Genesis 41:1-44:17 | Numbers 28:1-15 | Zechariah 2:14-4:7 | John 10:22-42
This week's edition of The Set Table contains:
Questions and Commentary on Shabbat Miqqetz
Chayyei Yeshua - A Devotional Commentary on the Besora Reading
Looking Ahead
Questions & Commentary on Parashat Miqqetz
1. What is the connection between Yosef and
Chanukka?
Seth
Ben-Haim
In Parashat Miqqetz
we are treated to the resurrection of Yosef from the death of the prison
cell to a place of glory. He is given favor and provided with the opportunity
to bring salvation to his brothers and to the nations as well. As the
world around them is about to sink into a crisis, God provides Pharaoh
with a vision of what is to come. He cannot comprehend what it means
and the ability to interpret the vision is placed in the hands of Yosef.
He has both the understanding of the vision and the opportunity to provide
the answer to the crisis. Yosef's brothers will be drawn to the provision
that the LORD has provided through the hands of their brother whom they
assume to be dead. What a surprise they have when they find out the
identity of the Egyptian leader with a mask, who is their only hope
in the midst of the great famine.
Yosef desires to meet
all his brothers; he is not satisfied with just some of them coming
near to him. He gives them encouragements along the way, while not fully
revealing his identity until a later stage. The Kli Yaqar (Ephraim Luntzschitz)
explains the return of the money to the brothers as a way that Yosef
brings atonement, mida keneged mida "measure-for- measure".
They who had sold him for money are given back money as part of the
restoration. This reminds me of the way that our brother Aaron Lustiger
z"l (The Archbishop of Paris, Aaron Jean Marie Cardinal Lustiger)
explains the blood of the Messiah being poured out to restore those
who are sending him to be executed, as it aligns with God's plan of
redemption for which the Messiah came.
As we
celebrate Chanukka this week, we are reminded of the salvation that
was brought to our people by the Maccabees. Through their hands, the
people of Israel were given the opportunity to clean out the idolatry
from the Temple and to rekindle the flame of the Jewish people. In both
of our narratives we have a Patriarch (Yaakov and Mattatiyahu) who are
aging but still desire to provide a path of hope for their children.
The vision is carried forward by younger sons (Yehuda and Yosef) full
of a zeal for righteousness. In our special Haftara for the Shabbat
of Chanukka, we read the portion in Zechariah that deals with the menora
receiving a steady flow of oil from the two olive trees. This fresh
oil provides all that is needed for the flame to shine brightly. Standing
around our Chanukka menora and singing songs related to the light, we
are reminded of the Messiah, prefigured in such dramatic ways in the
life of Yosef. The Messiah indeed has brought a steady and strong force
of light into the dark world around us.
We are living in times
in which the reality of the dark elements of our world are becoming
clearer. The light of the Shamash ("the servant candle") stands
even brighter in relation to this darkness, providing a way for our
people to see in the darkness, though they do not fully comprehend the
vessel that carries the light. The people of Israel are becoming more
and more attracted to the source of light that is shining in the midst
of the people. We are seeing the sparks in our people come together
with a realization that we are to shine as a light into the dark world
around us. As we draw nearer to the vessel that carries the light, we
are able to reflect in a greater way this light into the nations. What
a surprise awaits our people as we come to the realization of the identity
of our Messiah right in the center of the Chanukkiah.
Just as in the time
of the Maccabees, today as well, there are the forces of rebellion to
God's purposes by way of secularization, and there is a need for the
LORD to bring about a move of teshuva "repentance" among
our Jewish people. As we draw near to the Light, the frailties and nature
of the rebellion become clear. We need to be cleaned from the dirty
garments we have been wearing and receive that steady flow of the oil
of renewal that will keep our flame burning stronger and stronger. We
will not hunger amidst famines, if we know where the provisions have
been stored, but we need to draw near to the Master who oversees these
vital provisions. We need to encourage this process of teshuva
and take part in it in a real way. As with Yosef, the Messiah desires
to bring about a corporate restoration to our people as a whole. This
requires the people to be gathered together near to him in humility
before he reveals himself. We need to be able to say to the great mountain
of difficulty, you shall become a plain in front of the reviving oil
flowing from the Rock of Israel, the Messiah.
2. Jewish tradition
talks about two Messiahs: Mashiach ben David, the royal Messiah, and
Mashiach ben Yosef, the suffering Messiah (b. Sukka 52a). Why
is Joseph chosen to be representative of the Messiah? How does the life
of Joseph foreshadow the life of Messiah?
Rabbi
Jason Sobel
Each Saturday night
as we recite havdala, we sing about Elijah coming soon "with Messiah
son of David." This reference is an obvious allusion to the Messiah's
kingship found in passages such as Isaiah 11 and 2 Samuel 7. The Tanakh
also speaks of a "suffering Messiah" (e.g. Isaiah 53) along with
a "kingly" one. The prophet Zechariah summarizes this seeming contradiction
in the confluence of a majestic king, who rides on a lowly donkey (9:9).
It is this "suffering, lowly Messiah" that earns the title Mashiach
ben Yosef. From where does this concept of Messiah son of Joseph come?
In order to answer
this question we must first briefly outline the "sufferings" of
the Messiah in Jewish tradition. The first story referencing the title
Mashiach ben Yosef is found in a debate in the Talmud over the source
of the mourning mentioned in Zechariah 12:2: "One explained, The cause
is the slaying of Messiah the son of Joseph, and the other explained,
The cause is the slaying of the Evil Inclination" (see b. Sukka
52a). Here the inference is that those weeping are those that also committed
the "slaying." Behind this inference we can make the assumption
of a progression starting with rejection, ostracizing, and finally cutting
off completely. The basis for the first "suffering" - i.e. rejection
of the Messiah - is implied in numerous passages in the Tanakh (see
Isaiah 53), especially in the motif of the "chief cornerstone that
the builders reject" (see Isaiah 8:14, 28:16; Psalm 118:22; cf. 1
Peter 2:7-8).
Following the suffering
of rejection, comes humiliation. The rabbis relate this to the "suffering
Messiah" of Isaiah 53. A famous aggadic story in the Talmud tells
of the Prophet Elijah's revelation to R. Yehoshua b. Levi that the
Messiah sits at the gates of Rome among the lepers removing their bandages
(b. Sanhedrin 98a). Midrash Pesikta Rabbati Pischa 36:142
makes a striking commentary based of the connection to the Yosef story,
"[The Messiah] is submissive, and yet he promises salvation, according
to Zechariah 9:9 for when they laughed at him while he stayed in prison,
he submitted for the sake of Israel, to the judgment imposed upon him.
. . . "Afflicted (humbled) and He is riding upon a donkey" describes
the Messiah." The last suffering is the assumption of the sins/sicknesses
of the perpetrators.
Again quoting from
the Pesikta Rabbati, we see an amazing conversation that is said
to take place between the Messiah and the Father in heaven, "[Israel's]
sins will be upon you like a yoke of iron...because of their sins, your
tongue will cleave to the roof of your mouth...Ephraim, My true Messiah,
ever since the six days of creation you have taken this ordeal upon
yourself . . . your pain is my pain. Messiah replies: ‘Master of the
world, I accept this so that not a single one of the House of Israel
should perish.'" In this "suffering" the Mashiach ben Yosef
accepts the whole of the suffering, not only on behalf of those that
wronged him but also with the realization that the Father too joins
in this suffering with him. Throughout listing all these "sufferings"
we can make connections to Jospeh in our parasha. The most important
lesson, however, is based on the last "suffering." Just as both
Joseph and the Messiah figure named after him.
John 10:22-42 - The Light of Yeshua
Andy Hoffrichter
The besora
of John is the perfect story to meditate on as we enter the holiday
that celebrates the essence of miracles. In this besora we read
about the Son of God who performs seven miracles or ‘signs' that
point toward and validate his identity. This particular besora
is not a narrative about a powerful man who simply "fell to earth"
but is a story of the "Son of God", the "Good Shepherd," who
was sent to do the miraculous work of the Father in heaven.
The author of John
sets up chapter 10 with an unusual amount of descriptive detail. Yeshua
is in Jerusalem in the wintertime. It is a time of year when people
are talking about miracles of old and commemorating the ‘miracle of
the container of oil' that lasted eight days. At the same time, they
are processing the current miracles of Yeshua, for he had just healed
a man who was blind from birth and is soon to raise Lazarus from the
dead.
Yeshua is walking
in Solomon's Colonnade, and some Jews are gathered around him. They
are listening to him speak in parables about sheep and the good shepherd,
bringing to mind passages from Ezekiel that evoked similar imagery (Ezekiel
34). Just as God had warned Ezekiel that his own people would be "hardened
and obstinate," Yeshua found that his own people listening to his
words but were not changing their hearts. Even after witnessing
repeated miracles some continued to ask, "How long will you keep us
in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly."
Later on in the
besora, we read about others of our people who believed in Yeshua
even without seeing miracles (John 10:40-42). What was it that made
some continue in their unbelief despite witnessing the miraculous signs
and others believe without seeing them? The answer has to do with a
fulfillment of prophecy. The author states,
Some
cannot hear in order to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet, "He
has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither
see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts and turn - and
I would heal them."
What a stark contrast!
Yeshua had just given sight to a man who was blind from birth, and we
then read about some who cannot see the Light because ‘he has blinded
their eyes.' It is not a literal blindness, but a spiritual blindness.
They saw the miracles with their own eyes and believed that they happened.
But they could not recognize the voice of Yeshua as the Son of God.
They stated, "We are not stoning you for any of these [miracles],
but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."
During this Chanukha
season, as we light the menora candles, let us also remember to thank
God for giving sight to the blind, both physically and spiritually.
May the miracles of God continue to break through the darkness so that
our people will be blinded instead by the brilliance of the light of
Yeshua, the Son of God.
NEXT WEEK'S READINGS
- PARASHAT VAYYIGASH
Genesis 44:18-47:27
Ezekiel 37:15-28
Luke 6:12-19
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