To Life!
TORAH POP,
ION
The Generation Gap
Shabbat Vayehi:
Genesis 47:28-50:26;
I Kings 2:1-12.
I
u
c s or es',
Unique & Unusual Gifts
Always 30% Off most m
6644 Orchard Lake Road at Maple
West Bloon fie
x 55.1600
I\ UDMMUM77 MEM 2
A 3D
CAL ASS
11
IL
SO RE
13U
AN
HOMOSEXUALITY
AND JEWISH LAW
THURSDAY
JANUARY 18, 2007
7:30 PM
Adat Shalom Synagogue
29901 Middlebelt Road
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
Please plan to be with us for an
informative evening as Rabbi Daniel
Nevins, member of the Committee on
Jewish Law and Standards, will describe
the process and substance of the most
recent Law Committee vote,
Co sponsored by:
ADAT SHALOM
-
BETH AHM
BETH SHALOM
B'NAI MOSHE
SHAAREY ZEDEK
JEWISH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
Rabbi Daniel Nevins has
been Rabbi of Adat
Shalom Synagogue since
1994. He serves on the
Executive Council of the
Rabbinical Assembly and
is on its Committee on
Jewish Law and Standards.
1199400
34
January 4 2007
n this week's Torah
and his sons were raised
portion, we are told of
in the environment and
the last days of the life
culture of Egypt. What rela-
of our patriarch Jacob. He is
tionship did they have with
now 147 years old, having
Jacob, the foreigner, the
lived the last 17 years in exile
shepherd (an abomination
in Egypt.
to the Egyptians (43:32 and
We are told (Genesis
46:34)?
47:29): "And he called to his
It is quite possible that
Rabbi Eliezer
son, to Joseph ..." to instruct
indeed
Joseph and espe-
Cohen
him about his burial. And
cially
his
sons, Menashe
Special to
later (48:1) the Torah says:
and Efraim, were somewhat
the Jewish
"... And he told Joseph,
alienated from Jacob. If so,
News
`Behold your father is ill'."
how poignant are Jacob's
It is possible to infer from
words (48:5): "And now
these verses that Joseph, possibly still
your two sons, born to you in the
an important official in Pharaoh's
Land of Egypt before I came to you
court, did not regularly visit his old
to Egypt, they are mine: Efraim and
and ailing father.
Menashe will be to me like Reuven
Similarly, when the verse (48:8)
and Shimon."
says: "And Jacob saw the sons of
Then comes the following verse
Joseph and said: Who are they?'" it
(48:7), a reference to the death and
may indicate that he didn't recognize
burial of his (Jacob's) wife and their
his own grandsons because they so
grandmother, Rachel. This at first
rarely visited their grandfather.
seems a complete non sequitur, but
How sad that all too often the chil-
is really the symbol of the eventual
dren and grandchildren are "so busy"
return "home" and reconciliation of
with their own lives that the love and
the future generations with their roots.
concern (not to mention the financial
This is reflected in the prophetic
sacrifices) that their parents lavished
verses of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:14-
upon them are not reciprocated even
17), describing the ultimate return of
in a considerably more limited way in
the Jewish people to their land and
their twilight years.
heritage:
Certainly the care of "the old man"
Thus said the Lord: "A voice was
may be difficult and a real hassle and
heard in Ramah, lamentation and bit-
even emotionally painful, but how
ter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her
tragic for the elderly, not only not to
children, refusing to be comforted for
be respected or appreciated, but, in
her children, because they are not."
fact, to be ignored.
Thus says the Lord: "Refrain
Certainly in our times, it is not
your voice from weeping, and your
unusual for those of different genera-
eyes from tears, for your work will
tions to be distant from one another
be rewarded:' says the Lord. "Your
if not actually alienated. And certainly
children will return to their own bor-
the generations that came from "the
ders." 11
old country" quite frequently had
strained relationships with their
Eliezer Cohen is rabbi of Congregation
"American" offspring.
Or Chadash in Oak Park.
Not only was there a generational
disparity, but also differences in cul-
Conversations
ture, language and attitude toward
Is it normal for friction to devel-
religion; the children and grandchil-
op between children and their
dren were quite literally embarrassed
parents in order for the children
by their "old country" relatives.
to become independent? How
Here too, in Egypt, Joseph had been
can this alienation be mitigated?
an exalted official; his wife was the
What can we learn in this regard
daughter of the Priest of Oan (41:45),
from our Torah portion?