Dear TBZ community,
I love when Hanukkah and Christmas coincide.
Vacations from school and celebrations at home become much less stressful - no worries about late Hanukkah nights with homework still to be done. But more importantly, I love a season in which so many people, from so many different backgrounds and religions, are all celebrating. We each, separately and together, celebrate life, light, birth, hope and the possibility of salvation.
Every year, on Christmas Eve, I go to church. For the last ten years I have been going with my family to the early service at
First Parish in Brookline
. Our dear family friends sing in the choir and it is a joy to hear them. I simply love being there -- the music, the candle lighting service, the beauty of the holiday. On Christmas Eve, I listened to my friend and colleague Rev. Lisa Perry-Wood, Senior Minister, preach with inspiration and beauty.
After the service, we rushed home to our third night Hanukkah celebration. We lit our candles, ate
latkes
and
sufganiyot
, sang Hanukkah songs, played
dreidel
, opened gifts, and enjoyed the company of friends. After my daughters went to bed, I went to our neighborhood church,
All Saint Parish
to the nighttime service to hear another friend and colleague Rev. Richard Burden, the Rector of the Parish. I left inspired by his words about how we can light the way when all is dark.
Okay, so now you may be wondering, “What is my rabbi doing! Going to church, not just once, but twice on Christmas?”
I am inspired by my father,
zichrono livracha
, who would take me to church on Christmas and teach me about other religions and practices with so much respect and love. From him, I learned the value of interfaith dialogue and that these relationships strengthen my own practices and beliefs.
From him I learned that to be in a real relationship with my neighbors, I have to listen to their stories and join with them, and just as importantly I have to share my stories and my beliefs. In high school, my closest friends where practicing Catholics, and we would always invite each other to our holidays and houses of worship. They loved learning about Judaism and I loved learning about their religion. I remember realizing how much we had in common. We wanted to live a life inspired by values, inspired by God. We were just doing it a little differently.
This week's parsha,
Miketz
, we continue the saga of Yosef. By now, he has become the second to Pharaoh and he is ruling Egypt. There is a famine in the land, and Jacob sends his sons to Egypt to bring food. Yosef recognizes his brother, but they don’t recognize him. The text reads (
Genesis 42:8
):
וַיַּכֵּ֥ר יוֹסֵ֖ף אֶת־אֶחָ֑יו וְהֵ֖ם לֹ֥א הִכִּרֻֽהוּ׃
For though Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.
Chizkuni
, a thirteenth century commentator explains:
ויכר יוסף את אחיו
“Joseph recognised his brothers;”
because they addressed each other with their names, and he understood both their names and the language in which they spoke.
Chizkuni explains that literally Joseph knew their names and the language they spoke and therefore he was able to recognize his siblings after being separated for so many years.
But there is a deeper teaching here.
Perhaps Chizkuni’s words teach us that in order to recognize our fellow humans, to really see others, we must know their names, their stories, their traditions, their languages. I believe that especially today, with so much brokenness and suffering separating us, we can respond by learning the languages of others. And for others to recognize us, we must share our stories, our languages and the beauty of our traditions.
In these last days of Hanukkah, I invite you to think about how can you make an effort to connect with those who seem so different from you. What can you do this coming year (maybe a good 2020 New Year’s resolution?) to learn someone else’s language.
May this Shabbat bring blessings to all of you and your loved ones.
May we enjoy the lights of Hanukkah and Shabbat to inspire us to recognize all fellow human beings as created in the image of the Divine.
May we have a joyful Shabbat and Hanukkah!
Shabbat Shalom and Hanukkah Sameach,
