Miketz 5774 - English

By Rabbi Rami Pavolotzky
B´nei Israel Congregation, Costa Rica

Stories of Ups and Downs

In this week’s parashah, we continue Reading the stories of Joseph, who becomes the second most important man in Egypt.  It is very interesting to follow the ups and downs of Joseph’s life.  When he was just 17 years old, he dreamt that his own family knelt before him, which added to the preference that his father felt for him, unleashes his brothers’ jealousy.  They plan to kill him, but after abandoning him inside a pit, they sell him to a caravan of merchants.  This is how Joseph arrives in Egypt, where he is sold to a servant of Pharaoh.  After some time, he wins his master’s absolute trust, but then an incident with his wife sends Joseph back to the pit, this time, the dungeon of the royal prisoners.  His ability to interpret dreams makes him famous and finally leads him before the Egyptian ruler, who was considered as a living god on his throne.  By proving to Pharaoh his intelligence and planning capacity, Joseph is appointed as the second most important man in the empire.  Twice did Joseph fall to the deepest, and twice was he able to get out and climb even higher.

When I think about Joseph’s story, I cannot help but compare it to the story of our people.  We were persecuted time and time again, but we always managed to rise and continue walking.  We had our Temple and our sovereignty, we lived thousands of years in exile, and after the tragedy of the Shoah, we once again stood up and built a new sovereign State, which is in many aspects, an example for the modern world.

Besides relating Joseph’s story with that of the Jewish people, I cannot but reflect upon the personal stories known to all of us.  I think about the stories I heard when I was a child, about my great-grandfather in frozen Russia, feeding himself with rye bread with garlic and onion, and drinking hot tea in order to endure the cold.  Later on, already in Argentina selling brooms as a street peddler, marveling at being able to eat white bread every day, a feat so far from reach in the old country.  I think about his grandson, my father, who became a doctor, enjoying access to the best education and with every possibility to obtain a worthy job.  I think about many powerful Jews I’ve known, men and women, who grew up in extremely poor homes but who, through hard work and bright minds, were able to reach a position that for most Jews in the 18th and 19th centuries in Eastern Europe, was just a dream beyond their reach.

Thank God, most of us listen to and recount stories of immigrants who out of nothing achieved everything, thankful for the blessings received.  But we also have to consider that, just like Joseph, there are stories that speak of those who had everything and ended in a bottomless pit, as was the case with the Jews living in Germany during the years prior to the Shoah, who witnessed how all their prestige and economic, scientific, social, and artistic wellbeing wound up in the trash in a few years time.  That is why we should never become careless, we should never trust blindly or lose our humility; we must not forget where we come from, what our origins are.

It would seem that we Jews are destined to occupy the highest and lowest places in society, alternating the position throughout history, as if we were repeating, time and time again, the difficulties present in Joseph’s life.  Perhaps that is our destiny.  In any case, we should never believe in the value appointed to us by society, not that low nor that high (depending on the circumstances), but rather preserve our humility and dignity, no matter what….  Maybe that was the secret of Joseph’s success.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Rami Pavolotzky

B´nei Israel Congregation, Costa Rica