Parshat Vayigash: Am Yisrael Chai, Od Avinu Chai (do you know this song?)

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Parshat Vayigash 5771 (10’)

Tragedies are in our midst. A fire caused either by terror or natural causes left forty-two families without their brothers, sisters, mothers, husbands and wives. In addition, head Rabbinical officials in Israel have declared days of fasting because our water reservoirs have decreased drastically, there is no rain. Death and sickness are found on synagogue bulletins, and to top it off, somewhere concealed within our being the “soul of life,” [i] which was beathed into man on the sixth day of creation, weakens in hunger for some care and “meta”ical attention.[ii] But we, what do we say? How do we justify ourselves? We say it’s too hard. There is so much bad in the world, there is so much pain, loss and darkness, how can I do anything? We fall into a deeper sleep. We say our nation, and our world is helpless.

My friends, we sit in a generation orphaned without leaders. Friends, we must stand. Because if we do not stand the results could be cataclysmic, as the verse states “and there was a famine in the lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.”[iii] The Sfas Emes[iv] comments that the famine in the lands did not only represent a physical famine, but also a spiritual famine. As Yaakov mourns his “dead” son Joseph, his legacy remains at a standstill. “The youth of his old age” is lost forever. Like Yaakov, this son Joseph was blessed “in the house and in the field.”[v] Why was Egypt the only land with sustenance? Was it not our brother Joseph, “the dreamer,”[vi] who dreamed of a world where G-d too can live? Not a place with pain and struggle, deficit in spirituality and lost potential but rather a place of light, a place of growth, and a place that even when it is hard, they push and sweat to make it better.

“Am Yisrael Chai, Od Avinu Chai,” the nation of Israel lives, forever our father lives! Probably one of the most well know song of our generation (Thanks Reb Shlomo). Do we still live? No, I mean, do we really live?

In this week’s Torah portion, Joseph reveals not only his identity, but also that suffering can be purposeful. Joseph betrayed by his brothers sold into slavery, and placed into a society of conflicting values takes a hold of the darkness and says “This is my light; this is my Chanukah, even better, this is what I can add to the world.” And with complete faith Joseph believes that the oil will last for just one more day. Like the Jews against the Greeks, with complete faith, Joseph remains true to his father’s teachings, alone, uncertain and hungry. Through prison and almost death, the very power of belief brought Joseph through his spiritual battle of picking up the particles of G-dliness.[vii]

Was it not Joseph’s incredible balance of economics and religion that carried the 12 tribes and the future Jewish nation to its next stage? Uncertain about the worlds status, and unsure how to heal the broken and lost souls in the famine, Joseph vigorously collects grain for all the nations, with a head held high, Joseph collects and collects with faith that soon again G-d’s sovereignty will reign in the world. He remembers “This is my light; this is my Chanukah, even better, this is what I can add to the world.”His brothers come to see him, and Joseph screams “I AM JOSEPH, IS MY FATHER STILL ALIVE!?”[viii]

Open your hearts. Every child longs to have a father, and every father longs to have a child. The world lost of all morale, and raped of all belief asks the same question: Is my father still alive? Joseph, holding on for so long, not only convinced the greatest civilization single handedly that the G-d of the Hebrews is the Master of the Universe and the Merciful G-d, but he also shows us Chanukah in his time, “alone among the nations.” The brother’s struggle for survival ceases, and they grow comfortable. They forget about G-d they forget the original intentions set out by their father, and Joseph asks: Is my father still alive? And the Jewish people ask today, Is my father still alive? With all the uncertainty and tragedy that sets before us we need to remember that not only is G-d still alive, but he is hidden within our daily occurrence waiting to be revealed. In these low times we establish ourselves, and strive to remain strong. We pledge as a testimony “This is my light; this is my Chanukah, even better, this is what I can add to the world.”

So friends, I want you to know something beautiful (if you made this far). The last night of Chanukah is called “Zoat Chanukah” referring to the inauguration of the menorah in the temple. What is Chanukah? “This is my light; this is my Chanukah, even better, this is what I can add to the world.” After all the pain, all the cold and all the darkness we proclaim in song and dance “Am Yisrael Chai, Od Avinu Chai,” the nation of Israel lives, forever our father lives!

This week I will try to: Recognize that even in the darkest of allies, there is always light to reveal. Despite all of the calamities which befall our world on a daily basis remember the strength of our brother Joseph. One person, with one mission cut against the grain and saved the world, and when we ask “where is G-d, ‘is my father still alive?’” Ill scream and say “This is my light; this is my Chanukah, even better, this is what I can add to the world!!!”

These people are, and actually could be, your family members. Please say a prayer for them many of them are in critical condition. Tamarah bat Batya,Ester bat Batya, Zalman ben Pnina,Natan Eliyahu Ben Devora Kayla, Kalev Ezra ben Emunah, Baer Yakov ben Emunah.

Shabbat Shalom!!!


[i] Gensis :2:7

[ii] Get it? Medical meta-cal? Like metaphysical, like spiritual attention. Wow…

[iii] Ibid. 41:53

[iv] the Sfas Emes, was a Hasidic rabbi who succeeded his grandfather, Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter, as the av beis din (head of the rabbinical court) and Rav of Góra Kalwaria, Poland (known in Yiddish as the town of Ger),

[v] 37:5

[vi] 37:19

[vii] Particles of G-dliness, or Netzuzot is a Kabbilistic term referenced in creation. The sages tell us when the world was created, G-d’s infinity allowed for a physicality which was unmanageable. These lights are hidden in everything we see on a day to day basis, we gather these particles of G-dliness and reveal them in the world.

[viii] 45:3

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