Hidden Treasure Discovered in Oakland County 'AP\ Elegant estate jewelry and beautiful one-of-a-lcind pieces can be yours for less than you would imagine 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 Estate Buyers at David Wachler & Sons R&R Jewelers - Now located at 100 S. Old Woodward Birmingham MI 48009 248-540-46 22 100 South Old Woodward Ave., Birmingham, MI 248.540.4622 Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 10am-5:30pm Thursday, 10am-7:30pm Saturday, 10am-5pm Sunday and Monday, Closed 1968260 Upscale Consignment & Auction House WE BUY AND CONSIGN FABULOUS MID CENTURY MODERN PIECES 3325 ORCHARD LAKE ROAD, KEEGO HARBOR, MI 48320 TEL 12481 MAJOR INTERNATIONAL AUCTION JAN. 16, 2016. 481-8884 VIEW OUR CATALOG AT WWW.LESHOPPE.N ET December 24 2015 23