This is a portion about reconciliation, about survival, about migration. It feels like a recap of all the themes of Genesis which we wrap up next year. 

Joseph finally sees his father again. Hallelujah! 

Joseph is amazed that his father is still alive. How is that even possible. “So Joseph ordered his chariot and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel; he presented himself to him and, embracing him around the neck, he wept on his neck a good while.” (Gen 46:29) 

This is an emotional scene for both of them! Let’s remember, Joseph was thrown in a pit and sold into slavery. Then the brothers told their father that Joseph was dead and showed him that famous coat of many colors soaked in animal blood.  

This part of the d’var Torah may need a trigger warning. No parent should have to bury a child as the conventional wisdom says. Yet it happens all too frequently. To even members of our own congregation. Jacob maybe flamed the sibling rivalry with that coat, but the brothers should not have tricked their trickster father.  

Children are often angry with the way parents parent. There is a new trend in the United States of adult children, often sons of fathers, who cut off ties with their parents, primarily the fathers. If you google for this trend you will find lots of articles. Perhaps the best one may be behind a paywall but worth finding it is from the New Yorker magazine. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-inquiry/why-so-many-people-are-going-no-contact-with-their-parents I encourage you to read it if you can get to it. 

But Israel when he get to Egypt and sees Joseph says “Then Israel said to Joseph, “Now I can die, having seen for myself that you are still alive.”” (Gen. 46:30) 

They and the brothers found a way to reconcile. It isn’t easy. And it is important to note in the Maimonides guide to teshuvah if someone sincerely apologizes three times and it isn’t accepted, it is on the other person. 

Joseph then presents Jacob also known as Israel to Pharaoh who wonders how old Jacob is. 130 is the answer. Pharaoh promises to take care of him and Joseph’s brothers.  

Pharaoh comes up with an equitable arrangement. Declaring that of their holdings, 1/5 and only 1/5 would be Pharaoh’s and rest of the holdings would be for Jacob and his descendants. This seemed to please everyone and our story end with this line: 

“Thus Israel settled in the country of Egypt, in the region of Goshen; they acquired holdings in it, and were fertile and increased greatly.” (Gen 47:27) 

Fertile and increase. P’ru u’vru. The same language that is used at the beginning of Genesis when G-d commands Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply.  

Next week we read the very last of Genesis and then move on to Exodus where we learn that after 400 years a new Pharaoh arose who knew not Joseph. The Israelites did in fact multiple and Pharaoh was afraid that they would attack the Egyptians and there were not enough resources to go around.  Does that sound familiar? 

We are told to make Kiddush for two reasons. One to remember Creation. And one to remember the Exodus from Egypt, another great migration story.  

While this was written thousands of years ago, the underlying themes are still relevant in our day. 

Famine…migration because of famine…enough resources…even to our own day. People talk about the Great Migration when so many Irish arrived on these shores. Who read Grapes of Wrath, one of my all time favorite books but perpetually on banned book lists. That was internal migration during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl from Oklahoma to Bakersfield, CA. Who can forget the picture of the Syrian boy in the red t-shirt who died on the coast of Turkey trying to reach Greece. These images are likely, sadly, to increase with famine from climate change dominating the news. 

https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/emerging-crisis-famine-returning-major-driver-migration 

People are often forced to make impossibly difficult choices. Food, heat, medicine, medical care. The number one reason in this country for bankruptcy is medical debt. 58% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck and many are one paycheck away from bankruptcy and could not afford a $1000 emergency expense.  

While moat of us no longer live on farms that is part of what was driving Joseph’s brothers and his father to seek relief from famine in Egypt. 

Here in Elgin, we are lucky. With the help of organizations like Food for Greater Elgin, and Elgin Cooperative Ministries, we manage to feed the hungry seven days a week. As we approach Martin Luther King Day, we will once again participate in the Elgin Martin Luther Food Drive, which support many of our local pantries, not just Food for Greater Elgin. Over the next two weeks, we will ask you to bring non-perishables to CKI which we will then deliver towards the total count. It is this kind of coming together, just like Jacob, Joseph and his brothers, that brings me hope.  May we be blessed in the new year to not experience famine, separation of families and hard choices between food, heat and medicine.