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e Jewish View Rabbi Miriam Cotzin Burg Parashat Vayeshev
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Baltimore Jewish Times December 7, 2012
082611
Baltimore's Best Doesn't Have To Cost You More!
I come from a family of planners. We spend a lot of time talking about our plans. Which is why a particular family tradition stands out in my memories of childhood. Once in a very long while my parents would surprise us with a “Forced Family Fun Day.” There were only two rules: First, everyone had to participate; second, no advance planning could be involved. It had to be spontaneous. We acted immediately. The adventures made for great stories later, but they were never things we would have done had we spent even a little time researching and planning. This week, we read the beginning of the story of Joseph. Jacob sends Joseph to check on his brothers, and when he finds them, they decide to kill him. We read, “They saw him from afar and before he came close to them they conspired to kill him. They said to one another, “Here comes that dreamer! Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits, and we can say a savage beast devoured him. We shall see what comes of his dreams!” (Genesis 37:18-20). That, of course, is not what happens. Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery, he is brought down to egypt, and the story of our people’s slavery to pharaoh and eventual exodus from egypt is set in motion. Why did the brothers decide not to kill Joseph? reuben steps up and says, “Shed no blood! Cast him into that pit out in the wilderness, but do not touch him yourselves” — intending to save him from them and restore him to his father (Genesis 37:22). In that moment, reuben saves Joseph from death. However, when reuben disappears from the story for a few moments, the brothers sell Joseph to the midianite traders.
When reuben returns, he is shocked and dismayed that Joseph is gone. Where did reuben go for the critical four verses of the Torah when Joseph is actually sold by his brothers? Why did rebuen not speak up from the beginning, saying to his brothers that killing Joseph was a bad idea? Why delay saving Joseph? We must give reuben credit for preventing fratricide, but imagine how the story of our people might have been different had reuben had more than good intentions, had he acted differently in that moment instead of planning to return later.
By waiting until later to do the right thing, Reuben shows us that “soon” or “later” can too easily become “never.” Famously, Hillel taught, “... if not now, when?” (pirkei avot 1:14). There are a million reasons why we delay things that matter to us, and, to be sure, sometimes delay can be a good thing — instant gratification is not a Jewish idea. But procrastination also is not a Jewish idea. reuben reminds us that there can be a disastrous gap between good intentions and worthy actions. The rabbis teach that we should “run to do even a small mitzvah” (pirkei avot 4:2). By waiting until later to do the right thing, reuben shows us that “soon” or “later” can too easily become “never.” JT Rabbi Miriam Cotzin Burg is the director of Jewish Life at Capital Camps and Retreat Center.
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The Disaster Gap