🎤Kol-🐥Hayyah🐘 - קוֹל־חַיָּ֖ה
VaYeishev 5779: Excerpts from דבר תורה טבעוני, translated by and with additions from Eliran Sobel
"Parashat VaYeishev begins the story of Joseph, a seventeen-year-old teen, loved by his father, hated by his brothers, dreams dreams, and over the course of the Parashah he was sold to slavery by his brothers to the Midianites and Ishmaelites, until he was sold to Potifar the Egyptian. Also there he did not reach rest or respite, and was unjustly accused by Potifar's wife, which led him to to jail. And only over the course of the coming Parashot, with the continuation of Joseph's story, after the interpretations of Pharaoh's dreams, does Joseph reach greatness.
"Joseph's brothers hate him for a few reasons. First - because his father loves him more than he loves them - "And when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of his brothers, they hated him so that they could not speak a friendly word to him" (Gen. 37:4, NJPS translation). The second reason - because of his dreams - 'Once Joseph had a dream which he told to his brothers; and they hated him even more" (Gen. 37:5, NJPS translation). Just as don't like the content of Joseph's dreams, in which he rules over them - "Do you mean to reign over us? Do you mean to rule over us?' (Genesis 37:8, NJPS translation), Jacob also finds it difficult to accept the dreams, in saying - 'Are we to come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow low to you to the ground?' (Gen. 37:10, NJPS translation).
"These things do not discourage Joseph, when he goes to demand his brothers' peace when his father sent him, and even when his brothers plan to kill him - 'They said to one another, "Here comes that dreamer! Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we can say, 'A savage beast devoured him.' We shall see what comes of his dreams!" (Genesis 37:19-20, NJPS translation)"
"Even when he is in jail he is busy with dreams and deciphering the dreams of the butler and the baker, and later he will also decipher Pharaoh's dreams. Joseph, who was sold by his brothers, is treated like an object that doesn't have any needs from merchant to merchant until he arrives in Egypt, and there he reaches the lowest, in jail, unjustly accused - he continues to dream and to work with the dream. The dream is the way to hang on to hope when everything around is dark..."
"At the end of the day Joseph achieves his dream, and becomes a ruler, his brothers come and bow down to him... the same brothers who despised him - 'We shall see what comes of his dreams!' From Joseph's story one can learn that it is okay to dream. And dreams - they will come to fruition.
"Those who seek the rights for animals, who want the language of the law (צער בעלי חיים [Tza‘ar Ba‘alei Hayyim], 1994) - 'a person should not torture an animal, should not be cruel to them or abuse them in any way' should be implemented literally, and it's language should apply to all animals, today that seems like a dream..."
In his article, "Shabbat as Social Action," Akiva Gersh describes Shabbat as a time which, "allows us to retreat into a state of slowed-down existence so that we can restore our energy and our drive to keep on doing the work that needs to be done in order to make our world a better place." I hope we can use this Shabbat to rejuvenate our souls so as not to burn out, and then, like Joseph, never give up hope that one day the world will be more compassionate towards people, our planet, and the animals. Shabbat Shalom.
---
Gersh, Akiva. "Shabbat as Social Action." The Times of Israel. The Times of Israel, 23 Mar. 2018. http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/shabbat-as-social-action/
VaYeishev 5779: Excerpts from דבר תורה טבעוני, translated by and with additions from Eliran Sobel
"Parashat VaYeishev begins the story of Joseph, a seventeen-year-old teen, loved by his father, hated by his brothers, dreams dreams, and over the course of the Parashah he was sold to slavery by his brothers to the Midianites and Ishmaelites, until he was sold to Potifar the Egyptian. Also there he did not reach rest or respite, and was unjustly accused by Potifar's wife, which led him to to jail. And only over the course of the coming Parashot, with the continuation of Joseph's story, after the interpretations of Pharaoh's dreams, does Joseph reach greatness.
"Joseph's brothers hate him for a few reasons. First - because his father loves him more than he loves them - "And when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of his brothers, they hated him so that they could not speak a friendly word to him" (Gen. 37:4, NJPS translation). The second reason - because of his dreams - 'Once Joseph had a dream which he told to his brothers; and they hated him even more" (Gen. 37:5, NJPS translation). Just as don't like the content of Joseph's dreams, in which he rules over them - "Do you mean to reign over us? Do you mean to rule over us?' (Genesis 37:8, NJPS translation), Jacob also finds it difficult to accept the dreams, in saying - 'Are we to come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow low to you to the ground?' (Gen. 37:10, NJPS translation).
"These things do not discourage Joseph, when he goes to demand his brothers' peace when his father sent him, and even when his brothers plan to kill him - 'They said to one another, "Here comes that dreamer! Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we can say, 'A savage beast devoured him.' We shall see what comes of his dreams!" (Genesis 37:19-20, NJPS translation)"
"Even when he is in jail he is busy with dreams and deciphering the dreams of the butler and the baker, and later he will also decipher Pharaoh's dreams. Joseph, who was sold by his brothers, is treated like an object that doesn't have any needs from merchant to merchant until he arrives in Egypt, and there he reaches the lowest, in jail, unjustly accused - he continues to dream and to work with the dream. The dream is the way to hang on to hope when everything around is dark..."
"At the end of the day Joseph achieves his dream, and becomes a ruler, his brothers come and bow down to him... the same brothers who despised him - 'We shall see what comes of his dreams!' From Joseph's story one can learn that it is okay to dream. And dreams - they will come to fruition.
"Those who seek the rights for animals, who want the language of the law (צער בעלי חיים [Tza‘ar Ba‘alei Hayyim], 1994) - 'a person should not torture an animal, should not be cruel to them or abuse them in any way' should be implemented literally, and it's language should apply to all animals, today that seems like a dream..."
In his article, "Shabbat as Social Action," Akiva Gersh describes Shabbat as a time which, "allows us to retreat into a state of slowed-down existence so that we can restore our energy and our drive to keep on doing the work that needs to be done in order to make our world a better place." I hope we can use this Shabbat to rejuvenate our souls so as not to burn out, and then, like Joseph, never give up hope that one day the world will be more compassionate towards people, our planet, and the animals. Shabbat Shalom.
---
Gersh, Akiva. "Shabbat as Social Action." The Times of Israel. The Times of Israel, 23 Mar. 2018. http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/shabbat-as-social-action/