Drive the All New 1996 Cadillac DeVille. Cadillac creates an even higher standard with the New Northstar System, Get Real Family Values at Dreisbach and Sons Cadillac... Give our family the opportunity to better your best deal! Now that's a real family.value. Joseph's Story And Its Lessons ANNIE FRIEDMAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS he sedrah portion for this week, Miketz, which means "at the end of...," is the sec- ond act of the story of Joseph in Egypt. Last week being the first and next week being the final act. This story of Joseph has cap- tured the imagination of many people—even the playwright An- drew Lloyd Weber, who has writ- ten a musical about Joseph. It also has been interpreted in many dif- ferent ways, especially as concerns the personality of Joseph. In act two, we are shown Joseph's talent as an interpreter of dreams that eventually reach- es the ears of Pharaoh. By interpreting Pharaoh's dreams successfully, Joseph became the chief economic planner for Egypt. Sold into slavery at age 17, Joseph at age 30 is now Pharaoh's valued adviser. Joseph, the cocky young fellow of Canaanite days, is now a mature man in Egypt. As Joseph predicts, famine comes to Egypt and the sur- rounding areas including Canaan; and Joseph's brothers must come from Canaan to Egypt for grain (food). Joseph, of course, recog- nizes his brothers, but they do not know who he is. This is when Joseph begins to test their char- acter; he needs time to figuie out his own feelings at seeing his fam- ily after 20 years. Is it a feeling of joy and excitement, or a feeling of vengeance? There are three important themes in the Miketz: 1) Dreams, and what to do with them; 2) Human choice between revenge and caring 3) The choice between death and survival. Joseph proves that he know what to do with dreams; he is not just a dreamer. It is his ability to listen to a dream, to conclude what the dream means, and to imple- ment a course of action as result of the dream. This is what made Joseph the great person he was, a person of action. Joseph eventually makes the choice of forgiveness of his broth- ers rather than revenge. There are many interpretations to this part of the saga. Did Joseph care about his brothers and his aging father? (The elderly are a family and community obligation that is sometimes difficult to fulfill, but a must in Jewish tradition). Was Joseph still angry about what his brothers had done to him? Was he going to make them suffer for what they had done? T DreisbNch at Sons 7 Mile & Grand River • (313)531-2600 Extended Showroom hours for your convenience — Mon. and Thurs. 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. • Tues., 'Wed., Fri. 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. WE COME TO YOU MOBILE AUTO GLASS & GLAZING SERVICE • 50 MILE RADIUS INSURANCE REPLACEMENT SERVICE 1 § - cc 0 C 0 0 C U) 0 0 Al's Saves You Money! >- C THE D ETRO IT J E WIS H NEWS w O IIII1NDSHIELDe REPLACED r $25-$55 OFF MAY BE APPLIED TOWARDS DEDUCTIBLE coupon exp. 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The third theme, Jacob's deci- sion to allow Benjamin to go with the brothers to Egypt and may be lost to Jacob, was a matter of sur- vival for the whole family. The de- cision was made as they were running out of food and based on compassion for all his children and grandchildren. According to Bashi, Judah tells his father Jacob "Is it not better to let go what is doubt- ful and snatch what is certain?" Shabbat Miketz: Genesis 41:1-44:17 Numbers 28:9-15 7:42-47 Zechariah 2:14-4:7. In reviewing the story of Joseph, there is another aspect of this man that is important to think about. Joseph is the first Hebrew to live in the Diaspora (Galut). He becomes a complete- ly assimilated man who adopts all the Egyptian customs. He dresses as an Egyptian, swears by Pharaoh's name as an Egypt- ian (Genesis 42:15) and marries an Egyptian woman. Even though outwardly Joseph looked and acts as as an Egyptian, in- wardly God was with him. His first-born is named Manasseh "because God has made me for- get completely my hardship and my parental home" (Genesis 41:51). Of course, Joseph never forgot and eventually brings the whole family to Egypt to live in Goshen. Today, we all live assimilated lives in the Diaspora. We are all Americans living a very good life and trying to balance with that our wonderful Jewish heritage. We have an obligation to hand down to our children a good sec- ular education in order to con- tinue the good life we have in the United States. Along with this, we have an obligation to teach our children Torah, mitzvah, tra- ditions and the Jewish way of life. We have to continue to keep God, Torah and Jewishness in our lives even though we have all the outward appearances of the non- Jewish community. Just as Joseph did, we must continue "to teach it diligently to our rhildron" as we recite daily in our Sh'ma prayer. ❑