I
n his Hilchot
Teshuvah (Laws of
Repentance), Moses
Maimonides makes one
of the most empowering
statements in religious
literature.
Having
explained
that we, and
the world,
are judged by
the majority
of our deeds,
he continues:
“Therefore we should see
ourselves throughout the
year as if our deeds and
those of the world are evenly
poised between good and
bad, so that our next act
may change both the balance
of our lives and that of the
world.”
We can make a difference,
and it is potentially immense.
That should be our mindset,
always.
Few statements are more
at odds with the way the
world seems to us most of
the time. Each of us knows
that there is only one of us,
and that there are 7 billion
others in the world today.
What conceivable difference
can we make? We are no
more than a wave in the
ocean, a grain of sand on the
seashore, dust on the surface
of infinity. Is it conceivable
that with one act we could
change the trajectory of
our life, let alone that
of humanity as a whole?
Our parshah tells us that,
yes, it is.
As the story of Jacob’s
children unfolds, there is a
rapid rise of tension among
his children that threatens
to spill over into violence.
Joseph, 11th of the 12, is
Jacob’s favorite son. He was,
says the Torah, the child
of Jacob’s old age. More
significantly, he was the first
child of Jacob’s beloved wife
Rachel. Jacob “loved Joseph
more than all his other
sons” (Gen. 37:3), and they
knew it and resented it. They
were jealous of their father’s
love. They were provoked by
Joseph’s dreams of greatness.
The sight of the multi-
colored robe Jacob had given
him as a token of his love
provoked them to anger.
Then came the moment
of opportunity. The brothers
were far away from home
tending the flocks when
Joseph appeared in the
distance, sent by Jacob to
see how they were doing.
Their envy and anger
reached boiling point, and
they resolved to take violent
revenge.
“Here comes the dreamer!”
they said to one other. “Now
let us kill him and throw him
into one of the pits — we
can say that a wild animal
devoured him — then we
shall see what comes of his
dreams!” Gen. 37:19–20
A PARADOX
Only one of the brothers
disagreed: Reuben. He
knew that what they were
proposing was very wrong,
and he protested. At this
point, the Torah does
something extraordinary.
It makes a statement that
cannot be literally true, and
we, reading the story, know
this. The text says: “When
Reuben heard this, he saved
him [Joseph] from them.”
Gen. 37:21
We know this cannot be
true because of what happens
next. Reuben, realizing that
he is only one against many,
devises a stratagem. He says,
“Let us not kill him. Let us
throw him alive into this
pit in the desert and let him
die. That way, we will not be
directly guilty of murder.”
His intention was to
Rabbi Lord
Jonathan
Sacks
How to Change
the World ...
SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH
NASA