.

22Only the farmland of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they ate their allotment that Pharaoh had given them; therefore, they did not sell their farmland.

23Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have bought you and your farmland today for Pharaoh. Behold, you have seed, so sow the soil.

24And it shall be concerning the crops, that you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and the [remaining] four parts shall be yours: for seed for [your] field[s], for your food, for those in your houses, and for your young children to eat.”

25They replied, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in my lord’s eyes, and we will be slaves to Pharaoh.”

26So Joseph made it a statute to this day concerning the farmland of Egypt for the one fifth. Only the farmland of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh’s.

27And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt in the land of Goshen, and they acquired property in it, and they were prolific and multiplied greatly.

Um. Yeah. So the positive is he allowed the people to keep 4/5 of what they harvested.

The issue is – Joseph basically enslaved the Egyptians.

I’m reflecting on this. It seems the prequel of the Exodus story.

What is our takeaway?

For me, I am reflecting on greed.  Where in my life do I forget compassion? Forget empathy? And instead focus on getting MORE for me? Where am I not “other centered?”

And. I can see. I talk a LOT about loving ourselves. The key to loving others is loving who we are. And – that can get out of balance, can’t it? We can’t JUST love ourselves. I would say this portion reminds us we are ALSO called to love others. To the capacity of love we have to give. Give. Not take.  Joseph was taking here.

So there we have it. I think that’s an important message – “And He Approached” Joseph. Approached slavery.

What are YOUR thoughts?

Here are my thoughts from the past two years

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for 7 Tevet, 5783

Shabbat Shalom!

As I reflect on todays portion, it’s interesting given another year of Capitalism in America seemingly breaking down before our eyes. Instead of a famine we are dealing with a pandemic. But the result seems to be the same; sovereignty. What we choose to give away, and what the powers control take.

The question is what do we do with this? In our own lives.

Let’s bring this to the spiritual. Where are we sacrificing our spiritual lives to gain something we think we need? How are we abandoning spiritual practices that have sustained us.

This article was a really crucial one on the idea of “self abandonment:”

https://www.crackliffe.com/…/how-to-heal-fear-of…

One of the ways a fear of abandonment shows up is when we abandon our own selves for the sake of someone else.

One the things mentioned in the article is doing inner child work to heal this wound that creates the fear of abandonment. My trip home this weekend and being in the mummers parade? Is all part of that inner spiritual work!

Even if we give away ourselves and abandon our own selves, we don’t need to fear. Because todays Torah portion reminds us; even if we descend into slavery and oppression, we can find freedom and liberation on the other side.

What are your thoughts?

Tyler’s Torah Thoughts for Tevet 7, 5782

Today, we wrap up Parsha va-yiggash. We left off yesterday with Jacob blessing Pharoah with the blessing that the Nile should irrigate the land. Jacob then leaves Pharoah’s presence.

Joseph then goes and settles his father and brothers in Egypt; the best of the land in the district of Ramses (in Goshen)

Joseph sustained his family in Goshen with an excess of bread – he gave them an abundance.

The Torah then makes a shift and goes back in time a bit to two years before Jacob’s arrival in Egypt.

Before I go further, my biggest question as I approach this passage is “why?” Why would we go back in time here? What put this out of chronological order? This question of “why?” Isn’t from a place of “there is something wrong” but more “what does Hashem want me to learn from this that He would have us go back in time?”

So we go back in time to when there was no food in the land- and the famine is severe. Joseph collects all the money in the land by selling grain; and Joseph brings the money to Pharaoh. Capitalism at its finest!

Then, the Egyptians came to Joseph and said “give us food! Why should we die because the money has run out?”

Whoa. Um. Going BACK in time? How about going forward in time? I feel like this is where we are at today. Capitalism has run its course; the rich have collected almost all the money from the rest of us.

Joseph said to them: If the money has run out, give me your livestock, and I will give you food for livestock. So they did. And he exchanged livestock for food.

Wow. Not what I expected. Capitalism doubling down on itself. And the context is – Jacob arrives in the middle of the famine and Joseph is giving his own family an excess of food.

So; when that year ended, the Egyptians came to Joseph in the second year of the famine. They basically tell Joseph they’ve given him all their money and livestock. There is nothing left except their bodies as farmland. Why should they die?

Now. Here’s a switch; the Egyptians tell Joseph to purchase their bodies and farmland and let it be subjugated to Pharoah – asking for seed so that they would live and not die. that’s how desperate they were to the government.

Joseph agrees and purchases all the land because the famine had become too strong and all the land belonged to Pharaoh.

And; Joseph did something curiously; he moved people around so they were reminded they no longer owned the land. The ONLY land he didn’t buy and do this with was the priests; because they were given a daily allotment of bread from Pharaoh.

Again; capitalism at its finest here.

So basically the people had nothing. It is interesting here. I thought originally reading this, when the money ran out, they had nothing. Then recognized they had livestock. When the livestock ran out then I thought they had nothing – but then they sold their bodies and land. Now they were truly with nothing; especially because they were moved to land that was different than what they grew up with.

Joseph then said to the people; Since I have bought everything from you, here is grain. Sow the farmland; when the harvest comes, you give one fifth to Pharaoh and keep the rest for yourselves. Capitalism gives way to communism.

I’m really chewing on this. I am starting to reflect on capitalism via communism – especially in the context of our country. Trigger warning – political thoughts coming…be warned

I grew up believing that communism was the evil of evils. The USSR is bad, USA good. That was the message – communism is oppressive. Capitalism is freedom because everyone has a chance.

As I reflect on this Torah passage, I’m seeing the political cycle connected. The end game of capitalism is communism. And the end game of communism is (we will discover) slavery and oppression. The end of slavery and oppression is freedom and liberation. Rinse and repeat. I think it all may be connected. Capitalism’s goal is like pharaoh- supply and demand. We have all the supply. You have all the demand. What do we do? We are required to move to communism. Then what happens, within communism, certain people benefit (Jacob gives his family extra provision, the Priests get provisions) but others are required to work to provide.

Maybe it’s all connected? More than we’ve been led to believe?

I’m just going to stop a moment and process. Because this is a lot to take in.

The parsha ends with the people saying “You saved our lives!” They were GRATEFUL for what Joseph did.

We find out this practice of giving 1/5 of the harvest belongs to Pharaoh. Except for the priests. Their land did not belong to pharaoh.

Oh. And the Jews. The last verse of the Parsha states; “The Jewish people settled in Egypt, in the district of Goshen, and they acquired property there. They were fertile, and their population increased rapidly.

Whew. That’s a lot. I am REALLY curious to what y’all think! Especially the political stuff. Keep the discussion respectful; and at the same time allow people to have their emotions. The values here for discussion should always be empathy and compassion.

As every Shabbat, thoughts on this weeks Haftorah will be in the comments!

Haftorah thoughts.

Todays Haftorah comes from Ezekiel 37:15-28

The Haftorah brings together the Kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of Joseph that will occur when Messiah comes – concluding the conflict between Judah and Joseph from the beginning of this weeks Parsha.

We open the Haftorah with Hashem telling Ezekiel to take two Sticks and bring them together- joining Judah and Joseph, and their kingdoms.

The idea here is unity. As Jews, we are called to be united with one another; despite our conflicts and differences we are called to be one group; just Jews. So often we fight to be “better Jews” not internally but compared to one another. We see each other as Jews on a continuum. And this is not what Hashem wants.

We see this as not something we will be able to achieve only on our own. But Ezekiel lays out what things will look like:

1. God will take the Jews and gather them and bring them to their land.
2. God will make the Jews one nation in the land. And all Jews will have one king.
3. Jews will no longer be divided into two kingdoms
4. Jews will no longer be defiled by their (our) idols, their (our) abominations, and their (our) sins.
5. God will save them (us) where they (we) are lost in all the communities where they (we) sinned.
6. God will purify them (us) from their (our) sins.
7. They (we) will be God’s people who believe in Him AND OBSERVE GOD’S COMMANDMENTS
8. God will be their (our) God to save them (us) and help them (us).

I’m pausing here because everything above is listed before Ezekiel talks about the Messiah.

9. The Messiah will be king over them (us) and they (we) will have one shepherd.
10. The Jews will follow God’s laws and guard God’s statutes in their (our) hearts and fulfill them. (By the way it does seem that the Jews will fulfill the laws, NOT the messiah, according to Ezekiel)
11. The Jews will settle in the land of Israel.
12. The Jews will live there forever and the messiah will be their servant forever
13. God will make a covenant of peace with the Jews and it will be an eternal covenant.
14. God will establish the Jews in Israel forever and cause them (us)to multiply
15. God will place His sanctuary among them (us)so it stands forever
16. God’s Devine presence will be among them (us)
17. God will help us and save them (us).
18. The Jews will be God’s people
19. The Jews will believe in Hashem
20. The Jews will keep God’s commandments.

What about non-Jews? Ezekiel closes here by saying the Nations will know that God is God, who sanctifies Israel.

How will they know this?

Ezekiel says it’s because God’s sanctuary will be among “them” forever.

Who is “them” referring to in this verse? (Verse 28). Well in verse 26 it is clear “them” is referring to the Jews. So the nations will know God is God because they will see His sanctuary among the Jews.

Whew. There is a lot here.

I want to go back to the list of 20 things. It is possible the first 8 things could happen before Messiah arrives on scene. It is also possible it happens after they arrive.

But the signs here are clear. And it is clear Messiah hasn’t come because these 20 things haven’t happened yet. At least in my opinion.

Let me know your thoughts!!!!