PARASHAH VAYIGASH

6 Tevet 5765 / December 18, 2004

by Sandy Horowitz / Serach bat David v’Leah Sheva

“Vayomer anochi ha’El Elohei avicha”

In this week’s Torah portion Jacob finds out that his long lost son Joseph is alive after all, he then takes his entire household to Egypt to be reunited with him, and on the way, God speaks.

‘I am the God of your fathers.  I Myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I Myself will also bring you back.”

Absolute reassurance.  Personal reassurance to the old man Jacob who has had a rough life and is getting ready to leave the home of his ancestors.  Personal reassurance to the people Israel, that God is not local, God will be with the Jewish people in Egypt, the first exile, and in all the other exiles, galuts, to follow.

This was the Torah reading during the week of my birth.  My childhood was a series of galuts as it were, as my father’s diplomatic career took us all over the world.  We had no hometown, no synagogue affiliation, no consistent, ongoing community of friends.  Even in hindsight, God’s promise to Jacob of a consistent Eternal Presence strikes a personal chord of reassurance – even after all these years.

A lot more can be said about this particular interaction between God and Jacob, and a lot has of course been written.  But as I studied and prepared for today, I became fascinated with what lies beyond the written words of Torah; the untold stories, that which is present but not necessarily visible.

So let’s rerun the videotape.  Let’s go back to just before the rolling of Jacob’s wagons towards Egypt.

The text says:

 “The sons of Israel put their father Jacob and their children and their wives in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to transport them; and they took along their livestock and the wealth they had amassed... THUS Jacob and all his offspring with him came to Egypt.“

THUS?  Jacob and his family had lived in the same place for decades – – You don’t just up and leave.  It takes preparation, sorting, throwing away what you don’t need, cooking, packing food and supplies, washing laundry.  I know.  My mother did it every time we moved, year after year.   Where are the women in this narrative? 

In Genesis 46:8-25 the Torah names the 70 members of Jacob’s household who went with him into Egypt – only 2 women are included. 

Now, we know that the Israelites grew and multiplied while in Egypt, in such great numbers as to be a threat to Pharaoh – clearly there must have been other women, who are simply not named.  Other women whose stories were never told, lives never recognized. 

Of the two that are named, the first is Dinah, daughter of Leah and Jacob, about whom Lev Pakman spoke so eloquently a few weeks ago at his Bar Mitzvah.  The other is Serach, daughter of Jacob’s son Asher. 

The written Torah has exactly three references to Serach; each time she is simply named as part of a list.  We’ve mentioned her presence among Jacob’s 70.  She shows up again in Numbers 26:46, in the list of those who had traveled with Moses out of Egypt.  And she is listed in Chronicles I.  Jacob – Moses.  A span of several hundred years!  Who could live that long, even in the Bible?

It turns out that numerous midrashim – stories and commentaries based on the Torah – have in fact been written about Serach – from Rabbinic times to the present. I wish to acknowledge Rabbi Ben David at this time, colleague of Rabbi Wiener whom some of you know from his literature discussion of the Philip Roth book.  Rabbi Ben David generously shared his rabbinical thesis with me, which discusses Serach extensively in the context of Jewish memory.

In one of the midrashim , when the brothers come to tell Jacob that Joseph is alive after all, they are worried that the shock might be too much for him.  So, the story goes, they ask Serach to

“…Take your harp and sing a song to Father. In the middle of the song mix in the words, 'Joseph is alive. He is ruler of all the land of Egypt.' Do not pronounce the words clearly; let them be swallowed up by the song.

“Serach took her harp and went to Jacob, singing a beautiful, haunting melody. She sang that Joseph was alive and a ruler in Egypt; …Each time he caught the words more and more clearly, and soon he began to understand that Joseph was indeed alive.

“Jacob blessed Asher's daughter Serach, ‘May you live forever and never die.’"

From another story we learn about how Serach – indeed still alive, helps Moses find the bones of Joseph, so that he too can be brought out of Egypt.

For those of you who know The Five Books of Miriam – a modern interpretation of the Bible from the point of view of its women – Serach is one of the narrators. 

Through these and other stories, the unseen is brought to light; the name Serach in transformed into a character with many significant roles.

Our Torah then, gives us words that are known and retold – as in the story of Jacob; and it gives us the inspiration to bring forth that which would otherwise have stayed unknown – as in the stories of Serach.

A third element springs forth from inside the words of the Torah:

The words for

“And they told him, Joseph is still alive”,

Go like this:
[chant it]: Vay-gidu-lo lemor od Yosef chai

When we sing, the sound comes on the vowels –[chant: ] Yosef chai -- but the Torah doesn’t have any vowels.  Written Hebrew consists only of consonants.  So when we chant, the sounds we make emanate from something that’s not even there.

Those who study Kabbalah say that the letters of a word are its body, and the vowels its soul.  When the reader chants from Torah thereby adding the vowels, this makes the reader a co-creator with God of the Torah and ultimately the world.

Our role as co-creators of the world extends beyond chanting Torah of course.  The concept of “tikkun olam”, “repair the world” --  our fundamental responsibility as Jews to look after one another --  is a significant part of our being co-creators of the world.

As co-creators we can also be like Serach, who essentially brought Joseph back to life for Jacob.    We too can manifest into reality that which would otherwise seem unreal and impossible.  How?

A study on intercessionary prayer was written up in 1988 in the Southern Medical Journal. Patients in an coronary care unit in San Francisco, who did not know they were being prayed for by a selected group, actually improved in health faster than those who were not prayed for.

We can’t explain this, we do not yet understand why it happens.  But it worked.

When we pray for someone who is sick, we may actually be truly affecting the outcome of that person’s health. 

Who is to say then, that the same can’t be true when we pray for peace.

Shabbat Shalom