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Parshat Vayichi: Genesis 47:28-50:26;
I Kings 2:1-2:12.
W
hen I was a teenager, my
had powerful repercussions. Ephraim
rabbi looked me in the
and Manasseh are counted among the
eye and said, "You should
Israelite tribes (instead of Joseph) and
be a rabbi." I thought he was joking.
thereby became leaders of the Jewish
I looked nothing like him. He, like
people.
almost every rabbi I had seen, was a
Jacob also deepened their legacy
loud, authoritative, bearded old man
when he declared to his new Egyptian
wearing a suit. I was not. But his words sons, "By you shall [the people of]
became an empowering act of
Israel give [their] blessing,
radical inclusion.
saying, "May God make you
like Ephraim and Manasseh:'
In our parshah, as Jacob is
dying, Joseph brings his own
(Genesis 48:20).
sons Ephraim and Manasseh
This declaration has
inspired the tradition in many
to visit their grandfather.
Jacob informs Joseph that
Jewish homes of blessing sons
Ephraim and Manasseh are
at the Shabbat table with these
now Jacob's children. Jacob
words. Daughters are often
adopts them and declares
Rabbi Arlene blessed with the prayer that
they will have the same status Silverm an
they become like the matri-
as his oldest birth children,
archs, and that carries its own
Reuben and Simeon. This act
power. Sons, at a moment of
of intimacy is followed by a distancing
ultimate inclusion, are inspired by the
question. When Jacob sees Manasseh
leadership of the seeming outsider.
and Ephraim, he asks Joseph, "Who
It is a sacred reminder to us all.
are these?"
Every day we see children who look,
Jacob did not recognize the young
or sound, like outsiders. They are
men who have now become his own
from Syria and northeast Detroit.
sons. Perhaps his eyesight was fading,
Sometimes they speak in accents or
and he knew well that his father Isaac's use words we don't understand. What
poor eyesight led to mistaken identi-
would it mean to treat them as our
ties, so he wanted to be sure. But Jacob children? How could our acts of inclu-
does not question the identity of his
sion empower them to strengthen the
other sons when they arrive. So some
Jewish people? How can we learn to
commentators have suggested that
recognize a seeming outsider as one
there was another blinder as Jacob saw of us?
Manasseh and Ephraim.
I am a rabbi, in part, because an
They looked and sounded like
insider included me. There are too
Egyptians. They were born in Egypt
many children who need to be includ-
to an Egyptian mother and a father
ed. May God help us make them like
who held tremendous power in the
Ephraim and Manasseh. *
Egyptian government. They had lived
Ariana Silverman is the rabbi of Temple Beth
all of their years in Egypt and, for
Israel in Jackson. She lives in the city of Detroit
many of those years, they had never
alongside many of our children.
even seen Joseph's side of the fam-
ily. Their other grandfather was an
Egyptian priest.
While later commentaries assure us
CONVERSATIONS
that despite their Egyptian upbring-
ing Ephraim and Manasseh remained
•What makes someone our child?
•Who is an outsider that needs our
Jewish, there is no question that to
radical inclusion?
Jacob they would have looked and
•What are the messages we convey
sounded foreign. But Jacob did not
to our children when we bless them?
treat them that way. He blessed them
as his own sons, and his blessings
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December 24 2015
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