Yom Kippur Evening. Joseph as the Master of finding an answer and a chance to turn.

(Note: this sermon was delivered more or less in this form – but since I gave it without notes, it came out a little differently.)

We probably all know the story I’m about to tell – but tonight I’m putting it in the frame of teshuvah – repentance…the 3d category for how to change the world based on the line from a central piece of our liturgy at this season: Repentance, Prayer, Acts of Justice change the evil decree. On Rosh Hashana I spoke about Prayer & Acts of Justice…tonight: Repentance … seems appropriate given the holiday.

The story I want to tell begins with Genesis 37 and a couple of dreams. I’m talking about the Joseph story. Joseph, the first born of Rachel, Jacob’s beloved wife, is a treasure – beyond the normal treasure that we consider our children. Jacob just adores this kid and showers him with gifts like a coat of many colors. While the rest of the kids were getting simple wool sweaters made from the family’s flock of sheep to stay warm on those cold desert nights in the winter, Joseph was getting Bill Cosby 1980s Coogi sweaters, which I just found out are now available on Etsy and Ebay.

All dressed up in his multi-colored Coogi, Joseph comes to his brethren and reports on a couple of rather significant dreams, which in many ways, he probably should have kept for the psychiatrist’s couch, but instead, shared them and subsequently angered his brothers and worried his father. The brothers and father understood his dreams and sharing of them that Joseph saw himself as the center of the universe, from which all blessing would flow. Joseph, actually, saw himself as merely reporting on visions he received, presumably, from God. Given the unique role in the family (as Rachel’s firstborn), and being younger than the rest of the brothers, Joseph was given the role of foreman on the job – or overseer to the brothers’ shepherding skills. Jacob liked getting reports on how things were going and Joseph didn’t mind ratting out his brothers when they weren’t being the best they could be.

One day, Jacob sent Joseph off to find his brothers and bring back one of his tell-tale reports. The brothers, seeing him approaching, create a plan that winds up surely as the worst brotherly bullying incident imaginable. They throw him in a pit, knowing full well he could be killed by a savage beast, as they laugh to one another, “Let’s see now what comes of his dreams!” Of course, we know that they wind up selling him into slavery and then lie to their father as to his whereabouts – but for all intents and purposes – they are truthful: they don’t know where he is, he may well have been consumed by a savage beast…and in many ways he was: the beast of anger, jealousy, hate, which consumes us far too often.

One brother seems to be reasonably concerned: Reuben – the eldest. Of course he is concerned: 

1.  He is the eldest and presumably responsible for all the brothers’ actions. 

2.  He has the most to lose as the first-born if he sours his relationship with his father any further given a recent incident in which he slept with one of his father’s concubines.

3.      Reuben devises a plan to save Joseph (by throwing him in a pit, figuring he can return to him later) as a means to repair the ill-will between him and his father given #2.  Unfortunately, he, Reuben is away when Judah (brother #4) comes along to sell Joseph rather than let him die. The bullying reaches its zenith.  

Whoa! What happened here? Where was Reuben? According to Rashi, based on a Midrash, he was either taking care of his father – it was his day to do so – every brother took turns OR he was fasting and repenting for turning the couches (rabbinic euphemism for sleeping with his father’s concubine).  

We’ll hear from Reuben later in the story. What I like about him in this story though is that Reuben is somewhat of a model of trying to accept what is happening, repairing what is going on, and changing the course of events to improve the future. In short, that is what repentance is all about: 

Accepting/Acknowledging what is happening and where we have erred – and where others have erred. 

Repairing what is wrong. And changing your future, changing your behavior, making a difference in your life and inevitably what is going on around you. We call that the ARC of repentance. On Rosh HaShana, we spoke about prayer and justice. Tonight, our thoughts must turn to repentance – the third of the triad of critical themes during the HHD season: Prayer, Acts of Justice, Repentance.

Of course, we know how things go in this classic biblical tale. Joseph does get sold into slavery. He is human-trafficked down to Egypt, and things just go down, down, down. He is down in the pit. Down to Egypt. Framed and wrongly accused for raping his boss’ wife, sent down to the jail, and forgotten about there - even after interpreting two rather remarkable dreams dreamt by two fellow inmates in the prison.

One bad event after the next, following an unreal reaction by the brothers. Accusations by Potifar’s wife. An ungrateful cupbearer, who is restored to his position, as Joseph predicted, but doesn’t do the one thing Joseph requested…Until…it suited him…and he remembered Joseph to the Pharaoh.

And then the story turns for our maturing young (though not so young any more) man.

Though the story is brutal because of the brothers’ bullying, we see something incredible happen to Joseph – the one who has been bullied and beaten…Joseph reaches his potential. And he reaches his potential while AWAY from those who bullied him. Though he is wrongly accused by Potifar’s wife, he stands up for himself. When he interprets the dreams in the jail, he draws on his inner strength to hear the voice of God and gives an interpretation to the dreams. When he gets called by the Pharaoh to help the Ruler of Egypt understand his nightmares, he (Joseph) allows God’s voice – his own, authentic voice to come out: not just in the interpretation to the dream but to a plan of action as to how to respond to the dream (and reality). Joseph not only self-actualizes but he helps the Pharaoh save his nation. Joseph comes into his own because he is uninhibited by the voices of his family of origin: abusive brothers and a demanding father with preconceived expectations determining his future.

Sidebar Commentary: If you have ever worked at a summer camp, you may notice that kids at camp are so often their free-est selves … I certainly was … because all those preconceived notions of who we were/are back home are gone. No parents. No teachers. No (or very few) kids we know from back home. No (or few) of your siblings present. Camp is a place to open up wide and figure out who and what we were are: without judgments and preconceived ideas. You are effectively a Tabula rasa: whether a camper or staff member … and sometimes as a faculty member, too. And especially at Jewish camps: where the whole ‘Jewish thing’ is a non-issue because everyone (save a few international staff) is Jewish. Scratch that: it’s not a non-issue – it’s a central issue. Being Jewish at a Jewish summer camp is safe, fun, and positively challenging, and shaping that identity is given space to grow and develop in ways unknown in our usual surroundings.

That was Joseph in Egypt. He could be himself. He could find himself. He could be connected to God and to his core in ways almost impossible at home. He found God in ways he may never have by being away from his family and all that had labeled him in the past.

And that openness led Joseph to become not only free but second in command over all the land. Our master story – our Exodus – begins not with slavery, but with the story of a brother who gets bullied and self-actualizes away from his family, where he is free to listen to his inside and allow God’s voice to arise.

And then…the brothers show up in need of food because the famine has struck in Egypt and neighboring Canaan. Emotionally, Joseph is brought back to the pit, back to the last time he was with his bulliers. But now he really has the upper hand. And suddenly – the bullied becomes the bullier. His behavior – with his family – shrinks, descends, reverts, changes.

Not recognized by his brothers, Joseph plays an unbelievable game of trickery and deception. He plants money and a silver goblet in their satchels. Sends his troops after the brothers, keeps a brother in detention, plays with his brothers’ minds, even winds up toying with his father from a thousand miles away. It’s not a high point in our ancestors’ lives – but the emotions are real. And so are ours.

We all play games with our spouses, siblings and our parents – the people who love us, our coworkers, employers or employees…tricks, mind-games, deception – we lie, cheat, steal. We steal time. We are hypocritical. We are vague, duplicitous, phony. We deny, castigate, are judgmental. We can SO identify with this story of Joseph because we are Joseph. We are Reuben. We are the brothers. We are Jacob.

At last – there is the big reveal and Joseph tells his brothers who he is. They are dumbfounded. The Egyptian Prime Minister is Yussel, our younger nudnik of a brother? Oh My God. OH MY GOD. Oh my god. What? What did we do? What are we going to tell our father? We sold him. He lived? How did he get here? He tricked us? We sold him and lied? OH MY GOD.

Accept. Repair. Change. The ARC of Repentance. There is room to grow. Honesty hurts but is freeing.

Joseph and his brothers all had to deal with Repentance at that moment. To accept what had happened. To repair what had been broken – between them and within them – each of them as individuals. To change their behavior and no longer trick, deceive, question, frighten, bully, control, manipulate.

There was a reconciliation with a lot of tears. The entire family was brought together, including the patriarch: Jacob. And life went on. In Egypt. Settled. Comfortable. Though that first Yom Kippur had to be a bit dicey around the table. Can you imagine? Jacob looks at everyone: So…anyone want to start off the “I’m sorry for…” discussion? Can you even imagine? Where would you start?

One brother: ‘Let’s just move on.’

Reuben: ‘I went back to find out and you had sold him: How could you?’

Jacob: ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ The discussion devolves from there.

But somehow everyone makes nice until Jacob dies. And then the brothers are nervous that Joseph will seek revenge w/ abba (daddy) being gone from the world. It is at that moment that Joseph gives us the best frame of all. The years of therapy have paid off. He has recognized what has happened and he names it as evil. Joseph says: look, guys, you really did a number on me. You meant it for evil but God has meant it for good. I dug down. I found God. I found the good. I made things work in spite of your anger and vindictiveness. I’m not in place of God. Good luck when you go for judgment. I will take care of you, though, and your children. But you are on your own when it comes to you and God.

Joseph essentially thanks God not for being bullied but for preserving his life. Joseph’s life being saved enabled not only his family to survive (and thus US) but the entire nation of Egypt.

You have meant it for evil but God has given me the power to turn it into good. With this realization, Joseph becomes a ba’al teshuvah – a master of finding his own answer and of turning. While that term, “ba’al teshuvah” has come to mean one who finds religion (namely, ultra-orthodox Judaism), the concept of turning and arriving at an inner answer to help you find peace adds depth to that term and makes it applicable for us as we turn and repent – seeking peace and inner answers.

Repentance is all about turning evil into good. What others have done to us and what we have done to others. We do things now – to make the future better. This world, sure, but definitely the world to come – the world yet to happen.

What will it take for you to turn? To repent? To acknowledge? To repair? To change? Ometz lev. Courage. Intention in our hearts. The task is yours. Joseph is the dugmah ishit (personal example) of turning. And so too are the brothers. We learn what it takes to do repentance fully.  

It takes courage and honesty. This season is for us to turn in and out to find each other and find God. It is about finding truth and finding potential. Yom Kippur – and even if need be the days after – is about fixing what we have done wrong and making it right. And guess what, if you don’t do it now – it may be too late tomorrow.

Acknowledge. Repair. Change. Three words. Three actions. Results that determine the very nature of your – our – world.