DECEMBER 15 • 2022 | 63

Good To Be ‘Green’?
L

ately, all we seem to be 
hearing is that we should 
“go green.
” Now, some 
might say that means we should 
root for the Spartans. Being a 
Wolverine, I find that 
unconscionable.
Today, when the effects 
of global warming are 
becoming more apparent, 
“going green” means that 
we should be mindful 
of the environment and 
choose to be better stew-
ards of the planet.
One of my favorite mid-
rashim is from Ecclesiastes 
Rabbah. It is as much 
of a word of advice as it 
is a warning. We learn 
that when God created the first 
human beings, He showed them 
the beauty and bounty of the 
Garden of Eden and warned 

them to treat the garden with 
great care. God told them that the 
world was created for them, and 
if they take advantage and destroy 
the world, there will not be 
another created in its place. 
The “go green” reminders 
and exhortations we are 
hearing now are reminis-
cent of this valuable infor-
mation given thousands of 
years ago by God. We have 
not heeded the warning.
Green can also be a way 
of describing someone 
who is jealous. Shakespeare 
included this expression in 
Othello. Iago warns Othello 
of jealousy and refers to it 
as the “green-eyed mon-
ster” that mocks that which it 
feeds off. In this case, green is not 
the color you want to be.
This week’s portion is all about 

color. Joseph received a beautiful 
coat of many colors from his 
father, Jacob. His brothers, in turn, 
become green with envy. They 
ae jealous of the affection and 
favoritism their father is showing 
Joseph, and they decide to do 
away with him. The beautiful coat 
is then stained with goat’s blood 
and returned to their father as 
proof that his beloved Joseph has 
been killed by wild beasts.
All this color: all misused, all 
misplaced and misunderstood.
All of these colors combined 
leave us with a sense of blackness. 
Black, for many cultures, signifies 
mourning. Jacob was engulfed 
in blackness hearing of the death 
of his son. The brothers were 
shrouded in blackness after 
having heaved Joseph into a pit 
and succumbing to their envy.
Jealousy is dangerous. It can 

lead us to do horrible things. It is 
a driving force, but not a positive 
one. We should never allow 
ourselves to be overcome with 
jealousy and let it choose our 
behavior. 
Joseph’s brothers are tragic 
examples of what can happen 
when jealousy takes over rational 
thought. We must try to keep our 
feelings of envy in check, realizing 
what we are jealous of and work 
to acquire what it is we want. 
Replace those feelings of envy 
with accomplishment. Just as we 
have this one world, we each have 
just one life to live. Let us work 
to fill it with beautiful color and 
light and strive to eliminate the 
blackness. 

Rabbi Jennifer Kaluzny is a rabbi at 

Temple Israel in West Bloomfield. This 

article originally appeared in the JN Nov. 

29, 2007.

Rabbi 
Jennifer 
Kaluzny

Parshat 

Vayeshev: 

Genesis 

37:1-40:23; 

Amos 

2:6-3.8.

SPIRIT
TORAH PORTION

