Torah Tuesday - Vayeshev
Part I: Dare to Be Different
A few years ago, while reading this week’s Torah portion, Vayeshev, I remember getting a random text message from my father. In his message, he said that my great-grandfather was someone who dared to be different. My Dad told me that I reminded him a lot of his grandfather. A few years later, at my ordination, random people asked my father what he thought about his daughter being a rabbi. My father said that I was always different. My father encouraged me to be different. He also recognized that the world is not always kind to those who are different and encouraged me to be who I am.
My mother also told me never to let anyone tell me I couldn’t do something. You can do and be anything in this world you want to be. My parents were not perfect, but these messages have stuck with me.
In this week's Torah portion, Vayeishev Joseph is described by our great sage Rashi as someone who dressed his hair; he touched up his eyes so that he should appear good-looking. So Even Rashi thought Joseph was someone who dared to be different. Not only that, but Joseph dared to dream, but his dreams got him into trouble.
"Like many boys who are different, he is treated brutally by his own siblings and cast out from his home and his family. Alone in the world, he becomes a slave, is pursued for sex and ends up in jail for no good reason." - Rabbi Dawn Rose, Torah Queeries, pg. 60
In this Torah portion, it is clear that Jacob favors Joseph, and this angers Joseph's brothers. Joseph has a dream where he predicts reigning over his brothers, and this pisses them off. So, the brothers decide to sell Joseph into slavery in Egypt, and because Joseph dared to be different, he finds himself imprisoned not once but twice.
Can you imagine sitting in prison and being punished because you are different and because you dared to dream big? Millions of people are punished every day for their religion, race, sex, gender expression, sexual orientation, or just dreaming of and wanting a better life for their families.
Joseph never lost sight of his dreams, and he never lost faith in God's plan for him. And he eventually becomes the most powerful man in Egypt, second only to Pharaoh, and I would argue more powerful than Pharaoh. Joseph saves his family and ensures the future of the Jewish people by saving us from starvation and famine.
My point here is simple, Dare to be different and dream. Dream big because you never know it may be part of God's plan. Sometimes it is hard to see what the future has in store for us. In what ways are you like Joseph? How do you Dare to be different?
You Can Be Anything. Dedicated to Flora Mae Lawson z'l
Part 2: The Myth of the Self-Made Man
It's always ironic to see folks who received government-backed loans or other subsidies. Legacy admissions to elite schools, college paid for by parents, or living with their parents after college until they have saved enough money to move out; and then see some of these folks insisting that they are a "self-made man." In our society, the "self-made man" will claim that their successes are due entirely to their own efforts.
In Parshah Vayeshev, Joseph finds himself in prison, interpreting his fellow inmates' dreams. Joseph lets the royal cupbearer know he will be spared and asks only that the royal cupbearer speak a kind word to Pharaoh on his behalf. At the end of the Torah portion, we read, "Yet the chief cupbearer did not think of Joseph; he forgot him" (Genesis. 40:23). Those who insist on reading ahead know that the cupbearer will speak up next week, but what's interesting is right here in this week's Torah portion the cupbearer's actions go beyond ungratefulness. He "did not think of Joseph." It's as if Joseph ceased to exist. Reading these words reminds us that people - family, friends, teachers, and mentors - have helped us along the way. Think of them and remember how much they have helped us, where we might be without their help, and we should thank them. When we see successful people, remember they, like all of us, had help along the way. I know I did and am grateful every day to those who helped me, and remember, no one is truly a self-made man or person.
Thank you for this. As someone who was told that I should hide my differences (first from lifelong differences, later with my queerness), it's been a constant struggle to try to find strength in them, to not hide myself, and to delight in them. It's something I've been able to practice with my new Jewishness with my conversion finalized this past August.
Thanks for your words...the timing was impeccable.