Family, Fate, Fortune-& You
Family, Fate, Fortune—and You
Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon’s Sermon on Vayeshev 5782
This week we read the Torah portion of Vayeshev, which begins the story of Joseph, one of the great narratives in all literature. We will continue with this fateful tale throughout the rest of the book of Genesis, and the extraordinary plotlines involving Joseph eventually set up the rest of early Jewish history.
But first Vayeshev starts by further illustrating the exploits, good and mostly bad, of one of the truly, spectacularly dysfunctional families in all of history, the great patriarch Jacob and his four wives and 13 children. If you thought the Borgia family had problems, if you believe that Oedipus had a bad home life, if you feel that the Kennedys were cursed, if you think that the Kardashians—OK, never mind about the Kardashians. But for the others, none of these epic familial failures have anything on Jacob and his brood. In fact, you can make a case that the Jacob clan has some of the troubles of each.
In addition to the vigorous rivalry between the varsity wives Leah and Rachel (until she dies giving birth to the twelth brother, Benjamin), the bulit-in rivalries between the jayvee wives, Bilhah and Zilpah, the phenomenal sibling rivalries that take place among all the 12 vigorous, manipulative brothers, all abetted by truly lousy parenting by the distracted patriarch Jacob, there is also plenty of bad, fateful luck. There are betrayals galore, rape, revenge killing, incest, mass circumcision, mass slaughter, massive deceptions, conspiracy to defraud, and, of course, selling a blood relative into slavery in another country. Frankly, this is not conduct we prefer to see in our own families, no matter how heated the Thanksgiving table discussions might have become.
But with all the action—of every kind—in Vayeshev there is also a moment of pure fate, an incident that illustrates that something greater than mere human weakness is at work here. Early in this week’s parshah Joseph is sent by his father to spy on his own brothers. Jacob suspects that his boys—young men by now—have been taking care of dad’s sheep, but probably selling a few on the side to make some extra shekels. While searching for his brothers Joseph gets lost, and wanders helplessly until, we are told, he bumps into a stranger, who sends him off on the right path to find his brothers. When he reaches them it sets in motion events that land Joseph in slavery and later into prison in Egypt; and his rise from that nadir eventually lead to the whole Jacobite family going down there and later being enslaved. Then, of course, a few centuries later everyone is freed, they cross the Red Sea, and get the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai—and, well, the world has never been the same since.
But none of it would have happened if Joseph hadn’t happened upon a friendly, anonymous stranger who helped him out. That is, all the turbulence, energy, and activity of Jacob’s family would not really have mattered if not for a namelss stranger who sets our story onto its true course, one that will eventually end in peoplehood and a great posterity.
First, one simple nameless guy had to point the way…
You might wonder: why is this seemingly trivial incident even included here in Genesis? The story of Joseph is so action-packed that it seems unnecessary to even mention the anonymous stranger who gave our hero directions on the road. I mean, just in this Shabbat’s Torah portion we have an entire novel, or perhaps a Netflix or Apple+ binge-watchable-series.
Vayeshev, in short (!), is Joseph being spoiled by a grieving Jacob, Joseph’s coat of many colors, Joseph’s arrogant announcement of his dreams, Joseph’s brothers hatred of him, Joseph being sent out to spy on them, Joseph being beaten and tossed into a pit, Joseph nearly killed and then sold into slavery, Jacob deceived into assuming Joseph is dead, Joseph down in Egypt rising to the top of the slavery pyramid as head of Potiphar’s household, Joseph’s attempted seduction by Mrs. Potiphar, Joseph avoiding being seduced but falsely accused of rape, Joseph tossed into an Egyptian prison, Joseph interpreting dreams for his fellow prisoners one of whom is freed and elevated back to his former high place in Pharaoh’s household and who then promptly forgets Joseph—and oh, just by the way, the entire Judah-and-Tamar story is interspsersed with the Joseph tale, with dramatic twists and turns that are just as spectacular. This is high-speed narrative, great writing, foreshadowing, characters developing, whiz-bang Biblical storytelling at its very best.
So why do we have this seemingly meaningless random guy giving Joe directions to meet his brothers and his fate? I mean, it’s not like you include mention of following your GPS directions when you tell your family about your day, right?
Perhaps it’s merely this: in a tale filled with great drama of profound historical importance, somebody other than Joseph—or even Judah—turns to be a crucial piece in the puzzle. That is, when all kinds of great events, and important figures are changing the course of destiny, one random, anonymous human being can matter quite a lot.
The moral of the story? You never know just what your own small act can do for someone else—or how or when it might affect history. Your role may not seem so critical at the time. But by acting in ways that reflect your values, simply choosing to be helpful and make a difference, well, you might indeed be impacting the entire future of everyone.
Every human action has the capacity to make a difference, for good or ill. And every human choice that we make can bring direction or aimless wandering…
So in this coming holiday season, why not take a moment and do something for someone else that you weren’t intending to do already? Why not choose to fulfill a mitzvah—not matter how small—for someone you don’t even know? You, too, like our anonymous figure in the middle of the Joseph story of Vayeshev, might make the world a better place and shape the future towards its better destiny.
No matter how well-adjusted your own family is.