Cheadle Drasha Parashat Vayechi 5774
Years spent away from loved ones, languishing in prison, deprived of dignity, respect, yearning for love Yosef and Nelson Mandela emerged as changed people; rising to positions of power and leadership, and ultimately reshaping the very nation that had treated them so poorly. We celebrate the lives of both personalities this Shabbat. As the book of Bereishit comes to an end we bid farewell to Yosef and his family. The journey began by Avraham has come to an end, his children are now in Egypt and the scene is set for the fulfilment of the Covenant that promised years of exile and slavery but that would eventually end in liberation and freedom- the long walk to freedom. The Biblical narrative appreciates that good things might only emerge after years, decades and even centuries of suffering. Similarities in both stories provide us with an opportunity this Shabbat morning to reflect and contemplate the power of forgiveness and reconciliation. The Book of Bereishit is full of conflict, brothers kill, families fight, children are excluded, nations are at war, but lurking beneath are tales of reconciliation.
Yosef spent years in prison. He believed that he had been forgotten.
Thanks to Andrew Lloyd Weber we know how he felt: I closed my eyes, drew back the curtain To see for certain what I thought I knew Far far away, someone was weeping But the world was sleeping Any dream will do Yosef the dreamer had to continue to dream, the world was asleep to his pain and from behind the bars his dreams kept him alive.
After Jacob dies the brothers are terrified that Yosef will seek revenge. The brothers are uncertain and hide behind their dead father as they tell Yosef:
“Before his death your father left this instruction: So shall you say to Yoseph, ‘Forgive, I urge you, the offence and guilt of your brothers who treated you so harshly.’ Therefore, please forgive the offence of the servants of the God of your father.” And Yoseph was in tears as they spoke to him (Gen. 50:16-17).
Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch explains that Jacob speaks of two wrongs, פשע/ offence relates to attacking, wounding חטא / guilt relates to the hastiness of action. In their own words the brothers speak only of פשע / offence of direct wrong doing. Jacob says think no more of the crime let it be as if it never existed. The brothers say we remain guilty we forget nothing but let it have no consequences with you. Reconciliation can take two forms forgetting the past and looking ahead or remember the past atrocities but wishing for a brighter future. We are never commanded to love everybody equally. It’s OK to be annoyed by people but לרעך /to your neighbour means that which pertains to your neighbour, his health, well being happiness and success that you are to love and further as if it were your own however unsympathetic the person might be to you.
Yosef responds: “although you intended me harm, God intended it for good” (Gen. 50:20). He is arguing that although you sold me, it was God who sent me here.
The divine intention is what should be the focus. Only that can enable reconciliation.
There are times when there is no objective truth. Yosef is not denying the truth of his brothers’ previous family narrative; they did indeed behave sinfully toward him and his dreams had angered them. But more than one truth is possible. He proposes to them an additional truth, a truth with the transformative power to heal the past and change the future.
The Yosef story demonstrates that it is possible to frame past evil within a bigger plan. The belief in the guiding hand of God allows Yosef and his family to transform the way in which they deal with suffering and those who caused it: “Besides, although you intended me harm, God intended it for good” (Gen. 50:20).
Not to forgive imprisons one in the past and yields control to another, whereas forgiveness frees the forgiver and allows one to change the circumstances of one’s life. This was certainly true for Yosef, who was not consumed by anger and desire for vengeance. When Nelson Mandela emerged from prison, Mandela challenged those in his own movement whose encounters with the violence of the apartheid regime had led them to believe that hatred of the enemy and armed struggle against them was the only way to liberation. Spending 27 years locked away Mandela appreciated that hatred and anger would keep him behind bars even if he were to be set free. I don’t know what he sung in prison, but just maybe, these lyrics express how he felt. Close every door to me, Hide all the world from me Bar all the windows And shut out the light Do what you want with me, Hate me and laugh at me Darken my daytime And torture my night “How can one be open hearted toward one’s oppressors?” they say. “Fostering compassion toward oppressors will undermine the revolutionary spirit needed to defeat the evil ones.” The brilliance of Mandela was in his ability to lead the majority of South Africans to not do to others what had been done to them.
In speech after speech, he taught that revenge was the wrong way to go. Reconciliation, he argued, was the path to liberation and to a peaceful transition to African majority rule. And he was shown to be right!
The Truth and Reconciliation tribunals that were set up only worked, to the extent that they did, because of the background condition of open heartedness, caring for others, and even generosity toward one’s oppressors that Mandela fostered even while his own people were being brutalized.
The Cure at Troy is Seamus Heaney’s version of Sophocles’ Philoctetes. Written in the fifth century BC. The play concerns the predicament of the outcast hero, whom the Greeks marooned on an island and forgot about until the closing stages of the Siege of Troy. They are forced to return to Lemnos and seek out Philoctetes’ support.
Human beings suffer, they torture one another, they get hurt and get hard. History says, Don’t hope on this side of the grave. But then, once in a lifetime the longed for tidal wave of justice can rise up, and hope and history rhyme. So hope for a great sea-change on the far side of revenge. Believe that a further shore is reachable from here. Believe in miracles and cures and healing wells.
Poetry is used to describe an array of situations. A few weeks ago I quoted Keats during the AJEX civic service. War poetry asks us to consider the impact of war and the need for a cease fire. Reconciliation poetry realises that wounds do not heal with peace treaties, this genre seeks interruptions “once in a lifetime the longed for tidal wave of justice can rise up”. When the cycle is disturbed, things can change, the pain in the world doesn’t have to last, the pain inside can go away.
Like Yosef, Mandela didn’t focus on previous injustices but rather on the future. Take this quote as an example “There is no reason at all for any of our citizens to seek redress through violence, … It will be the height of folly for anyone to seek to provoke the patience of a people who have elected, against their own deep emotions, to forgive and reconcile.” The winter holiday period gives us time to enjoy the company of family and friends but also reminds us of relationships that have broken down. This is the week to commit ourselves to fixing broken relationships. If President Obama can shake hands with Raul Castro and President Peres can extend his hand to Iran then surely our own broken relationships can be mended and it can all begin with extended a hand, as the song tells us “Close your eyes give me your hand darling.”
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