Reflections from Rabbi Ellis

Vayigash is the penultimate Parsha in the book of Bereishit. It is an amazing Parsha, in it Jehuda breaks the pattern of intrafamilial competition that has plagued mankind since our beginning. For the first time in recorded history, we have one brother willing to die for his brother rather than killing him. In this week’s Parsha we finally see the reconstituted sons of Israel from which the nation of Israel will grow. There are several patterns and trends which we witness in this week’s Parsha that will be a hallmark of Jewish history and culture from this moment going forward. Two of them speak specifically about the war that was launched upon us and how we fight it.

When Pharoah hears that Yosef’s brothers’ have come down to see him in Egypt, he invites them all to settle there for good. He is so excited by the prospect of Yosef’s family moving to Egypt that he sends wagons for them. The wagons that Pharoah sent to bring the Children of Israel to Egypt made a statement to anyone who saw them. So much so that Yakov only believed that Yosef was alive when he saw them. The wagons were first and foremost signs of wealth and the military backing of Pharaoh. When Yakov and his family finally set out for Egypt, who uses them? The women and the Children.

We see here stamped deep in the DNA of our nation the conviction that the military is a tool to protect the weak and vulnerable. This should not be such an innovative idea, but it is still a challenge for many nations of the world. It didn’t start here; we saw with Sarah the deep conviction that the parents sacrifice for the future of their children. In our Parsha we see clearly that the whole of early Israelite society placed paramount importance on the safety and security of its weakest members. Though we still have much work to do in the present to keep realizing these goals, these values remain at the core of who we are and how we define ourselves.

When the Children of Israel finally make it to Egypt a census is taken. After detailing all of the children and grandchildren of Yakov the text tells us that a total of sixty-six people went down to Egypt in Yakov’s family and that there were three members of his family waiting for them in Egypt. The text then tells us that Yakov and his family totaled seventy people in Egypt. The math doesn’t work, it’s a problem that has been plaguing rabbis since the Torah was written. The Talmud and classic commentators have all come up with creative solutions to the issue that sixty-six plus three is not seventy.

The problematic math is not the story here. The text is telling us something more important and eternal about the nation of Israel. When it comes to counting Jews, there is always one more. I experienced this throughout my travels in Europe, I often ran into Jews in a place where none were supposed to have existed for tens if not hundreds of years. Regarding the current war, we may never know how many innocents were slaughtered and how many hostages were taken to Gaza. Hamas will always dangle the prospect of one more hostage in our face to take advantage of the fact that at the base of our soul is inscribed the words “Love your neighbor as yourself.” We need to strengthen ourselves so that we don’t allow our enemies to turn our need to protect the weak and the ever-present possibility of saving just one more Jew into national paralysis.

Shabbat Shalom!

Yehoshua