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Drash
for Shabbat Vayigash This week’s Torah portion, Vayigash, continues the story of Joseph, his encounter with his long lost brothers, and the reunification of his family in Goshen. A personal quality I see in Joseph at this point in the story is acceptance. When he meets his brothers for the first time since they threw him down a well, much has happened in his life. Believed to be dead by his family, Joseph instead has lived and thrived, and become in Egypt something like a prime minister to the Pharaoh. It would have been understandable if Joseph had used this reunion with his brothers to take revenge on them for their mistreatment of him years ago. Instead, Joseph sees the hand of God in the events of his life, and realizes that, if his brothers had not abandoned him, he would not have arrived at the powerful and influential position he now holds. Joseph accepts his brothers for who and what they are. He may not approve of what they did, but he accepts it as the will of God and a turning point in his rich and eventful life. Beside my family and Judaism and this wonderful synagogue, a major spiritual and emotional influence on me has been the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. In this program, acceptance is recognized as a fundamental tool to recovery and to a well-lived life. We recognize that many of the problems in our lives are caused by inability or refusal to accept the things we cannot change. And some of the most important things in our lives that we cannot change are other people and, by logic, the past. Joseph accepts his brothers as persons under their own wills and values, and he accepts what they did to him as an event in the past that, by being in the past, is unchangeable today. He accepts all this and moves on to renew his relationships with his brothers and begin the reunification of his family under his father, Jacob. In doing this he enriches his life further. During this wonderful weekend, with the arrival of family and friends to join Benis and me in our celebration of our daughter, Frankie’s, Bat Mitzvah, I accept the trials difficulties of life and recognize that, by accepting them and doing my best with what God has given me, I will continue to experience the happiness I feel this weekend. Shabbat Shalom.
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