Jewish Journal

Familial Forgiveness

Parshat Vayigash (Genesis 44:18 - 47:27)

by Rabbi Susan Laemmle

December 16, 2004 | 7:00 pm


The syllabus for my USC general education class includes both Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and Chapters 37-50 of Genesis -- the Joseph story or "novella." These two narratives share themes that commend themselves: forgiveness and reconciliation. Both Prospero and Joseph were set upon by their own brothers and narrowly escaped death. Both protagonists contributed to their victim role -- Prospero through neglecting governance and Joseph by insensitive boasting. In the end, though, both forgive those who abused them -- enabling their family circle to be repaired and the next generation blessed. Just as Prospero realizes that "the rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance," so, too, does the instinct for reconciliation surge through Joseph.


The stellar moment of Parshat Vayigash comes when Joseph reveals himself to his brothers: "I am Joseph. Does my father yet live?" (Genesis 45:3).

For me, Joseph's trumpeting of his individual identity within a complex social situation echoes across the millennia: "It is I, Hamlet the Dane." "Call me Ishmael." "I am an invisible man." We know from literature and our own lives how difficult it can be, not only to forgive those who wrong us, but to be both our parents' child and our own self. American society keeps struggling to strike the right balance between self and other, healthy individualism and civic cohesion. We could do worse than Joseph as a model, precisely because such balancing does not come easy to him.

Upon reflection, it's clear that being able to forgive requires the stretching of personal borders and the capacity to take a broad view. Ironically, only a secure person or people can manage such a stretch; only a firm hold on one's own life thread permits that thread's being woven into a larger tapestry. Through suffering, Joseph has sloughed off his egotism and gained a clear sense of God's providence. So matured, he reassures his brothers with great sensitivity: "Do not be distressed or reproach yourselves because you sold me hither; it was to save life that God sent me ahead of you." He does this while still realistically urging them to "not be quarrelsome on the way" back to their father, Jacob (Genesis 45:4 and 24).




Rabbi Susan Laemmle is dean of religious life at USC.


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