Torah Portion:  Vayigash;  Genesis 44:18-47:27

When I was in my first year of rabbinical school in Israel, the movie The Prince of Egypt was released.  It was fascinating to see this incredible animated version of the story of Exodus—and even more amazing to see the Hebrew subtitles quoting words of Torah!  One of my favorite songs in the movie contains the line, “look at your life through heaven’s eyes.”  When life doesn’t go exactly as we’ve planned, when we face an unexpected hardship, when we get sick, it is natural to focus on the moment—our pain, our loss, the hard road ahead.  Believe me, I do this, too!  The Prince of Egypt lyric, however, reminds us that there is a bigger picture we should focus on instead—we should “look at our lives through heaven’s eyes.”

This message is an intrinsic part of this week’s Torah portion, Vayigash.  Let’s remember what has happened to Joseph, the star of this week’s portion, in the last few weeks: his brothers threw him in a pit; he was sold as a slave; his father believed he was dead; he was imprisoned in an Egyptian jail; he interpreted Pharaoh’s dream about seven years of famine and eventually became grand vizier of Egypt.  This week, we witness Joseph’s emotional reunion with his brothers.  After putting them through a number of tests, Joseph believes they have changed for the better, and bursting into tears tells them, “I am Joseph, your brother!”  The brothers are understandably shocked, and their first thought is that Joseph will now exact a terrible vengeance upon them.  Instead, Joseph says, “Do not be distressed or reproach yourselves because you sold me here; it was to save life that God sent me ahead of you” (Genesis 45:5).  What an incredible statement!  What a powerful example of forgiveness!  And as Joseph himself knows, this forgiveness only comes because he was able to “look at his life through heaven’s eyes.”

Now, I don’t think that “looking at our lives through heaven’s eyes” means that “everything happens for a reason.”  Personally, that is not my belief.  But I do believe that at every moment in our lives, whether it is a wonderful moment or a horrible moment, we have a choice about how to think about that moment.  We can think of those moments as nonsensical, painful or beautiful; or we can make meaning out of what happens to us.  Making meaning out of a moment—something we can often only do long after the moment has passed—is how we look at our lives through heaven’s eyes. 

I hope that your Shabbat—and your week to come—is filled with many wonderful and meaningful moments.

For more insight on this week's Torah portion, visit
urj.org/torah.

Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Annie