December 26, 2010

Parshat: Vayigash

Dear friends,

Our Chanukah festivities continue for a couple more days, and our menorah lightings have brought more light to the world. May we continue to bring light as the days lengthen, through our acts and words.

Many of us gathered for a wonderful Christmas Eve celebration, observed in a traditional Jewish fashion by Chinese food at Sweet Chili and a movie at Rabbi Ed’s.  Because of all of the Chanukah celebrations and the many people traveling, there will be no service or Torah study this weekend. However, Jewish Bozeman kicks in full force after the secular new year. On Wednesday, January 4, at 11:30 a.m., our January Interfaith panel (brown bag lunch) convenes once again at the Temple, with religious leaders from around Bozeman leading a discussion on how are respective religions understand human relationships. On the following Shabbat, there will be a children’s service on Friday, January 6, at 5:30.  On Saturday morning, we will have a short Saturday morning service at 9:00 a.m., followed by Torah study at 9:30.

Please begin thinking about our winter adult ed offerings that will begin soon.  There will be a six week class on the thought of Emmanuel Levinas, a post-Holocaust French Jewish philosopher, who spent the war in a prisoner of war camp and attempts to understand what went wrong with humanity in the Holocaust.   If you wish to take this class, the first reading will be found on our website for downloading here:

The second winter adult ed course will be offered through Wonderlust and will be an Introduction to Judaism, suited to those curious about Judaism, but also to those of us who learned it as children and might want an adult understanding of its ideas and culture.  It will begin on ________ and meet for six ______ at that time.

Our Torah portion is Vayigash, which begins with the words “vayigash eilav Yehudah vayomer, bi Adonai, yidabeir nah avdecha . . .”, meaning “and Judah approached [his brother Joseph, who he did not recognize], and he said ‘please my Lord, let me speak.” This is a critical moment in the Torah where after all sorts of maneuvering, Judah breaks down and is honest with himself and his brother Joseph, and asks to explain what has happened and offers himself as a slave to Joseph. This, in turn, causes Joseph to break down and the entire family reconciles.  The key Hebrew words in the verse are “bi Adonai,” which are usually translated as, “please, my lord;” but they may also mean “my Lord is in me,” meaning that Judah saw the G!dly part of himself – saw that he was created in the image of G!d — and it was time for honesty and reconciliation.

These words resonate for many of us during these holidays when we spend time with our families, some of whom live far away. We’ve been playing our roles for so long, but when we come together and realize that G!d is in each of us, new possibilities for reconciliation are opened up that can change our relationships and even change the course of the family history that will follow.

Chag urim sameach (Happy Festival of Lights),
Rabbi Ed