VaYigash

Click on VaYigash in the column on the right for more thoughts and ideas

Try as I may, I can't get away from my 21st century perspective when I think about Joseph.  No matter that the traditional commentaries understand him as a tzaddik, a righteous person, my perspective is less sure of his status.
We all know the history - how he was apparently singled out by his father for special consideration, his brothers' jealousy, his time in jail in Egypt, his rise to power, his eventual reconciliation with his family.

and yet...

• Did he really need to gain ownership of the entire gross national product of Egypt in the process?
• What kind of favor did he do his family by setting them up with special privileges in Goshen?
• Why is it so important to Joseph that his father know what a big shot he has become - and why is he comfortable ignoring the unpleasant fact that he has not made any attempt that we know of to contact this same grieving father for all the years of his absence from Canaan?
• Is it possible to read the Biblical account without addressing these questions?
• Does being a believing Jew require us to accept that in this case the end justifies the means?
• or does being a believing Jew require us to ask just this sort of question and come to answers that satisfy us in the context of our culture and society?
• How is Joseph an example of the kind of person we hope our Jewish children will grow up to be?
• How is he not?
• How might the narrative here have laid the groundwork for later events in Egypt?

It might be easier to read these final parashot of the book of B'reisheet without these questions.  It's just that I can't do it.

VaYeshev

I can remember as a young teacher that the story of Joseph was the most fun to teach - there were so many projects one could choose, there was so much detail in the text that kids could enjoy reading, and the issue of sibling rivalry was always a topic students were able to speak about with authority.
Assuming younger students have spent their time learning the narrative - who said what to whom and where, who dreamt what and what it meant, who sold Joseph to whom and why, and on and on and on, perhaps it is time to think about Big Ideas instead of storytelling.


BIG IDEA:

• Living as a minority within a majority culture is a challenge - especially when the values of the majority are different than those of the minority

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:

• How was living in Egypt different from living with his family in Canaan?
• What were some challenges Joseph faced in this story so far?

LEARNING ACTIVITIES:

• This article by Rabbi Harold Berman suggests a connection between the story of Joseph while he was in the household of Potiphar the Egyptian and the story of Hanukkah.  How does he believe they are similar?
• Amy Virshup in the NY Times writes about online preparation for Bar Mitzvah.  What does it say about the tension between traditional Jewish practice and the modern culture in which we live?
• Bruce Feiler, the author of Walking the Bible and a number of other books based on examining Jewish history and theology, wrote an article entitled Time-Shifting Holidays that examines his efforts to meld tradition with the constraints of the modern world.  What is your reaction to his solution?  To the words of the Rabbi he quotes?

ASSESSMENT:

• Students should be able to express their ideas about what it is like to live as a Jew in a world which often creates conflicts with what they ought to be doing as members of the Jewish people.
• Students should understand that being Jewish involves being part of a community, and is not simply an individual identity.
• Students should be able to articulate ways in which they can choose to be part of the Jewish community in their own lives.

As always, be sure to read the other posts which examine this parasha by clicking on the list to the right or by clicking here

Teshuvah

We usually introduce the subject of teshuvah as saying 'I'm sorry', but an article in today's Wall Street Journal highlighted the difference between the two.  In particular, please read the inset here that appears in the article

Saying 'I'm Sorry'

A 'comprehensive' apology is more likely to win forgiveness, researchers say. There are eight elements:

• Remorse
• Acceptance of responsibility
• Admission of wrongdoing
• Acknowledgment of harm
• Promise to behave better
• Request for forgiveness
• Offer of repair
• Explanation

Source: University of Waterloo

Maimonides states the steps of teshuvah as follows:

1. Realizing what you did was wrong
2. Confessing to the wrongdoing
3. Correcting the wrong you caused
4. Acting properly when confronted with the same situation that led to the original wrongdoing

Here are some questions to help you think about the difference between "I'm sorry" and "teshuvah"

• What is the purpose of "I'm sorry"?
• What is the purpose of teshuvah?
• What step that leads to teshuvah is missing from the "I'm sorry" list above?
• How does this help you understand teshuvah?

Purim Today

There are those who believe the story related in Megillat Esther happened as described.
Others believe the story is fantasy.
I think it doesn't really matter who is right.
According to The Jewish Study Bible

...The setting of the Persian court is authentic, but the events are fictional. 

It goes on to say

The book does have a serious side, and an important function as a Diaspora story, a story written about and for (and perhaps by) Jews of the Diaspora.  As such, it promotes Jewish identity, solidarity within the Jewish community, and a strong connection with Jewish (biblical) tradition.

... 

It addresses the inherent problems of a minority people, their vulnerability to political forces and government edicts, their lack of autonomy, and their dependence on royal favor and on the sagacity of their own leaders.

... 

The book succeeds in putting a serious message in a comic form. 

So what might that mean for our students?

Big Ideas: 

• As Jews we are part of a group with at least some shared experiences
• As members of a group we have responsibilities to the other members of the group
• Appearances do not always reflect reality

Important Questions to Ask and Answer:

• What groups are you part of?
• What threats exist to those groups?
• What are our responsibilities toward the other members of these groups?

Learning Activities:

• Reading Megillat Esther in language the learners can understand should be a core part of the learning activities
• Brainstorm the different groups students are part of and the threats facing each.  Threats can be physical, but need not be.  For example, disappearance of the group can be a threat.
• Discuss ways to address these threats (or challenges, if you prefer)

Assessment:

• Prepare an action plan to address challenges that have been identified

NOTE:  Linking to popular culture is a wonderful way to engage learners

• In the movie Avatar, what group(s) does Jake belong to?
• Which of these groups is threatened?
• How does Jake decide which group to support?
• How was his choice personally threatening?
• Compare and contrast Jake (in Avatar) and Esther (in the Purim story)
• What Jewish values are expressed in the movie?

 

VaYeshev, Part II

He was groomed for his role from early childhood, doted on by his father and prepared for the future in many ways.  He was good at what he did, and focused on what was ahead.  He even dreamed about it.

As an adult he achieved fame and wealth, as well as the attention of at least one woman (probably more) who - for whatever reason - was attracted to him.  Was it his position?  His looks?  His proficiency at his task?

How could one not talk about Tiger Woods in connection to this week's parasha!?!  I have heard the opinion that for a person in his position it is impossible to resist the temptations all around him.  Money, power, fame - all strong attractants, it seems, to groupies.  Is it even possible to keep track of all the famous men who have - just within the past year - been exposed as "players"?

How did Yosef resist the temptations that these men gave in to?  Did he understand that his role was too important to jeopardize with a personal scandal?

Is this why we call him Yosef HaTzadik - Yosef the Righteous?

I have it on good authority that sixth graders are quite familiar with the current saga of Tiger Woods, so I would not hesitate to use the story as a trigger for discussion of this week's parasha.

Does Tiger Woods need a lesson on Jewish values?
And by the way - what would be appropriate teshuva for these public figures?

Social Networking before the Age of Twitter

What Facebook Can't Give You, a fascinating article that appeared in the November 25th issue of Wall Street Journal, describes a group of approximately 20 men, of whom 75% happen to be Jewish, who have been meeting together since 1957.

I recommend the article as a good read, but also for the following paragraph, which appears somewhere near the end.

'Daddy's Ideas'

'The men had hoped their sons would create an adjunct group that would one day assume the Wednesday 10 mantle but none took the initiative. "Daddy's ideas are not the ones children tend to take on," says Mr. Menschel.'

 Does that mean those ideas were not good?  Of course not.  I think it means that the founding generation cannot expect those that follow to necessarily value what they value.  Or, at the least, cannot expect the next generation to express even the values that are shared in the same ways.

As this is true for those 'movers and shakers' in the Wednesday 10, it is often true of our institutions.  It is the reason that to be successful going forward institutions have to be willing to re-invent themselves, to welcome the new ideas of those who come after the founders.

And this is particularly challenging in the context of a religious institution.  Because most religion is by its nature conservative, and Judaism is no exception, there is a need to preserve the values, practices and wisdom of  the past.

How we do that in a popular culture that often seems to look ahead, with little regard for the past, is one of the most difficult tasks we face.

Toldot

Of all the Torah portions in B'reisheet this may be my all-time least favorite.  Each year I struggle with the character of Ya'akov as it is expressed in his actions here.  I remind myself that this text is here for a purpose - as I believe all the text in the Torah is - and wonder once again what God wants me to learn as I read and re-read the descriptions of the actions of all the players here.

• Yitzhak, whose relationship with his father Avraham had to have been affected by the experience at Har HaMoriah.  He loves his wife, he loves his eldest son, he doesn't really trust his own judgment.
• Rivkah, who left her immediate family to become the wife of a distant relative, who was unable to bear children until her husband intervened with God, and who appears to believe she has the right to manipulate the people around her to further her goals
• Ya'akov, who didn't show much initiative as a youngster, who went along with his mother's ruse and outright lied to his father about who he was in order to receive his father's blessing
• Eysav, who - on the surface at least - seems the most innocent of all the actors in this play.  He hunts, he tries to please his father, he gets taken advantage of by those more clever than he.

So what are we to learn from this?

Are these the lessons?

1. It's OK to lie to your parents if it gets you what you believe you deserve.
2. The ends justify the means.
3. Jews aren't supposed to be good outdoorsmen

Somehow I doubt these are the lessons we're supposed to learn from this section of Torah.

Here are some ideas I prefer:

1. Food can be an expression of love and part of an important experience.  That's the idea in David Kraemer's commentary here
2. Rivkah has amazing clarity about God's Big Ideas.  She knows what the overarching plan is and does what is necessary to advance it.  That thought is expressed in The Women's Torah Commentary in the article by Rabbi Beth J. Singer here
3. Today as in the time of the Bible water is the key to survival.  We have a responsibility to treat the land and its resources with care and respect.  That idea is connected to this week's parasha in the commentary by Rabbi Yuval Cherlow at the website of Canfei Nesharim

How do you understand this parasha?  What Jewish values do you see here?  What do you think God wants us to learn from this portion?

Please feel free to share your ideas as comments to this post.

To Save One Life

Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, has donated $1,000,000 to HIAS, the organization which helped him and his family leave the Soviet Union and settle in the United States. He has said that without their help he could never have achieved what he has.

Most of us owe our existence in one way or another to the help of others. Tennessee Williams, in A Streetcar Named Desire, had his character say, "I have always relied on the kindness of strangers." As Jews we have other foundations for our obligation to help others - whether they are strangers or friends.

Here are some suggestions for learning more about how and why Jewish organizations helped Sergey Brin and his family, along with countless others.

Big Ideas:

• All Jews are responsible for one another - Kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh
• Help those who need help - Ozer dalim
• Do not stand by when others are threatened - Al ta-amod al dam re'acha
• You must redeem the hostage - Pidyon sh'vuyim
• You must pursue justice - Tsedek, tsedek tirdof

Essential Questions:

• What is HIAS?
• How did your family come to live in the United States?
• Why do so many hospitals have Jewish names?
• What programs does your local Jewish Federation Agency support?

Learning Activities:

Use the following websites to find out more about HIAS, Jewish Federations, and other agencies supported or founded largely through Jewish donations:

• HIAS
• UJC
• AJWS
• Jewish Hospital Movement

Assessment Activities:

• Find out if anyone in your family has benefited from any of the above organizations. Create a presentation that explains how.
• Choose one or more of the Big Ideas and explain how it influences or has influenced one or more of the agencies or organizations you learned about
• Find out what agencies/groups/organizations there are in your community that help others. Choose one or more and explain which of the Big Ideas they illustrate.
• Pick one of the Big Ideas and plan a way in which you can help support it in your own community

Doing Jewish

Introduction:

Jewish text does not have a monopoly on wisdom or ethics. It does, however, contain both in great abundance. One of the valuable lessons our learners ought to take with them forever is that the foundations for what many see as universal values are embedded in Jewish thinking. Some of the greatest ideas of our civilization are in large part based on the great ideas of Judaism, and we can take justifiable pride in that concept.

This post is a suggestion for using media and popular culture to support learning of Jewish ideas.

Big Ideas:

• People have the capacity to choose freely between good and evil
• Everything one does is part of who s/he is
• Jewish wisdom insists we take responsibility for our decisions and actions

Question our learners should be able to answer:

• What evidence do we have in Jewish texts to support these ideas?
• Which of the stories below is, in your opinion, the story of a hero? What supports your opinion

Learning Activities:

I.

A book has just been released in which Capt. Sulllenberger tells the story of his life and the events we know as the "Miracle on the Hudson", the safe landing of the jet he was piloting and rescue of all aboard.

One of the statements quoted in the Wall Street Journal's article by his co-author has within it the following quotation.

'Sully has heard from people who say preparation and diligence are not the same as heroism. He agrees.

One letter ...came from Paul Kellen of Medford, Mass. "I see a hero as electing to enter a dangerous situation for a higher purpose," he wrote, "and you were not given a choice. That is not to say you are not a man of virtue, but I see your virtue arising from your choices at other times. It's clear that many choices in your life prepared you for that moment when your engines failed.

"There are people among us who are ethical, responsible and diligent. I hope your story encourages those who toil in obscurity to know that their reward is simple—they will be ready if the test comes. I hope your story encourages others to imitation."

Sully now sees lessons for the rest of us. "We need to try to do the right thing every time, to perform at our best," he says, "because we never know what moment in our lives we'll be judged on."'

II.

Dr. Tina Strobos is 89 years old and lives in Rye, NY. During World War II she lived in Amsterdam and was part of a family that saved many Jews by hiding them in their home. You can read about her here.

Why would she take such gambles for people she sometimes barely knew?

“It’s the right thing to do,” she said with nonchalance. “Your conscience tells you to do it. I believe in heroism, and when you’re young, you want to do dangerous things.”

'... such an outlook has an origin, what Donna Cohen, the Holocaust Center’s executive director, calls “learned behavior.” Dr. Strobos comes from a family of socialist atheists who took in Belgian refugees during World War I and hid German and Austrian refugees before World War II. Dr. Strobos had close Jewish friends and, for a time, a Jewish fiancé, Abraham Pais... . '

III.

Here are some quotations from Jewish sources to read and think about. What does each quotation mean? How are they similar? How are they different? Choose one and use it to explain why Captain Sullenberger and Dr. Strobos did what they did.

from Pirkei Avot, the Ethics of the Fathers:

"Hillel says that in a place where there are no 'humans', try to be 'human'"

,ו ובמקום

שאין אנשים, השתדל להיות איש.

from Proverbs:

י בְּנִי-- אִם-יְפַתּוּךָ חַטָּאִים, אַל-תֹּבֵא.

10 My child, if sinners attract you, don't follow them. כז שֹׁחֵר טוֹב, יְבַקֵּשׁ רָצוֹן; וְדֹרֵשׁ רָעָה תְבוֹאֶנּוּ. 11:27 One who seeks good will find it; but one who searches for evil, it will come to him.

Culminating/Assessment Activity

Create a bulletin board on which you post articles which illustrate any and all of the 3 quotations you learned. For each article be sure to specify which idea it illustrates, and a short paragraph explaining why it does so.

A Jewish Perspective on a Famous Catholic

Senator Ted Kennedy died last week, and was buried on Saturday at Arlington National Cemetery near the graves of two of his older brothers - President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert Kennedy. The entire nation mourns his death.

The story of the Kennedy family is a story of power and privilege, of positive impact and of serious imperfection. Because we live in a world today in which there are few secrets for people in the public eye, we know about JFK's infidelities, about RFK's children and their problems, and some with longer memories are aware that the family's fortune began in bootlegging liquor during Prohibition and includes support for Hitler and his policies in Europe during World War II.

And in spite of this knowledge and history, Senator Edward Kennedy is widely considered one of the best and most effective senators - one who has brought immeasurable good to the country and to its people. He has sponsored and help pass numerous measures to help the less fortunate in America.

The question is - how did he get from Point A (Chappaquiddick, Palm Beach) to Point B (champion of health care, "lion of the Senate") in his lifetime?

Marc Ambinder writes for The Atlantic. His article at the link here describes Ted Kennedy's life in very Jewish terms. I think it is interesting to read about this famous Catholic political power from the point of view of what Ambinder shows are very Jewish actions.

"Mark Lilla, in The Stillborn God, describes two forms of rebirth: a "Jewish" redemption where one's works and deeds promote a redeemable soul -- one that awaits the Messiah -- and a Protestant "Christian" redemption, where the expiation of one's sins are entirely the province of God, and not necessarily intelligible or accessible in our earthly lives. ... it is sufficient to say that redemption for Jews is an active, continuing process, one where doing good will hasten the coming of the Messiah.

In America, mostly Christian, we're most fond of spiritual redemption, but successfully redeemed politicians have tended towards the Jewish model -- work, work, work, work, even if, as Kennedy certainly did, they identified as a Catholic or a Christian." Marc Ambinder, The Jewish Redemption of Ted Kennedy, The Atlantic, August 28, 2009

For the Classroom:

Big Ideas:

• No one is perfect
• Actions are important in teshuvah
• Teshuvah is a process with multiple steps

Essential Questions:

• What are the steps necessary for teshuvah?
• What evidence is there that Kennedy understood the process of teshuvah?
• Is it possible for someone who causes another person's death to do teshuvah ?

Activities for Learning:

• Read about teshuvah at the links here: at Aish.com, in Everyperson's Guide to Judaism, at Jewish Justice
• Go the the August 25th blogpost for more resources on teshuvah and more suggestions for student activities.

More on Revenge after the Shoah

Last night I saw a preview of a new play by Daniel Goldfarb - "The Retributionists". The story is loosely based on history - you can read the background at this article in the Jewish Week.

Truth behind the story of "The Retributionists".

(excerpt below from 8/25/09 Jewish Week)

"Cohen’s book “The Avengers: A Jewish War Story” tells a revenge tale more fully, while also noting the consequences: Jewish acts of vengeance made Zionists uneasy since they knew it would hurt the cause of statehood. He focuses on partisans Abba Kovner, Ruzka Korczak and Vitna Kempner as they escape from the Vilna ghetto and form a paramilitary group that fought alongside the Lithuanian and Russian armies. After the war, several wanted to take justice into their own hands and formed a Nazi-hunting group called Nokmim, Hebrew for “the avengers.”

The group planned to poison the water supply of several German towns, but was thwarted by someone suspected of being a Zionist informant. Kovner was arrested by the British military before the plan went through, but the group’s backup plan eventually succeeded: a partisan disguised as a baker snuck into a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp where he rubbed arsenic on 3,000 loaves of bread. He then fled, anxiously awaiting the result. It remains unknown how many died, but The Associated Press reported days later, on April 26, 1946, that “nineteen hundred German prisoners of war were poisoned by arsenic in their bread early this week in a United States camp and all are ‘seriously ill.’”

You may want to examine this incident in more detail with your high school students.

One can also see this play through the lens of today's world - a world in which some people wish to right what they understand as historical wrongs through revenge against those they hold responsible, others seek to look ahead to plan positively for the future.

Big Idea:

• After the Shoah ended, those who survived had differing responses to the tragedy.
• The world continues to be a place in which some groups suffer at the hands of others.
• We face a challenge in deciding on appropriate responses to wrongdoing.

Essential Questions:

• What does Jewish wisdom tell us about response to evil?
• What does Jewish wisdom teach us about punishment of wrongdoers?
• What can we do about injustice in the world today that is aligned to Jewish thought?

Activities for Learning:

• Read about Jewish social action here
• Mazon, a group dedicated to fighting hunger in the world, has the following list of text sources on its website. Incidentally, the website also has quotations from every parashah along with suggestions for social action projects associated with each.
• www.islamtoday.com is a site you may or may not want to visit. It includes an article about a joint Jewish/Moslem effort to fight anti-semitism and Islamophobia.
• There was a symposium in 2005 entitled "Freeing the Captives; The Jewish Response to Human Trafficking. After reading the brochure, you or your students may want to contact one or more of the presenters for more information about this massive problem.
• There are many Jewish organizations devoted to fighting injustice. Teams of students may research some of them: American Jewish World Service, Jewish Funds for Justice, The Jewish Service Corps, Hazon, Tzedek, Mechon Hadar, Uri L'Tzedek.
• On1Foot is "an open-source online database of Jewish texts on social justice." It is a wonderful resource for planning learning.
• Create with your students a plan for activities in pursuit of social justice in your community. Research needs, available services, population, etc. and decide how your efforts can be most productive. Be sure to include study of texts in planning and executing your activities.