Joseph And Chanukah
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to include in the Record a statement on behalf of my constituent, Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman. Rabbi Zoberman is the Founding Rabbi of Congregation Beth Chaverim in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Born in Chu, Kazakhstan…
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to include in the Record a statement on behalf of my constituent, Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman. Rabbi Zoberman is the Founding Rabbi of Congregation Beth Chaverim in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Born in Chu, Kazakhstan (USSR) in 1945, he is the son of Polish Holocaust Survivors and spent his early childhood in Displaced Persons Camps in Austria and Germany before moving to Haifa, Israel in 1949.
The great and most colorful Joseph saga extends over four
Torah portions and thirteen Biblical chapters! How opportune
it is as we celebrate the miracle of Chanukah and the reading
of Joseph's awesome adventures, that the Jewish experience
has often been to find ourselves like Joseph, in the darkness
of the pit, without losing faith in the light of redemption
yet to emerge. As we kindle this season the Chanukah
menorah's sacred lights of eternal hope for a world
transformed through Sholom's gifts, we remember the 11 lost
shining lights targeted on Shabbat by the venom of the
precipitous rise of anti-Semitic darkness (Western
civilization's oldest disease) at the historic Tree of Life
Synagogue in Pittsburgh. It was the deadliest attack on Jews
on American soil. Indeed, an attack on what America, the
world's leading democracy, is all about. We should ponder
with somber soul-searching: How could an American perpetrate
such criminal carnage in sacred space and time? Lady Liberty
is shedding tears.
As a family member of the surviving remnant of European
Jewry, the committed atrocity is reminiscent of the
Holocaust. How tragically poignant that the Pittsburgh
massacre happened only days before observing the 80th
anniversary of Kristallnacht (November 9-10, 1938), the
Holocaust's precursor, when Synagogues and Jewish businesses
were set ablaze throughout Germany, 91 Jews were killed, and
30,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps. The Holocaust's
lessons should be taught on all education levels, even as we
continue to trust in the overriding goodness of the American
people. However, we should ever strengthen our democratic
institutions and not take them for granted!
In Pittsburgh, two worshippers and four heroic police
officers were wounded as well. In the precious honor of all
martyred victims, first respondents and our own, let us
pledge to spread more loving and enlightening light (the
violated synagogue also carries the name, Or L'simcha, namely
the delight of celebration) as we affirm that the radiant
lights of our fallen fellow Jews will not be driven out.
Their undying lights will continue through us and all fellow
Americans to turn blemishes into blessings and the evil
darkness of all forms of racist hatred into redeeming lights
of love. Let us engage in random acts of kindness, as well as
reach out to people at large! The four thousand year old
inspiring Menorah of Jewish life lit by the Maccabees of all
ages will not be extinguished! It was reassuring at the
moving gathering vigil organized by the United Jewish
Federation of Tidewater at the Sandler Family Campus and
Simon Family JCC in Virginia Beach, to have a large assembly
with interfaith and community leaders in attendance,
including Congressmen Scott Taylor and Bobby Scott.
Just like Joseph, the dreamer and interpreter of incredible
dreams (he should have kept some of them to himself!), the
Jewish people have believed that noble as well as disturbing
dreams have the potential and power to transform reality. In
the way of Joseph, who was not accepted by his own immature
and treacherous kin, begrudging his unique spirit and
grandiose ideas of a dreamy youngster whose father's
favoritism put him at risk, we have felt isolated throughout
much of history.
We have been rejected for insisting on living our own
authentic lives as a minority, yet willing to stand up to the
majority if necessary. Our faithfulness to the dictates of
our faith and conscience has been interpreted as a negative
reflection of aloofness rather than one of a proud choice.
Joseph, through his mind's genius and heart's compassion, was
able to save both his adopted empire of Egypt and his family
from small Canaan. In the process, he taught us that borders
and feelings need not be obstacles to a constructive response
to the urgent demands of life and death issues.
Joseph managed to transcend his personal insecurities and
apprehensions in order to accomplish the larger and lasting
goals of putting his substantial talents to the beneficial
use of society, rather than dwelling on past hurts and
injustices that could have crippled him and others. Thus, he
wisely chose the high road allowing him to become a great
Egyptian, while earning his status as a great Hebrew brother
and leader, whose early self-centered dreams turned into a
blessed reality for all concerned through maturity of
character wrought by trials and tribulations.
The ultimate challenge though of this mighty ruler, second
only to Pharaoh, as is often the human case, was to conquer
and control his own raging passions, which he had already
proven with tempting and aggressive Mrs. Potiphar, earning
him the Rabbis' honorific appellation ``Hatzadik'' (The
saintly one). He was able to repeat it with his brothers at
the pinnacle of his brilliant career with so much at stake
for himself and for them. What a moving moment of victory it
is for all concerned, when Joseph can no longer hold back his
tears, and eagerly desires to reveal his true identity to his
overwhelmed brothers, not quite realizing that they would
never recover from the shock of the encounter and/or from the
guilt that would continue to burden them.
Perhaps Joseph's favorable decision to reach out to them
was ultimately prompted by Judah's display of sincere love
for Brother Benjamin (Joseph's younger brother and Rachel was
their mother) as well as for father Jacob's well-being.
Earlier, Joseph learned of his brothers' remorse and fear
when being challenged by him, acknowledging their past
wrongdoing. Upon reconnecting to his family, he was able to
rejoin his roots and was thus ennobled and made whole. Joseph
could have abandoned his Hebrew background, protecting his
painfully acquired identity and status, but he knew that his
remarkable life's success had to carry a humbling message of
healing and gratitude.
Joseph appeals to us in his touching humaneness, which is
not lost when he becomes powerful, and his survivor's skills
of ascending from the pit to the palace inspire us, realizing
that it reflects the historic Jewish challenge to survive and
even thrive in a harsh reality. He is the prototype model of
the modern Jew, enlightening us about living in two worlds.
He was able to perceive God's guiding hand in his tumultuous
life, steeled and sensitized by adversity turned into
advantage. Joseph and those with the Maccabees' spirit have
taught us that to be a Jew is to somehow make a difference,
reducing darkness and rejoicing in the light's promise.