THE PURPLE PEOPLE

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By Lauviticus

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This weekly Torah episode is ‘Jethro’ – honoring Moses’ Father-in-Law, who was also High Priest of Midian, the indigenous people of the Sinai Peninsula. Jethro journeys towards the Hebrew encampment at the foot of the Mountain of God, bringing along the First Family – Zippora and the two sons of Moses. Not much is told in the text about the family reunion, but we are told that Jethro, impressed by the deeds of the Hebrew Deity, proclaims his faith in this new God. Thus, several commentaries and traditions identity Jethro as the first official convert – a Hebrew by Choice.
Choice – choosing and being chosen - is the key motif in this story. Jethro’s personal revelation is a prelude to the big act of The Revelation – Live from Mount Sinai, complete with thunder, lightning, and thick clouds. The Hebrew people, only chapters ago an enslaved mass, are now invited (and possibly commanded) to make the choice of becoming a sacred nation – a God-Chosen tribe. But unlike Jethro – who returns to the tents of Midian – the Hebrews are here to stay, and under the billowing mountain they become the Chosen People – a dense, challenging and oddly translated expression appearing here for the first time, verbatim from God:
Exodus 19:5 Now, then, if you will obey Me faithfully and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all the peoples. Indeed, all the Earth is mine. (KJV)
The Hebrew word SEGULA – translated here as ‘treasured possession’ is elsewhere translated as ‘special property’, ‘’peculiar treasure’, ‘unique merit’ and ‘special treasure’. The Pseudo-Jonathan, translated:’ you shall be more beloved before Me than all the peoples on the face of the earth.’
The word SEGULA has legal overtones denoting valued property to which "one has exclusive possession," and all our translators are struggling with this word/concept that summarizes this binding and conditional covenant.
There’s much to say about the CHOSEN PEOPLE concept and not all of it is happy. The historical ‘othernesses’ of the Hebrew tribe that premiers here this week has yielded both pride – and painful prejudice. In the 2007 Global village, with Anti Semitism (disguised and/or fueled by anti-Zionism) on the rise again, the Chosen issue spans politics, theology, and socio-economic tensions that impact the lives of millions. Can Jewish Identify continue to thrive while deeply examining and deconstructing this notion of ‘elite human squad’?
Interestingly, the original Hebrew term does not in itself imply either exclusivity or pre-eminence. A plausible reading is that God considers Israel a cherished people, a jewel in the crown of nations, but not the crown itself.
In support of this sense of Israel being one special nation with its own unique gifts among other special nations, we note that the word SEGULA may also mean ‘purple’ – as in the color. Although it is famously a regal color - purple is only one hue in a spectrum, and it draws its composition from reds and blues. In the divine palate a color may be distinct yet not superior to other colors. Maybe we are not the Chosen people – what a relief! Maybe this is just a fashion statement (It is Fashion week in NYC!) and not a social boundary…Maybe we’re entitled to be known as The Purple People?
Either way, this is one of those Biblical cases where translation becomes much more than a semantic case in point, and an opportunity for us to boldly explore how our past and present meet to create a better future.
Whether as a parent with children or a leader with colleagues, we all know the challenge of seeing and articulating value without creating invidious comparisons. Where in your family and workplace do you struggle with the issues of ‘special’ and value and how do you remind each person of their unique place?

PACKING

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By Lauviticus

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What would you pack if you ran away from home?



This week, in the portion called ‘B’Shalach’, the great escape known as The Exodus continues, and the Hebrew runaways famously wade in the waters of the Sea of Reeds. (This is also one of the most infamous mistranslations and cartographic errors in biblical history –never meant to be read as the ‘Red Sea’).

No matter what one imagines the Exodus to be – historical, mythical, both or neither – the powerful image of a human mass fleeing towards freedom chased by soldiers is painfully familiar from war torn areas worldwide. And, like many modern attempts to personalize the stories of mass migrations – we focus on what may have been the plight of individuals, capturing the image of one person, or one family, allowing intimate details to tell the bigger, often incomprehensible tales of our lives.



In this story, we are focusing on one word, describing either what the Hebrews packed along, and/or who they left behind.



Exodus 13:18 ‘But God led the people about, by the way of the wilderness by the Red Sea; and the children of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt.’ (JPS Bible)



The Hebrew word ‘CHAMUSHIM’ is most often translated as ‘armed’, ‘harnessed’, ‘equipped for battle’, and ‘bearing weapons’. In 2007, Jews with weapons are not uncommon(mostly Israeli soldiers but also Sandra Froman, the new president of the NRA – a Jewish woman!) but it is startling to think of this image in the translations and imaginations of Bible readers prior to 1948. Later on in the exodus story, once they cross the sea, Miriam leads the people in song, and drums accompany her. It is comforting to know that musical instruments, and not just weapons (and matza) are what our ancestral runways packed for the road, functional and symbolic at the same time.

But there is another way to translate the word ‘Chamushim” – reading it not from the root for ‘weapon’ but from the word for the number ‘Five’ – ‘Chamesh’. Interestingly, various Jewish commentaries and translators stayed away from the weapons motif and went with the breakdown of the people into units of five. For instance, the Pseudo Jonathon translates this verse as: “…and every one of the sons of Israel left Egypt, with five children each. “

Yet another interpretive translation is that of the 11th Century CE commentator Rashi, who quotes Rabbinic sources: ‘Only one of five Hebrews left Egypt, while the other four who refused to leave died during the three days of darkness.’



According to this oral tradition, the Hebrews are not leaving with weapons – they are leaving with diminished numbers and much loss. How many prefer to stay behind in the familiar realities, even if oppressive? and how many choose to leap into the unknown?



One of out five, or one plus five, with weapons and with drums, the heroes and heroines of this ancient journey sing their way across a Sea of Reeds, encounter Manna, thirst for water, and win their first battle, all within four chapters. Next stop: Mount Sinai.



And we, on our ongoing coming out into Self - what do we pack for the journeys across the threshold of new possibilities? And what or who, this time round, do we leave behind?

Labor of Love

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By Lauviticus

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This weekly Storah is dedicated to Lisa Goldberg, of blessed memory, who left the earth this past week. She was an inspiration to all those of us striving to acheive labors of love.

This week’s torah episode is called ‘BO’, also known as ‘Showdown in Egypt’. ‘Bo’ means ‘Enter’ – alluding to the divine command for Moses to enter the presence and the mindset of his oppressor – in order to release the enslaved Hebrews and let them go free. In three chapters we get a blow by blow of the final stages of the Exodus - the last three of the ten attacks on Egypt, climaxing with the slaughter of the firstborn and the king’s final defeat. Somewhere between midnight and dawn, lit by the full moon of spring, over a million Hebrew slaves flee Egypt, matzos in hand, ending 430 years of residence.

And then, when it’s all over, the Passover for the future is instructed – the memory of that fateful night, different from all others, engraved on the collective mind. One word stands out – a Hebrew word that is translated in various ways that put together tell the whole story, mysteriously symbolizing both the agony and the redemption – the bitter and the sweet.

Exodus 12:16 - And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? (King James Bible)

The Hebrew word for ‘service’ is ‘avodah’ – appearing continuously in the Exodus saga, translated as ‘labor’, ‘practice’, ‘employment’, ‘worship’, ‘bondage’, ‘rite’ or ‘ceremony’.
Depending on the context this word either refers to the historical forced labor in the Egyptian brick factories OR to the future ritual commemoration of the Passover Freedom Festival: the Seder. Either way – it’s the same word, and for those of us who have sat through one of those unbelievably long and boring Seders – the slavery motif is not a big surprise. The word ‘Avodah’ became the code word for the worship rites at the Jerusalem Temple, and later for the sequence of prayers conducted in synagogues. The word ‘service’ is still in fairly current usage, describing what has also become, for many of us, a bit more of a laborious oppression than excited celebration.

Avodah is a key concept in Jewish vocabulary. Perhaps, because if focuses on the very basic set of human acts that requires discipline and perseverance, order and obedience. We think of this in terms of worship – but also in terms of industry. The word ‘work’ – signifying what for many is a vocation of obligation and for many others a labor of love, is very loaded with different meanings – and in modern Hebrew – Avoda still means ‘job’.

The many faces of this word remind us of one more bizarre twist on this convoluted concept. ‘Arbeit Macht Frei ‘or ‘Labor Liberates’ is a familiar, sinister quote, used by the Nazis to promote slave labor as ‘effective’ or ‘humane’ procedure. The expression first appears in 1872, when German author Lorenz Diefenbac, a nationalist, used it as the title of his book. In 1928 the Weimar Government used it as a slogan promoting large scale public works campaign to end unemployment. By 1933 it has become a Nazi favorite, famously decorating the thresholds of many death camps.

This story is about thresholds.

As we repeat the Exodus tale this week, ancient and recent history echo our personal yearnings for a life free of all forms of oppression.
So, when the time comes and your child asks you – WHY are we doing this Passover thing? What will you answer?
And, in our daily journeys from the narrow places, when tasks and duties become oppressions, no matter what their goal and purpose – will we remember the labor of love?

Moses, Uncut

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By Lauviticus

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This past Monday marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day – honoring a courageous leader whose passionate sacrifice and prophetic speeches shaped an Exodus from the bondage of racism, offering dignity and freedom to an entire nation. Imagine a leader of such proportions and scope – with a heavy speech impediment? What if he or she has a stutter or an inability to make a coherent sentence? Oh well, yes, there is that man in the White House, but we mean real leaders, prophetic change agents whose deeds and words motivate revolutions. How much of their power is derived form oratory ability?
Moses, the hero of THAT ancient Exodus, is famously known for just such a challenge. In this week’s Torah Episode, Va’Era, he continues to struggle against the mission that has been given to him at the burning bush – to free his people. In the second round of negotiations with the surprising deity with the ancient Hebrew resonance and new, unfamiliar name, Moses resists the role by claming that his lips are, literally, sealed – preventing him from delivering the Divine word to the King of Egypt. The saga of Moses’ reluctance to accept this historic mantle is interesting enough, but what really grabs the translators’ attention is the idiom he uses for his inadequacy – somehow linking lips to penis, and body to national identity:
Moses, the hero of the original Exodus, is famously known for just such a challenge. In this week's Torah Episode, Va'Era, he continues to struggle against the mission that has been given to him at the burning bush – to free his people. In the second round of negotiations with the invisible Deity, Moses resists the role by claiming that his lips are, literally, sealed - covered by a foreskin. He is speaking figuratively, of course, but what can this mean? That his lips that have not been denatured through a covenantal act, have not been dedicated to Divine service? That they have not been stripped of the covering of Egyptian, the language of his upbringing? Translators have wrestled with this disclaimer in numerous ways:
Exodus 6:12, according to the King James Bible:
And Moses spake before the LORD, saying, Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of uncircumcised lips? (KJV)
Other translations replace ‘uncircumcised lips’ with Impeded speech (Etz Chayim), difficult of speech( Pseudo Jonathan) or Sealed lips (Artscroll), creatively addressing the words AREL S’FTAIM as metaphor for what is otherwise a really peculiar physical condition. The word AREL is usually read as ‘uncircumcised, derived from the primitive root: ‘to strip’ or ‘to expose’.
So what's going on, Moses? Are you uncut and unsuitable or just not cut for the job? Does your reluctance to be recruited for this campaign express itself in a stammering stage fright? Did you press a burning coal to your lips as an infant, as legends tell, so that you are forever marked and scarred? Did your infancy as a hidden child traumatize you, the maternal finger ever pressed over your lips to keep you quiet? Perhaps all of the above. And the best we can do as translators is to offer our own: tongue tied, speechless, Moses refuses the nomination and prefers to stay where it’s familiar, back with the sheep.
Perhaps his progress shows us how personal limitations -- real or perceived--- can be made into advantages, transforming self and society in surprising and inspiring ways. Perhaps, too, his story reminds us of how important it is to have leaders who know their own weakness and find partners who can help them lead. After all, Moses' protests convince the Almighty to add a speechwriter and official spokesman to the Exodus Campaign: Aaron, the original translator or Divine Word. What next? join the reluctant hero and his sidekick for the fight to freedom... frogs and all.

LIVE in Egypt

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By Lauviticus

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This week, Lauviticus welcomes you to the Second of the Five Books,
known to us as Exodus, but in Hebrew known as The Book of Names. Exodus/Shemot takes us beyond the primal myths of Genesis into the socio-political reality of oppression, racism, poverty, human suffering and human hope, and ultimately towards the creation of a community bound by faith, ritual, and order.
The seed of this transformation is located in the prophetic myth of Moses, and in this week's telling of his heroic and humble begining. His birth and that of countless other babies are described as a "swarming" with its implication of a superabundant force. In the face of this prolific fertility, Pharaoh enslaves the Hebrews and issues an edict sentencing infant boys to death. Initially he employs the midwives as his instrument of enforcement, but they do not comply and when confronted, reply with the verse we focus on this week:
The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not like
the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous. Before the midwife can
come to them, they have given birth." Exodus 1:19. Etz Chayim Translation
The Hebrew word in question here is CHAYOT – translated as either
VIGORUOUS or LIVELY (King James Bible), EXPERTS (Artscroll) or AMINALS
( Richard Friedman's translation)
All these translations are valid, though seeing the women as animals who do not need midwives for birthing is perhaps the most challenging. Translating chayot as "animals" may be the best way the mid-wives know to explain to Pharaoh that their hands are tied. You know these Hebrew women, they are like animals. Cover story? Or racial slur?
But another way to read this verse is that the Hebrew women are
ALIVE – full of life, zest, fight and determination. They are not degraded by
their circumstances but powerful in their sacred duty of birthing the
future. (Anyone seen the recent film 'Children of Men'? see it for a
powerful reminder of the awe-some and awe-full experience of birth.)
The classic Aramaic translator, knows as the Pseudo-Jonathan, took
this approach as well. In his rendition of Exodus 1:19 he translates
CHAYOT in a way that makes the mothers seems as heroines, not victims:
"The Jewish women are not as the Egyptian , for they are sturdy and
wise-minded: before the midwife comes to them they lift up their eyes
in prayer, supplicating mercy before their Father who is in heaven,
who hears the voice of their prayer, and at once they are heard, and
bring forth, and are delivered in peace."
And so Lauviticus would like to suggest: ‘The Hebrew Women are not like their governing Egyptian sisters – for they are full of LIFE; The Divine is their midwife.’
What, in your life, is so full of life and vitality, that against all
odds, will just burst out and change the world?

Shabbat shalom!

CUTS LIKE A KNIFE

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By Lauviticus

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The book of Beginnings ends this week with a dramatic deathbed scene.
The name of this week's torah episode is an ironic wink – VaYechi, 'And he Lived' – actually describing death - not only the death of Jacob but also that of his son and spiritual heir, Joseph. Both will be embalmed and buried with great ceremony, leaving the children of Israel to face 400 years of Egyptian Diaspora, slavery, and eventually, an exodus. But not yet: Right now, we are gathered around the bed of Jacob, last of the patriarchs, as he delivers poetic prophecy, and brutally honest last will and testament. The scene reminds us of 'The Godfather', as there is more here than words – great fortunes are at stake, and ancient sibling rivalry tensions marked on the brothers faces.
The scene starts with the blessings bestowed on Joseph and his seed, clearly favored beyond the others. But something in Jacob's words seems weird, and over the generations many translators and commentaries have debated the fine print and its implications. In today's political climate – this ancient verse bears chilling
resonance:

Genesis 48:22 - 'I'm giving you one more mountain ridge than your brothers. I took it from the Amorites with my own sword and bow." This is one popular translation – but not the definitive one. The JPS translation suggests "Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow."
Two items are fascinating here, and translated differently. The first is the Hebrew word SHECHEM – translated as either 'mountain', 'shoulder' or as the name of an actual city – Shechem – modern day Palestinian Nablus. Ouch. This is also the city savaged by Jacob's sons over the Dina affair. And though neither Jacob or Joseph actually fought that fight – it is Joseph's tribe that does indeed inherit this property when the Israelites take over Canaan , and in fact Josephs'
presumed burial site is right outside Nablus, a hotly contested geo-political marker.
But the more interesting item here, also politically challenging, is the end of the verse – the bow and sword that Jacob describes as the weapons with which he conquered the city. While most translations stick to these as weapons –Onkelos, the famous translator who was a Roman Jew by Choice, lived 2,000 years ago, and endorsed by the Talmud as the authoritative Aramaic translator, takes a surprising spin on this combat history, translating 'bow and sword' as 'prayer and supplication'. Whoa: prayer and supplication?? That is NOT a translation, but more like a historical clean up job. Is it possible that Onkelos is giving Jacob credit for his sons' conquest of the city due to his good deeds and pious prayer – though not thanks to his actually being involved in battle? Or is he telling history to his contemporary audience – Jews living under Roman rule, afraid of flaunting military strength?

One way or another, Joseph gets the real estate, and the other brothers, not to mention the Amorites, are left seething and compromised. For the modern Torah reader, gathered around Jacob's bed this is just another fascinating example of biblical word, political reality, history and myth converging and inviting a critical reading of a text worthy of closer attention. Perhaps, as Onkelos suggests, words and prayers can sometimes be sharper than swords and more lethal than bows and arrows. And perhaps, as we bid Farwell to Genesis and enter the world of Exodus, we can take greater responsibility for the finer reading of what our ancient tales whisper and how our translations can help reshape a world poised for more love and less weapons.

JACOB SKIPS A BEAT

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By Lauviticus

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The scroll rolls on and the saga of Joseph, the ‘Know It All’ who has risen to power in Egypt continues, paralleling the famine in the entire region. This week’s Torah episode, VaYigash, follows the long and winding road on which Jacob’s clan, hungry and scattered, is traveling, back and forth between Egypt and Canaan – a road that will soon lead to a tearjerker family reunion. While the main characters in this tale are Joseph, his brother Judah and their father Jacob - according to Jewish legends the real hero of the day is actually a little girl – Serach, the daughter of Asher, grand daughter of Jacob. Her story, and how it is related to her grandfather near fatal cardiac arrest, is our focus this week:

A bit of background: The brother of Joseph are heading back to Canaan, having just met their lost brother, wept, shocked and urged home, by his command to tell their aged father the incredible news – Joseph is alive. In this fragile moment, when good news wash over years of mourning, delicacy is required – a delicacy the brothers were never famous for. And so, according to the telling – Jacob just can’t take the good tidings - and suffers a heart attack:

And they told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob’s heart fainted, for he believed them not. (Genesis 45:23, King James Bible)

Well, maybe it’s a heart attack and maybe not - the Hebrew word ‘PUG’ means ‘Pause’ and other translations and commentaries, perhaps not medically expert, take this to mean ‘failed’ or ‘numb’ or ‘rejected’. It is just one brief moment in the life of Jacob – and almost his last one – had it not been for the wisdom of his granddaughter, Serach, daughter of Asher, and her wisdom. According the legends, found in Talmud and Midrash, Serach was a skilled musician and singer, most famous for her harp playing. Her name is listed in the roster of the seventy Hebrews and accompanied Jacob to Egypt AND she is also mentioned in the list of Hebrew to leave Egypt four hundred years later. What’s her secret of successful living? Legend has it that she has lived so long because she saved Jacob’s life. While the brothers, her father and uncles, are hurrying back from Egypt, Serach dreams that her uncle Joseph is alive, and she sits outside her grandfather’s tent and plays a song with the words’ Joseph is Alive..’ Jacob dismisses the song as a girl’s fantasy, but later, when he hears the actual news – he is not as surprised. His heart skips a beat – but Serach’s song has helped him to overcome and survive the shock.

Thus the power of story, song, art to heal a broken heart, and to prevent an old heart from stopping. Jacob’s heart failure is a moment filled with dread, but also full of redemption. What, imagine, went through the minds of all present as the old man clutches his chest and crumbles to the floor? And, what words of praise and relief when his eyes re-open and his lips mumble a song he didn’t know he knew? Joseph is alive…

At moments of great grief and sadness, may there always be the wise inner child, a harp, a guitar, restoring our old hearts to life, hope, faith, future. If Jacob’s heart wouldn’t have skipped a beat, how would we know the tale of Serach?
More in 2007! Here’s to good music, healing songs, and the wisdom from the mouths of babes, all year long.

Know-It-All

verse per verse: The Weekly Storah

By Lauviticus

Sorry folks,no audio this week!

Welcome back to the weekly installment of the torah, verse per verse.
These winter months it’s all about Joseph (NOT Mary’s man – his ancestor) – the hero of the weekly Torah saga. In this week’s episode, MIKETZ, we encounter a 30 years old man, freshly out of prison, summoned to the royal court to analyze the King’s disturbing dreams. Very pre Freud, and very Cinderella like, Joseph is propelled from prisoner to courtier within a matter of minutes, or verses, based on his uncanny talent of dream analysis. Joseph’s talent is favored by the king, who bestows honors: a new wardrobe(!), an Egyptian wife, a new job, and a new name. In previous explorations of this hero’s journey we examined Joseph’s garment and the meanings of its many changes, but the transformation here is even more radical – with one royal command Joseph becomes an Egyptian. His new name is what particularly calls our attention:

Genesis 41:45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him to wife Osnat the daughter of Poti-phera priest of On. And Joseph emerged in charge of the land of Egypt (JPS)

The new naming places Joseph in the name-change convention which we made particular note of in our exploration of his younger brother Benjamin. But this time the name is not Hebrew to Hebrew, but Hebrew to Egyptian. Joseph is called Zaphnath-paaneah. Most translators merely transliterate the word, some try to figure out what it might have meant in archaic Egyptian. The Fox translation names him ‘The God Speaks and He Lives.’ The pseudo-Jonathan’s is ‘The man who reveals mysteries’. Some Medieval commentaries such as Maimonidies , on the other hand, think the name is Hebrew derived, suggesting it means ‘he who explains what is hidden’.
Lauvitiucs would like to suggest: ‘And the King renamed him: ‘Know-It-All’ and wed him to Osnat, the dauther of the Priest of On, PotiPehra, and a new ruler rose over Egypt.’

The long and the short of it is that Joseph, perhaps the archetype of the assimilated Jew, takes an Egyptian wife, an Egyptian name, and functions in a position of power in a culture not his own. Some see him as the ultimate court Jew who can be accused of a willing suppression of his outsiderness for the sake of safety and prosperity. Yet, like Queen Esther, Joseph, for whatever reasons and by whatever means, is just where he needs to be to rescue family and clan. Does his new name hint at a deeper meaning for what it’s like to be a stranger in a strange land with super powers both honored and suspected?

Perhaps his cryptic new name suggests a function and an attribute that will have bearing on the lives of his descendents, assimilated Jews in many countries, for generations to come. Accused for being too smart, too rich, or too engaged in world politics, ‘know-it-all’ Jews, public or not, like Joseph himself, will reap the benefits and pay the price for analyzing the dreams and wishes of leaders and mobs worldwide.
But apart from world politics and the tricky role of Jews in history – Joseph represents the inner voice that helps us analyze our dreams and plan our future. Who in your life, this time of year, is the voice that best serves your needs for clarity, vision, dream, a brighter future?

Bright Lights, Shabbat Shalom, Sweet Dreams

Lauviticus

NAKED TRUTH

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By Lauviticus

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This week, The Lauviticus Consortium of Scribes is delighted to welcome Julie Seltzer of the Storahtelling Tribe as a cotributing Scribe! Thank you for your juicy contribution on the truth below the garb!

‘Tis the season for bundling up, dressing fancy and going to parties – but this week’s storah peek is actually at what it’s like to be naked – as naked as truth. There seems to be a distinct link between the craving for lavish costumes and the need to unwrap the cover up, and go behind the mask to reveal the hideen. while Last week’s torah tale featured the birth of Benjamin, and this week we are fully focused on his brother – the one famous for a coat of many colors, AND for what he had going elsewhere. A brief recap of the Genesis Saga brings us to VaYeshev – the tragic telling of how Jacob tried to settle down quietly in Canaan, only to discover that his beloved son and spiritual heir, Joseph, is reported missing, presumed dead, with only a bloody coat to serve as witness. While Jacob is mourning, Joseph, betrayed by his brothers, is trafficked to Egypt, where he ends up a slave in the house of Potiphar, a Courtier of the King. And, while her husband is tending the king, Potiphar’s wife tends to Joseph and tried to de-robe him (Joseph is “well built and handsome” [JPS], “fair of form and fair to look at” [Everett Fox]). She tries the verbal seduction approach before grabbing hold of his garment (in Hebrew: BEGED). Rejected, she then uses this BEGED, this article of clothing, as “evidence” that Joseph tried to rape her, landing the dreamer in jail, again.
Genesis 39:16: ‘And she placed his garment by her side, until his master came home.’


The word BEGED appears here 6 times in 7 verses, forcing special attention to its presence, pointing us to the underlying truth by screaming out, “I’m a lie! Look underneath! Look deeper inside! I’m concealing something!”

One possible clue is found in the root of the word for GARMENT—BGD—exactly the same as the word for BETRAYAL. Joseph’s garment represents an act of betrayal that covers up the truth, just as his robe does when Joseph’s brothers dip it in animal blood to cover up their crime.

The garment as object of betrayal could, perhaps, voice a familiar (if timely) reminder to not get too hung up on the latest fashions. But here too, there’s much than meets the eye. (As if sharing a root with the word for “betray” weren’t enough, the text hints at another layer of meaning: the word BEGED is composed of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th letters of the alphabet, forming a mirror image of the letters that make up the word “lie,” SHEKER, which are the second-to-last, third-to-last, and fourth-to last letters whereas the letters for “truth,” EMET, form a perfect triangle made up of the first, middle, and last letter of the alphabet.


So what does Joseph’s coat have to offer us at this annual time of its re-appearance? Perhaps a reminder to look deeper than the garment and the outer, and perhaps that we all want to get naked – to get at the naked truth, to fully know ourselves, for others to fully know us, and for us to know them. Even the way we share stories begins with an undressing: we prepare to share our most sacred stories by first removing the garment and revealing the unrolled, naked Torah scroll. Just as the Torah has a protective skin—without which the truth would be too overwhelming to access—we also need clothing for our souls. Though somewhat counterintuitive, creating and presenting ourselves through garment, cover, costume - is a way of accessing and sharing our nakedness.
Every time Joseph’s coat is taken off him, a new destiny and identity awaits him; like a snake, he grows new skin.
What, this time round, is your garment? And what’s between it and your naked truth?

Think about that after lighting the romantically inclined Chanukah Candles.

Merry Sabbath and Happy Holiday of Lights!

BEN:what's in a name?

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This has been a wild week in regards to reinterpting and translating biblical concepts, and we refer of course to the Conservative Movement's wrestling with Ye Ancient Sodomy. History in the making, and translation carefully examined, since the word SODOMY is the creation of Tynedale - the translator resposible for the King James Bible. More about this saga in future - for now we turn to the wrestle of the week:
Last week's Torah tale saw the creation of the clan of Jacob and delighted the t ranslator in all of us with the rich punning and wordplay in the names of the sons and daughter – the future tribes of Israel. The mythic process of naming reminds us how a biblical name rests on a root word which can turn a name into a characterization of a people. It is the youngest of the sons, born in this week’s episode, Vayishlach, that catches our eye, little Benjamin.

The context: The clan has returned to Canaan. Jacob has wrestled with an unnamed force and become Israel (the most famous of the name changes in the Bible). And right after the reunion with his brother Esau, it is Rachel's turn to give birth for the second and last time:

But as she breathed her last---for she was dying---she named him Ben-oni, but his father called him Benjamin. Thus Rachel died. She was buried on the road to Ephrat---now Bethlehem. JPS: 35:18

In a book where name changes are significant markers, here are two changes that happens so quickly as almost to escape notice. One is historical, perhaps Political – Ephrat is also known as Bethlehem. The more striking one is the emotional change: Ben-oni to Benjamin, Rachel’s last choice, Jacob’s revision - what’s the story?

The JPS Bible simply gives the two names and leaves the interpretive translation to the notes: Ben-Oni: son of my suffering (or strength); Benjamin: son of the right hand or the son of the south.

The Fox translation calls him Son-Of-My-Woe and Son of my Right Hand.

Oni might also be translated as wrong or iniquity and there are commentators who see Rachel's name for her son as an admission of her guilt--- and her death as a punishment---either for stealing her father's idols or wishing another son after Joseph. The reference to the South could refer to the tribe of Benjamin’s strategic importance in the south and of its role in bringing forth Israel's first King; Saul.

All these considerations of the name were in play this past Sunday when we gave a workshop for a group of Jewish men and women who had been bereaved by 9/11. Convened in the immediate aftermath of shock and pain, the group met regularly, traveled to Israel together last year, and continues to meet for facilitated sessions of support, sharing, and exploration. For this group of survivors, the figure of Benjamin became particularly powerful. They knew as their own the face of loss, regret, guilt, and sorrow, and the face of strength, hope, and growth. For many, Jacob's immediate decision to override his wife's dying breath was seen as a brave and necessary act of claiming life over death. In fact each of them had been their own Jacob, wresting hope from loss, but wrestling with loss as a way of gaining strength.

Benjamin, who has hardly any story at all in the chapters which follow, stood in that circle as an emblem of bereavement and redemption. In his double-name, we acknowledged the two-sides of the soul and saw our own stories reflected in him.


Lauviticus would like to suggest: ‘Rachel’s soul departed, and as she died she named him son of suffering, but Jacob named him son of right.’

Either way, we suspect the brothers probably just called him Ben for short, or – Sonny.

Who/what is the Benjamin in your life - needing an extra attentive reminder of strength and hope?

Shabbat shalom!