Rabbi's Derasha

There is a sharp transition from one book to another this week.  They are connected -- there is that crazy Vav at the beginning of a new book -- but something has shifted.  It’s a transition from individuals to a nation.  The Chumash is not named after an eponymous hero.  It’s not like the Odyssey or the Aeneid.  Moshe Rabenu is of course a prominent  individual in the final four books but that is only because he represents all of Klal Yisrael.  

The easiest way to see this transition in books is in the figure of Yosef, who has the distinction of dying in both books.  He died at the end of Bereisheet because he is a quasi-forefather.  He is almost like Avraham, Yitzchok and Yaakov.  He plays a central role as an individual, and he gives birth to two tribes, like a father.  

But he also dies at the beginning of Shemot.  This time as one of the many tribes, as part of the nation.  

Because of this transition, the rest of the books will not be about individual distinction.  It is always going to be about how something fits into the Klal, into something that connects to the greater whole.  That is the thrust of the rest of the books.  And each individual will be seen in terms of how he or she fits with the whole.

We said goodbye this week to Dudu Habib, a”h, the stalwart of Chevra Kaddisha in the Bay Area.  Oddly, Dudu was a man of terrific humor.  He has a brother who is a stand-up comic but you should not think that that is because they grew up in home with yin and yang forces.  That comic little brother went to sleep many nights as a young boy hearing Dudu’s jokes.  He was not dour by nature, as some mortuary workers can be.  So why did he work there?

He chose this work because he wanted to be of help to people in need.  But not just to any people in need.  He wanted to be of help to Jewish people in need because they were members of his community.  He knew that he brought a Jewish presence to Sinai Memorial Chapel.  It had not always been so.  In the late aughts, Dudu had visa issues and was back in Israel for a while.  I wrote a letter on his behalf that was part of the package advocating for him.  That letter emphasized the Jewish aspect that he brought to Sinai, which for more than a century had been a very Reform institution.  His boss made that type of emphasis happen, but Dudu was the person in the day-to-day work to whom we could turn if we wanted the customs of the Jewish people to prevail.

From these last four books of the Chumash we learn about a new framework: this is the beginning of a national chain in Jewish existence.  Dudu valued that chain very much.  He wanted to be part of that chain.  A great Rosh Hayeshiva was asked recently to name his greatest achievement.  He said it’s not about his books or how much he’s learned.  It’s about the fact that he contributed to the chain.  Through his children and his students, he kept the chain going.  He was able to serve as a proper link in that chain.  

A Jew views decisions in this light: Does it help forge the links in the chain or not?  This is Shabbat of Sheva Berachot, which celebrates the forming of another link in this chain.