November 19, 2010- Vayishlach

Brotherly Vengence

Clearly, he's not a Jewish turkey. I'm thankful for thanksgiving (lowercase t - not the hallmark holiday, but rather merely the concept). There's a Jewish Law which requires us to notify the recipient of our kindness (not charity related where anonymity is key) of our kindness, so that they should have the opportunity to be thankful. The specific scenario recorded is having given someone's child something to eat and intentionally smearing some of the food in a visible place so the parents can notice and come to uncover the kindness done. And then be thankful. During the communal recitation of the central component of public prayer, where Jews connect as a nation after having prayed as individuals, and where we join in the single voice of our appointed chazan, when it comes to the portion of thanks, we each utter our own personal supplement because thanks can only be that - personal. That's the only way it works, when it comes from within. Most significant, however, the last line of the personal thanks in the public forum is thanking the Almighty for creating the opportunity to thank Him. Think about it - it's a fundamental Jewish message.

In this week's Parsha, Vayishlach, the Torah recounts the total slaughter of the city of Shchem by the brothers Shimon and Levi. While black friday usually witnesses the slaughter of one's neighbor for the last cabbage patch kid or wifi on the shelf at next to nothing prices, Shimon and Levi carried out their revenge after the complicit city wide abduction and defilement of their sister, Dina. With Shchem's appetite for Jewish daughters whetted, they agreed to undergo unanimous circumcision to enter into the "tribe" and continue their ways. Shimon and Levi proposed the deal, and on the third day following, where every male was in the weakest state after the procedure, they single-handedly wiped out every one of them. The Klausenberger Rebbe, a survivor of the Holocaust in his own right, was purported to have said in the DP camps afterwards that Shimon and Levi knew that by circumcising all of Shchem, they would be considered internationally as Jews, and no one cares when Jews are being killed.

On a final and more uplifting note, Rabbi Yaakov Kaminetzky writes that while Jacob chastised the brothers, he merely addressed their anger. It should be watched and controlled as its potential for wrongdoing is tremendous. But its potential for right-doing is equally relevant. He didn't condemn their actions vis a vis Shchem, just cautioned their natural proclivity for revenge. However, let it be known that no one else was prepared or courageous enough to respond to the defilement of Jacob's daughter with uncompromised commitment to the purity and holiness of the Jewish people. In this Shimon and Levi had no equal. As our tradition teaches, Jacob, and for that matter G-d Himself, appointed them with the most treasured guardianship of the most crucial Jewish undertakings. Levi was elevated to the tribe of priests from which the Cohanim would descend, the appointed tribe of Torah scholars, and the guardians and servants of the Holy Tabernacle/Temple and all of its music, service and vessels. He could be counted on to suffer no infraction of holiness or purity. Nothing un-Godly could ever be tolerated. Likewise, the tribe of Shimon was entrusted with the holiest of holies - the sanctum sanctorum of the Jewish people - our children. Where un-Godliness, impurity and profanity can never, never creep, is amongst our children's education. They are the teachers, the purveyors of generational transmission and responsibility. They have proven themselves to defend righteousness and purity with their lives. They were thus asked to continue where it counts.

Wishing you a thankful thanking to be thankful,

thanks,

Rabbi Lynn (proud member of the tribe of Levi, and humbly one of the privileged MLF turkey basters bringing Torah and Leadership to Philly and beyond)