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The faith of generations

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After 22 years of separation, Yaakov was finally to be reunited with his beloved son Yosef. Yaakov and family came to Egypt where Yosef had risen to a position second only to Pharaoh.

The Torah reports the long-awaited reunion of father and son. “And Yosef readied his chariot, and went up to meet Yisrael his father, to Goshen: and he presented and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while” (Bereishit 46:29). Yosef was obviously very emotional to once again see his father.

While Yaakov was surely overwhelmed to re-unite with Yosef, the Torah does not describe him as embracing Yosef or weeping in joy. Rashi, citing a Midrash, explains Yaakov’s lack of demonstrativeness: Yaakov did not embrace Yosef or kiss him, because he was reciting the Shema!

At the very moment Yosef was hugging Yaakov, Yaakov was saying the Shema!

This is a very perplexing comment. Couldn’t Yaakov have recited the Shema a few minutes earlier? Did he really need to recite the Shema at the very moment when Yosef was hugging him? And does it take more than a few seconds to say the Shema?

Even more perplexing is the fact that the Torah had not yet been given at that time. There was no Shema for Yaakov to recite! And to deepen the perplexity, a Midrash posits that the Shema verse was actually first stated by Yaakov’s sons when Yaakov was on his deathbed, years after Yaakov’s meeting with Yosef.

What then is Rashi, and the Midrash before him, trying to teach?

Let us think more carefully about the Midrash that describes the origin of the Shema. Yaakov was dying, surrounded by his family. The Midrash suggests that Yaakov was worried: would his children carry on his teachings? Would they be faithful to the G-d of Israel? Sensing his concern, his children said in unison: “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our G-d, the Lord is One.” The children were reassuring their father that they would follow his teachings and his faith.

According to this Midrash, the Shema is not merely a general proclamation of faith, but is a personal and direct statement connecting child and parent. It demonstrates an unflinching commitment to continue the faith and traditions maintained by the parent. It is a powerful link in the religious tradition, connecting the generations in a bond of faith.

With this idea as a backdrop, we may now revisit the reunion of Yaakov and Yosef. Yaakov was not really sure about the spiritual life of his son. After all, Yosef had lived in Egypt for many years, was dressed as an Egyptian, was married to an Egyptian woman, was raising his children in the midst of Egyptian society. Was Yosef still loyal to the G-d of Israel? Did he still maintain the values and ideals of Yaakov?

As they were about to meet, Yaakov was not certain that Yosef still belonged to the people of Israel in a spiritual sense. But when he was so effusive in his embrace of his father, Yaakov realized that this Egyptian-looking man was in fact still a son of Israel. In a symbolic sense, Yaakov recited the Shema, the assurance that his child would indeed follow the faith and ideals of Israel. Although he did not literally recite the Shema text, he deeply felt its message of unity among the generations.

When parents and children can recite the Shema together, the generations embrace each other in a mighty chain of continuity. When there is a generation gap — when parents or children cannot or do not recite the Shema together — the Jewish tradition unravels.

In a sermon delivered at his grandson’s bar mitzvah in May 1962, Rabbi David de Sola Pool spoke of the need for the generations of Jews to live their Judaism actively.

“We must not allow ourselves to become decrepit veterans dreaming of past victories in the struggle for holiness. We have to be something more than feeble survivors of once glorious days … Our life as Jews must be the result of something more than inertia based on the physical fact that we were born into the Jewish people … Within every one of us who is worthy of bearing the Jewish name there must be a conscious sense of a divine call to serve our fellow men for today and tomorrow … Weaklings among us may fall away as they have done in every generation. But the true spiritual descendants of Abraham, of Moses, and of all our heroic sages and saints keep the Jewish light kindled, and hand it down from generation to generation.”

When Yaakov recited the Shema upon meeting Yosef, and when Yaakov’s sons said the Shema at their father’s deathbed, the generations were united in a profound spiritual bond. We, their modern-day descendants, must also strive to say the Shema together.