Vayigash: slave justice

Vayigash: slave justice

Vayigash opens with an act of courage.  Judah dares to approach the viceroy of Egypt with an outlandish offer.  He offers to buy the freedom of the thief (whom he previously said should be killed [a punishment for which no substitution is possible])  with his own freedom; He offers to substitute  as a slave for Benjamin. 

Judah could not have expected that this proposal would be accepted, it is intrinsically unjust. And who wants a courageous slave? (Django)

But the act of absurd hope leads to an amazing consequence: Joseph reveals himself to the brothers.  The entire problem dissolves with this crazy confrontation (possibly because of it).  Who can know where the deliverance will come form? 

When Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, He tells them: And now be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither; for Gd did send me before you to preserve life.

He excuses their sin on the basis of its favorable consequence.  That is also not proper justice, but it allows for a mending of the breach, something that is often more important than justice.  I think this is a technique that saves many marriages: favor the outcome over the action ( and when it is more convenient, favor the action over the outcome)

Joseph is the father of economic policy.  With the food stores he buys everything, including the land and the people of Egypt.  The price: a flat, across the board ( except clergy), 20% income tax: a solution that would appeal to libertarians and socialists alike. But we also see that taxes are the evidence of  enslavement.  Are we  tax slaves?

All of Egypt is enslaved by Joseph. Joseph, sold into slavery  by his brothers enslaves the known world.  And his Egyptians enslaves his, and his brothers', descendants.

What goes around, comes around.

Approach at your own risk

Miketz: Hope and Miracles; Chanukah

Chanukah

Miketz: Hope and Miracles

Joseph has been a slave and a prisoner in Egypt for 13 years when he is called to interpret the dream of pharaoh,  He emerges the viceroy of Egypt. Pharaoh financed his startup.  That is a miracle.  We know that Joseph had not given up hope because he asked the wine steward to remember him - which he did -2 years later. 

In the famine, people wait for Divine rescue.  They hope that the  provisions will last, like the oil of Chanukah, beyond the ordinary expectation. 

Confronting the authorities often leads to deprivation - Judah confronting Joseph, the industrial strike.  But the confrontation often leads to a miracle, 

On Chanukah, the oil that was meant to last only one day continued to burn until the new oil was prepared - eight days.  There was not enough oil, there was a deprivation from which sprung the miracle.  

Hope! , and do what you can, even when logic tells you there is not enough.  Under those circumstances. miracles happen

Vayeshev: evidcnce

Last year's medical buzzword was "evidence-based" This is not a simple idea.  It would seem to mean that medical decisions should be based upon the outcome of studies, putting aside opinion and anecdote.  But anyone that watches crime dramas on TV knows that the evidence can be misleading.  How to apply the evidence to the particular situation is an art ( often used to the advantage of insurance companies). 

The parsha is a study in misleading evidence. Jacob is convinced by the torn  and bloody coat  of many colors ( the coat he gave to his precious Joseph), and his trust in the other sons, that Joseph has been mauled to death by an evil beast. 

Judah is mislead by a veil ( and an attitude) that Tamar, the femme fatale, is a prostitute; not the woman who has been wronged by Judah and his sons.  

The midwife that delivers Tamar of Judah's twin sons ties a red ribbon around the hand of Zerach, but his brother Peretz is born first. 

The wife of Potifar, Joseph's Egyptian master, spins the garment that she stripped from him, in her attempted seduction, into an attempted rape, leading to Joseph's imprisonment. 

People come to evidence with a priori beliefs...and then they begin to spin the tale

Vayishlach: identity

Israel gets, and struggles to keep its identity, in this parsha.

What is identity?  Mathematically,  identity means more than equal, indistinguishable. Spiritually,  identity means the acquisition of characteristics that make the individual unique, becoming identifiable.

Yaakov was named for holding on to the heel of his brother.  It was a name that was dependant on his brother. He hung on to the lowest point.  This name came to symbolize striving,  starting from the low and ascending.
Yisrael states  this idea explicitly.
Chana, my communist cousin told me: "Shloime, you will find everything in the struggle."

The Parsha reminds me of my parents' struggle.  Esau offers to accompany Yaakov on his journey in Canaan.  Yaakov deflects the offer, saying that he is forced to keep a slow pace because of the children and flocks. When Poland was partitioned,  my father needed to escape,  but he had a kidney stone.  His brother Y(ankle) brought a horse.  Yankle then made the  horse lame by hammering a nail into its foot, preventing the seizure of the horse by the military.  Perhaps Yaakov's limp helped convince Esau to leave him alone.

Once Yaakov is freed from Esau,  he, and his clan, struggle to keep their identity against the forces of assimilation. The locals offer to share the  land, to become a unified people with the Israelites. The approach to this problem evolves. The most aggressive strategy prevails.

The Parsha reminds me of what I saw in my father.   Fear is an element of courage.  Courage means acting in the face of fear.