Sermon Idea for Vayechi (1974)

/ Sermon Idea for Vayechi (1974)

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December 30, 1974

Sermon Idea for Vayechi (1974)

Vayechi

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A Pleasant Torah - editor's title (1955)

Whoever reads this morning’s Sidra carefully will notice that while Jacob, on his death-bed, charges each of his sons individually and analyses their individual characteristics, he also speaks to the entire family and sets forth an analysis of the complex personality of all the Jewish people. What applies to any one tribe in particular also applies, in greater or lesser measure, to the entire people of Israel. If we can speak of the character of the Jew as such, in the same way that social psychologists speak about the social character of different groups, then we notice that the Jewish character is ambivalent – that is, it is often contradictory and is composed of conflicting tendencies. Like Reuben, we are often temperamental and impulsive. Like Simeon and Levi, we are often given to precipitous action and a bit shady. Like Joseph we are often loveable and gracious and like Zebulun we are frequently wrapped up in commerce. Like Judah we have the characteristics of royalty and majesty, and like Naftali we are often subservient and satisfied with secondary roles. It is a complex and complicated personality.3. We mention this as a prologue to an understanding of the words of Jacob to his son Issachar. What he said to him, therefore, is applicable not only to his descendants but to all Jews – to all of us. What Jacob saw in his character we must take as part of our own potential and, in this case, try to live up to it. 4. Jacob compares Issachar to a large-boned ass – patient and stolid but powerful and mighty. Vayar menuchah ki tov v’es ha’aretz ki na’eimah va’yeit shichmo lisbol vayehi le’mass oveid – He saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant – and he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant to tribute. 5. Our Rabbis, keeping in mind that Moses on his death-bed also charged the tribes and singled out Issachar for its study of Torah, interpreted the entire charge of Jacob to Issachar as applying to the same thing – Torah study. He saw tha…

Synagogue Sermon

No Time for Kidstuff (1974)

At the end of his life, Jacob sees Joseph’s children and asks מי אלה – “who are they?” When they are identified by their father Joseph, he blesses them and says: המלאך הגואל אותי מכל רע יברך את הנערים ויקרא בהם שמי ושם אבותי אברהם ויצחק..., “May He whose angel redeemed me from all evil, bless these lads, and let my name and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac be called upon them” (Gen. 48:16). The story is well known. Permit me to analyze this narrative, from a contemporary perspective, as a special message to young people.Ephraim and Manasseh are, in a manner of speaking, the first teenagers as such. They are the biblical prototypes of adolescents – an age-group which has become differentiated and thrust into prominence since the Industrial Revolution. This is a group whose members are no longer children, not yet adults; usually affluent; at home in their native cultures; very much “with it.” Manasseh derived his name because נשני אלקים את כל עמלי ואת כל בית אבי, “God let me forget all my toil and my father’s house.” He is a youngster who has overcome the disadvantages and limitations of an alien culture. Ephraim derived his name from הפרני אלקים בארץ עניי, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction,” symbolizing a lad who is success-bound and self-assured.These are the characteristics and this is the context that are conducive to prolonged childishness, to overextended youthfulness.So Jacob remembers how he himself was propelled precipitously from childhood into adulthood – one day he basked in the intimacy and warmth of his parental home, and the next he was wandering, lonely, pursued, and hunted. So he blesses his grandchildren: “May He whose angel redeemed me from all evil” – who was with me as I experienced the anxieties and the dread of life – “bless the lads,” these adolescents who are still children. May they learn to shed their childishness soon, “and may my name and the name of Abraham and Isaac be called upon them” – may they be like un…

Synagogue Sermon

The Mood In Israel (1974)

My recent trip to Israel, from which I returned this past week, was qualitatively different from my many previous trips. I am still in the grip of the mood of the country – indeed too much so to be objective. I shall therefore leave the analysis for some other occasion, and offer now my personal impressions, given without claim to special expertise and without having been privy to any inside information. The mood in Israel today is not a simple or homogeneous one. It is quite complicated and often contradictory. Instead of describing it in overall terms, it is best to identify the ingredients of this mood. Perhaps the best way to begin is by observing the difference between us and the Israelis. During the first several days of the war, we recited tehillim (Psalms) at our daily services, and read the “Prayer for the State of Israel” with special fervor. But after a week or two we stopped, feeling that the danger had passed. In Israel, to this day, every service includes the recitation of tehillim.It is true that the deep gloom has lifted somewhat both because of the Geneva conference (although Israelis hardly trust it) and the increase in tourism. The rise of tourism is uplifting for Israelis, especially since they correctly consider it as the barometer of what the world thinks of Israel’s chances, much as the stock market is a psychological indicator. It is hard to emphasize how important it is for us American Jews to visit Israel now. But sadness remains a primary ingredient of the mood, and it is very real. אבלות (mourning) grips so many of those who have lost members of their families and those who have lost friends or whose friends are in mourning. Never before have I seen so many people, especially children, rise to recite the orphan’s kaddish in synagogues. It is not uncommon to see maimed or bandaged young men on the street. In many neighborhoods or kibbutzim the population is heavily female, with hardly a man in sight. A young lady from America, who accomp…