New Year's Sermon

BTW, here it is:

This week’s portion is Vay’chi, the last reading from the book of Genesis. It wraps up the stories of the patriarchs and matriarchs.

The portion’s name comes from its first words, which state that Jacob lived in the land of Egypt for 17 years before he died. The narration covers Jacob’s preparations for death and burial away from Egypt, and his blessing of Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. After imparting his deathbed blessings to all of his sons, Jacob dies and is buried in Canaan. Joseph and his brothers return to Egypt, where Joseph also dies.

If we were reading this portion from the Torah, we would all rise at the end and say “Chazak, chazak, v’nitchazeik.” “Be strong, be strong, and let us be strengthened.” According to Rabbi Donin, this is “a cry of encouragement to continue with the reading of the next Book, and to return to this one again in due course.” The custom may have come from a Talmudic saying that people need to be strengthened in four ways: Torah, good deeds, prayer, and occupation.

We have also just wrapped up the year 2009, and the secular new year is as much a time for reflection and self-improvement as are the High Holy Days. Aren’t we Jews lucky? We get two chances to make New Years’ resolutions. [At this point, I read an article by a rabbi about a Jewish approach to New Year's resolutions:

Whatever one thinks about New Year's, New Year's celebrations, or the practice of making New Year's resolutions, they are all beautiful customs when done well and there is Biblical and Jewish wisdom which can help us make good on those important resolutions as we progress through the new year. Here are six tips to help you do so:

First, trust the power of your words. The words we say really can change our realties, and simply declaring that we hope to do things differently this coming year, can make a real difference in our lives. That insight is as old as Genesis itself. Recall the powerful story of things being brought into reality by declaring them e.g. "let there be light, and there was light".

Second, be modest in your aspirations. You don't have to fix everything at once, so pick one attainable goal and really pursue it. The Talmud teaches that when we grasp for too much, we end up with nothing at all. But, if we pick a goal to which we can really hold on, we need never let it go.

Third, just do it. Whether it's getting to the gym, eating healthier, spending less money, or any of the other popular resolutions, just start doing it and let your emotions about what you are doing catch up with your practice. In Hebrew, we call that na'aseh v'nishma, first we do and then we hear. It really works.

Fourth, don't go it alone. No different from communal worship or major building projects, when it comes to personal growth, there are heights which we can only attain with the support of other like-minded friends. Find a supportive community which will encourage you to keep going even when you want to give up on your resolutions.

Fifth, distinguish the practice from the desired result. Eating healthier and losing weight are two different things. While both may be desirable, you only have complete control over the first. Whether you lose weight or not, eating healthier is valuable in its own right (lishma in rabbinic language) and the same can be said for going to the gym and "looking better". Focus on the value of the practice, and whatever happens you will feel better and be better.

Sixth, give yourself time off for good behavior. Except for chemical addictions, taking an occasional break from our new practices can actually help us stay committed to them over time. Think of it as a Sabbath. But like Sabbath, if you find that your time off exceeds 1/7th of your time, you need to get back to your resolution, pronto!]

Then I continued: Let’s consider how the events described in this portion may guide us. Jacob senses that his death approaches, and he settles his affairs. Many of us would do well to follow his example, although our concerns probably differ. Jacob’s first concern is that Joseph buries him in the family burial cave. He then adopts Joseph’s first two sons as his direct descendants, to settle any questions of inheritance. Finally, he reassures his family that God will bring them back from Egypt to the land of their ancestors. This reassurance was needed, since the promise was that Abraham’s family would prosper in the promised land. But here they are in Egypt, far away.

After Jacob’s burial, the brothers come to Joseph in remorse and fear, to beg him to forgive them for selling him into slavery and telling Jacob that he was dead. And he forgives and reassures them, telling them that God intended him to be in Egypt, to save people from the famine. He also promises that he will provide for them and their families.

My question is, why didn’t the family head right back to Canaan when the seven years of famine ended? Jacob would still have been alive, since he lived 17 years in Egypt. I’m thinking that they were too comfortable. Since Joseph was the Pharaoh’s right hand man, the family had it made in the shade. Having been put in fear of their lives by the famine, they decided to stay in Egypt, where the living was easy.

Their choosing to remain in Egypt after the famine ended may have shown a loss of courage or some other failure of character that would help explain why God left them in Egypt for so long, to make staying there so uncomfortable that they’d be willing to pull up stakes, risk new challenges, and fight their way into the promised land.

May we begin January 2010 with the freedom to leave our own Egypts as we strengthen ourselves with the saying “Chazak, chazak, v’nitchazeik”