441 Torah Portion BILL MEYER internal Strife Divides Us As A People JERRY FENBY RENNIE KAUFFMAN HOT ICE FENBY-CARR SIMONE VITALE ERIC HARRIS-DJ PERSUASION QUIET STORM PLERSE CRLL FOR R FREE VIDEO APPOINTMENT PERSUASION SUN MESSENGERS fraternal feud. The bickering and internal struggle of the future would sunder the union of the Jewish people. The ultimate tragedy, the destruc- tion of the temple and the loss of Jewish independence, would be the bitter fruits of this disunity and dis- sent. The brothers achieved reconcilia- his week's sedrah describes tion in the days of Joseph. But Joseph the confrontation between and Benjamin grasped that unrecog- Joseph and his brothers, the nized hatred and unresolved hostility climax of a story of hatred, would erupt with renewed fury and jealousy, separation and, after many violence in generations to come. And years, reconc ili at i on. so, they wept, both for the injuries of The text recounts the poignant the past and the anguish moment of the encounter that would be encountered between Joseph, the ruler of in the centuries to follow. Who could blame them? Egypt, with his younger One of the greatest tragedies brother, Benjamin. Joseph fell upon the neck of his of Jewish history has been brother, Benjamin, and he not only our persecution, wept; and Benjamin, similar- but also our capacity for ly embracing his brother, divisiveness, disunity and enmity of brother against Joseph, also wept. The Midrash introduces a strange brother. comment, "Why did they Scripture records the RABBI IRWIN weep? They wept because story of what happened after GRONER they foresaw at that moment King Solomon died. The 12 Special to The that two temples, sanctuaries tribes that comprised his Jewish News kingdom would not remain of God, would be built in together; 10 of them created the Land of Israel and they were both destined for their own kingdom; only two tribes destruction." remained loyal to Solomon's son, What did the Midrash have in Rehoboam, and to the descendants of mind? What does the reunion of the House of David. Benjamin and Joseph have to do with In the first century, the Jewish the temples of Jerusalem, events that people were faced with divisions and are many hundreds of years apart? schisms that greatly weakened their Why did they weep and mourn for strength and vitality. Pharisees, tragedies that lay beyond their lifetime Sadducees, Essenes and revolutionar- and the lives of their children? ies vied for the support of the peo- Upon reflection, we can understand ple. In the war against Rome that the intent of the Midrash. This is a ultimately erupted, Jewish disharmo- story not of brotherly love, but of ny and disunity created tragic conse- brotherly hatred, of the jealousy, rival- quences that led to the loss of Jewish and hostility that tore apart a fami- ry., independence. ly, and led to crime and brutality and During the Middle Ages and the deception of an aged father by his beyond, Jews were an embattled own sons. This is a story of sinat chi- minority, living on the rim of a pre- carious existence, suffering from exclu- nom, causeless hatred, without reason or purpose, based on irritation, caprice sion and disability. Even so, conflicts . arose that sundered Jewish communi- and envy. The Midrash probes the meaning ties and that sometimes led to the per- of the tears that were evoked by the emotional encounter of Joseph and Benjamin. When they wept in pro- found response to the hatred that had Is the story of Joseph based on separated them, they realized that the brotherly love or hatred? Why is senseless hostility was not yet finished the hatred of Jew against Jew so and had not yet been expunged from dangerous for the welfare of the the hearts of their brothers. They fore- Jewish people? What can we do saw that in ages yet unborn, there today to replace such hatred with would be a recurrence of this sad understanding and reconcilia- drama, a reenactment of this tragic don? Shabbat Vayigash: Genesis 44:18-47:27; Ezekiel 37:15-28. T Conversations Irwin Groner is senior rabbi of Congregation Shaarey Zedck. 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