[JOI Word of Torah] Big Tent Judaism: Miketz

[Kerry M. Olitzky]

"Big Tent Judaism" Word of Torah

December 23/2 Tevet 5767
Miketz

In this week's Torah reading, Joseph saves the Egyptian nation from
starvation during the famine and is positioned to offer food to the
Israelites too-in the form of his brothers-who approach him for help. The
portion concludes with Joseph's well-known ruse-planting and then
"discovering" a stolen goblet in his brother Benjamin's knapsack-a so-called
test of honesty and loyalty.  

It is in this climactic moment in the narrative that we are directed to one
ultimate lesson: rapprochement and reconciliation as an abiding family
value. With his brothers standing before him, Joseph can't help but ask
about his father, even as he hides his true identity. His brothers respond:
"Peace to your servant, our father; he still lives" (Gen. 43:28). Joseph
desires to know about his welfare and to receive his family's love, even if
it takes him most of his life to realize it. Amidst all of the games that
Joseph plays, he struggles, often with himself, to make peace with his
family. The salient issues in this portion point to that struggle,
emphasized in the fact that Joseph never seems to ask about his father prior
to the reunion with his brothers. After all, as such an influential leader,
he could have sent for his father beforehand-even if he still held contempt
for his brothers. That is the nature of family dynamics. We expect things to
be rational, but family dynamics seldom are rational. However, there is
something else going on here for Joseph. 

Joseph's many years in exile in Egypt (literally, the narrow places) were
spent outside of the warmth of his family. The Torah is making a comment
here that galut (exile) is spiritual rather than geographical. While Joseph
is in Egypt without his family, he is in galut. The enslavement too, which
the Torah leaps to after the Joseph narrative, is about spiritual galut.
What the Hebrews felt spiritually the text personifies as a physical galut,
that is, away from the land of Israel. 

Whether we are discussing the Jewish family or our own families, we have to
realize that the difficulty in welcoming strangers into our midst is
emotional not rational. But when we are excluded from our families-perhaps
because of the life partner that we have chosen-we may feel like we are in
galut, in personal exile from those whom we love. According to some
commentators, it was Joseph's act of teshuvah that readied him for his
brothers. So he took steps forward in order to make the change possible.  If
Joseph can make peace with his brothers after what they did, then perhaps we
can do the same with our families for they have "done" a lot less. 


Dr. Kerry M. Olitzky
Jewish Outreach Institute
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New York, NY  10001
tel: 212.760.1440
fax: 212.760.1569
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You are welcome to use these ideas in your own work and writings as long as
you would be so kind as to credit Rabbi Kerry Olitzky and the Jewish
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