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East of Greenfield
584-3820

West Bloomfield
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626-3362

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20

Are We, In Truth,
Our Worst Enemy?

his week's sedrah describes
the confrontation between
Joseph and his brothers,
the climax of a story of ha-
tred, jealousy, separation and, af-
ter many years, reconciliation.
The text recounts the poignant
moment of the encounter be-
tween Joseph, the ruler of Egypt,
with his younger brother, Ben-
jamin. Joseph fell upon the neck
of his brother; Jacob and he wept;
and Benjamin, similarly em-
bracing his brother Joseph, wept.
The Midrash introduces a
strange comment "Why did they
weep? They wept because they
foresaw at the moment that two
temples, sanctuaries of God
would be built in the Land of Is-
rael and they were both destined
for destruction."
What did the Midrash have in
mind? What does the reunion of
Benjamin and Joseph have to do
with the temples of Jerusalem,
events that are many hundreds
of years apart? Why did they
weep and mourn for tragedies
that lay beyond their lifetimes
and the lives of their children?
Upon reflection, we can un-
derstand the intent of the
Midrash. This is a story not of
brotherly love, but of brotherly
hatred, of the jealousy, rivalry
and hostility that tore apart a
family, and led to crime and bru-
tality and the deception of an
aged father by his own sons. This
is a story of "Sinat Chinom'—
causeless hatred, without reason
of purpose, based on irritation,
caprice and envy.
The Midrash probes the mean-
ing of the tears that were evoked
by the emotional encounter of
Joseph and Benjamin. When
they wept in profound response
to the hatred that had separated
them, they realized that the
senseless hostility was not yet fin-
ished and had not yet been ex-
punged from the hearts of their
brothers. They foresaw that in
ages yet unborn there would be
a recurrence of this sad drama, a
reenactment of this tragic fra-
ternal feud. The bickering and in-
ternal struggle of the future
would sunder the union of the
Jewish people.
The ultimate tragedy, the de-
struction of the temple and the
loss of Jewish independence
would be the bitter fruits of this
disunity and dissent. The broth-
ers achieved reconciliation in the
days of Joseph. But Joseph and
.Benjamin grasped that unrecog-

Irwin Groner is senior rabbi of
Congregation Shaarey Zedek.

nized hatred and unresolved hos-
tility would erupt with renewed
fury and violence in generations
to come. And so, they wept; both
for the injuries of the past and the
anguish that would be encoun-
tered in the centuries to follow.
Who could blame them? One
of the greatest tragedies of Jew-
ish history has not only been our
persecution, but also our capac-
ity for divisiveness, disunity and
enmity of brother against broth-
er.
Scripture records the story of
what happened after King
Solomon died. The 12 tribes that
comprised his kingdom would not
remain together; 10 of them cre-
ated their own kingdom; only two
tribes remained loyal to
Solomon's son, Rehoboam, and to
the descendants of the House of
David.

Shabbat Vayigash:
Genesis 44:18-47:27
Ezekiel 37:15-28.

In the first century, the Jew-
ish people were faced with divi-
sions and schisms that greatly
weakened their strength and vi-
tality. Pharisees, Sadducees, Es-
senes, and revolutionaries vied
for the support of the people. In
the war against Rome that ulti-
mately erupted, Jewish dishar-
mony and disunity created tragic
consequences that led to the loss
of Jewish independence.
During the Middle Ages and
beyond, Jews were an embattled
minority, living on the rim of a
precarious existence, suffering
from exclusion and disability.
Even so, conflicts arouse that
sundered Jewish communities
and that sometimes led to the
persecution of one group of Jews
by another.
In the weeks following the as-
sassination of Prime Minister Ra-
bin, the people of Israel and world
Jewry have begun to address the
schisms that have had such ter-
rible consequences. The partisans
of the Right and the Left are be-
ginning to recognize the need to
moderate political rhetoric, and
to engage in more reasonable de-
bate. Many in the Orthodox com-
munity are calling for "Cheshbon
Ha-Nefesh," soul-searching and
self-examination. Their response
is appropriate for the entire coun-
try. How ironic that the greatest
danger that Israel faces now is
not the enemy on the outside, but
the enmity from within.

