An employer, interviewing an applicant for a position, said to the candidate, “For this job I want a responsible man.” The man responded, “Then you want me. For everywhere I worked, whenever anything went wrong, they said I was responsible.”
How comedic this story is, it is so true. When we say the word responsibility we mean the ability to respond as one human being to the needs of another human being.
It is with this idea in mind we can reflect, on this week’s Parsha, Vayigash, upon the actions of Yehudah as he faces up to Yoseph.
The Torah states ויגש יהודה, Judah came forward. Herein, we see that Judah took his life in his hands, by facing up to Joseph, a man who, as we learned, held life and death in his hands.
This was an amazing show of courage by Yehudah, as he challenged the Ruler on behalf of his brother, Benjamin. It was a true show of a man acting with great responsibility. After all, he promised his father that he would bring Binyaminback home, safely, and as Binyamin was seized, he could not stand idly by, at the thought of loosing another brother.
As I walked through the Museum of Jewish Heritage, this past week, seeing how the Jewishpeople lived gloriously prior to the Holocaust, and how they were, ultimately, decimated in Europe, my inner being cried out , “Where were all the good people? Why weren't they accepting responsibilityfor the lives of others? Where were the Yehudahs’ of that generation?”
The lesson is for all of us, “Do we take back our streets or do we close our eyes from taking responsibility and let the vicious and immoral behavior continue to threaten our very existence?”
Permit to share a fascinating story that I read recently - In the early part of the twentieth century, there was a Rabbi whose name was Rabbi Henry Cohen. He was from Galveston, Texas, a port of entry for many ships, bringing immigrants to this country. Among those immigrants was a Russian who was arrested when he landed. There was an extradition order waiting for him. The Czarist government wanted him back because of some crime he was accused of committing. After visiting the prison and talking to him, the Rabbi was convinced he was entitled to political asylum.
The Rabbi went all over and spoke to the “powers to be” to convince them to let this Russian immigrant in. Rabbi Cohen, even, went to the Supreme Court. He, finally, appealed to the President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt. After much pleading, the President denied his request, saying to Rabbi Cohen, "Much as I admire the way you Jews stick up for each other and try to help one another, I can't see any reason for intervening".
"Jew?” said the Rabbi. “Who said that this man was a Jew? He is not Jewish, and in fact, he is a Christian.”
“A Christian?” said the President in surprise. “Why then are you concerning yourself with him?”
“Because he is a Human Being,” answered the Rabbi.
Theodore Roosevelt was so impressed that he gave the order of extradition to be canceled at once.
Rabbi Cohen was a spiritual descendent of Abraham and, especially, of Yehudah, stepping forward to save another at all costs.
Our world is beckoning us to step forward when injustice and killings are ravaging our country, especially, our Brothers and Sisters in Israel. It is a time for Tefillah on behalf of the victims of the recent terrorist attack in Arzeinu Hakidosha.
Remember the words of our Sages,"במקום שאין איש השתדל להיות איש".
Let us continue to meet the needs of the Jewish People, as our Biblical Heroes did, and to always find the ways and the wherewithal to work for the betterment of Jews throughout the world.
May we live in such a way that our Ancestors will continue to be proud of us and may Hashem continue to shower His Blessings upon us.
No comments:
Post a Comment