Egypt – in Hebrew, Mitzrayim, “narrowness” – signifies a place of constrictions and limitations, of restricted possibilities, of narrow-mindedness.  Had they kept their unfinished business unresolved, the anger between them brewing from their decades-old conflict, the brothers and Joseph could have remained in a place of narrowness together.  But a recurrent and emphasized theme in this week’s Torah portion is that of reconciliation.  Both Judah (in the opening verses, Gen. 44:18-34) and Joseph (Gen. 45:4-) demonstrate expansiveness toward one another, as they embrace and set aside old hurts to reunite and reunify their family.  Once together the family is able to settle together in the land of Goshen within Egypt.

The Torah subtly hints at this shift from narrow squabbling to expansive generosity.  When the Torah  recounts (Gen. 46:28) how the patriarch Jacob “sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph, toward Goshen”, Rabbi Kenneth Weiss notes that the word “Goshen” is similar to “vayigash,” meaning “come close” or “reconcile.”  He re-translates the verse to show how “in a place called ‘Reconciliation’ [Goshen], our ancestors reconnected with one another.”   Rather than repeating a pattern of a narrow and adversarial relationship in Mitzrayim, Joseph and the brothers sought the expansive possibilities of reconciliation in Goshen.  Perhaps we can find that place within us, too, and move our own relationships toward repair through the generosity of spirit.

 - Rabbi Andy Vogel

Sinai Update – Week of December 2-8, 2007
Parashat Mikketz (Genesis 41:1-44:17)
Reflections on the Jewish Calendar – Rabbi Andy Vogel
  

Today (Wednesday, December 5) is the first day of our Chanukah holiday, a festival of light and joy, and tonight we will light the second Chanukah candle.  Rabbi Arthur Waskow draws our attention to a remarkable image in this Shabbat’s special Haftarah passage for Chanukah, from the prophet Zechariah:  an olive tree whose branches feed directly to a menorah.  “The two tops of the olive trees feed their gold through two golden tubes” (Zech. 4:12).  Zechariah’s prophetic vision includes a menorah of lights whose energy source is provided directly by an organic, living tree.  Rabbi Waskow calls this a “Green Menorah” – ecologically sound, energy-efficient, and using renewable energy.
   

Throughout history, each generation has viewed Chanukah with its own “lens” and interpretation.  At this time the history of our planet, we add a new understanding of Chanukah to the old one’s we have inherited (the fight against assimilation, the miracle of the oil, etc.), namely, that our Festival of Light includes the obligation to create renewable and environmentally safe ways of generating energy, so that our planet and its species, like the Maccabee’s tiny cruse of oil, will last well beyond the crisis we currently face.
   

May you and your dear ones have a very Happy Chanukah!

 - Rabbi Andy Vogel