Telling Stories in the Footsteps of our Ancestors
The name of this week’s Torah reading is Vayigash, “And he approached.” According to the 12th century sage Eleazer of Worms, when we take three steps forward and approach God at the beginning of the Amidah, we walk in the footsteps of our ancestors who found the strength to step forwards.
In this week’s parasha the “approach” is a changed Judah. Life has softened his personality so that he cares enough to step before the great and intimidating lord of Egypt on behalf of his family. When we say the Amidah, the standing prayer at the core of our prayer service, we stand in front of the All Powerful with our frail desires.
Our ancestors leave us with many legacies. In a talk on her book, Guide for the Perplexed, Dara Horn taught that the biggest difference in how we remember is between those who have had to sort out their parents homes and those who have not. Each picture on the walls and each small tchotchke curio on the shelf is full of family stories. We know some of those stories, and others are lost to time.
Walking in the footsteps of my ancestors, I am good at misremembering stories. Joseph tells his brothers, who had sold him into slavery, “God sent me ahead of you to assure your survival in the land, and to keep you alive for a great deliverance. It’s not you who sent me here but God.” In this act of reimagining, he forgives them and gives them a story they can cling to and pass on to their own children.
As we approach time with family, I pray that we will be brave enough to create new memories for future generations. I pray we’ll also be brave enough to admit our mortality, and start to pass our own memories down. Objects suddenly heirlooms, and family history transforms into treasured lore.
Shabbat Shalom!
- Rabbi Jordan Helfman serves Oaks Lane Reform Synagogue