{"id":45321,"date":"2018-12-06T23:42:22","date_gmt":"2018-12-06T21:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=45321"},"modified":"2022-04-05T14:37:10","modified_gmt":"2022-04-05T11:37:10","slug":"josephs-example-as-a-proud-hebrew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/josephs-example-as-a-proud-hebrew\/","title":{"rendered":"Joseph&#8217;s Example As A Proud Hebrew"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[584,462,368],"acf":{"old_id":"45321","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":36663,"related_cahpter":"1021","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Bringing our collective light to the world","content":"<p>The portion that is always read on the Sabbath of Hanukkah is this one, Miketz, about Joseph the Jew in Egypt.\u00a0Joseph is the first Jew to live as a minority of one within a majority Egyptian culture; he never tries to hide who he is.\u00a0Joseph always reveals his origins as a Hebrew, so that Potiphar\u2019s wife is able to use his identity against him in her false accusation that he attempted to rape her (Genesis 39: 14, 17).\u00a0In jail, Joseph tells others, \u201cI was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews and also here I have done nothing that they put me into the pit\u201d (Genesis 40: 15). When the baker Joseph aided by correctly interpreting his dream finally remembers to tell Pharaoh of the young man\u2019s skill, he describes Joseph as \u201ca Hebrew lad\u201d (41: 12) It was always clear to Joseph and to those around him that he was behaving as a Hebrew.<\/p>\n<p>The only individuals in the Hebrew Bible who are called \u201cHebrews\u201d are Abraham (once in Genesis 14:13) and Jonah (Jonah 1:9) though anonymous individuals are called Hebrew (a Hebrew nursemaid in Exodus 2: 7; the Hebrew slave Exodus 2: 11, 13).\u00a0All three are in places (Sodom, Egypt and on a ship with sailors) where their lives could be endangered because of their identity.\u00a0They proclaim their Jewishness.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The other time the word \u201cHebrew\u201d appears in Genesis is when the brothers of Joseph return to seek food for their families a second time after having left Simeon behind in jail (42:24) while they journeyed to Canaan.\u00a0 The brothers bring Benjamin, Joseph\u2019s only full sibling, also a son of Rachel, back to Egypt; Joseph who had earlier restrained himself goes to a private place to weep (Genesis 43:30).\u00a0 Joseph returns and proceeds to eat separated from his brothers since \u201cthe Egyptians could not eat bread with the Hebrews for that is an abomination to the Egyptians\u201d (43:32). But everyone in the palace knew Joseph was\u00a0a Hebrew; even the names of his sons connect to his past (41: 51, 52).<\/p>\n<p>It is the brothers who don\u2019t behave as Hebrews and don\u2019t deserve to eat with Joseph though he presents as Egyptian.\u00a0The brothers cruelly left him in the pit (37:24) and repeated their behavior by allowing Simeon to languish in jail. The brothers have no empathy for Joseph or Simeon or the sufferings of their father Jacob, bereft and grieving.\u00a0It is only when Judah acts as a brother and announces his empathy for the sufferings of their father (Genesis 44:34) that the sons of Jacob can begin to be brothers to Joseph again.<\/p>\n<p>At a time when it can feel that lighting a candle in the darkness can make us targets by letting others know we are Jews, we must remember why we bring forth light.\u00a0We light our candles as publicly as possible in order to create bonds of kindness and empathy between other Jews and to bring our collective light into the world, as Abraham, Joseph and (reluctantly) Jonah did in declaring themselves\u00a0Hebrews.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We too can\u00a0proudly proclaim our faith as we\u00a0increase the light on our menorahs each day of Hanukkah.<\/p>\n<p>photo: Eliad Melin 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