Vayeshev

Vayeshev... Where is God this week?

It has been a busy news week! Bushfires in Qld, storms in NSW, elections in Victoria, Airbnb BDS in Judea & Shomron, Mexican border caravan, Sentinel Island killing...

It has also been a busy week in the parasha! Joseph's coat of many colours and his dreams, upsetting his brothers and selling Joseph to Egypt, Judah and Tamar's relationship, Joseph thrown into prison by Potiphar, and the butler and baker's dreams.

Strife at every turn and God is seemingly not present except for in our dreams and prayers. What we need is more humility and reality in the way we conduct our lives. When we interact with others we need to respect their way of life and their place in God's world. No situation can be forced and we are always at the mercy of the Almighty, which he continuously reminds us of.

But by remaining strong, resolute and faithful to our values, there will always be a spark of hope to get us through a crisis. With God's help we should always see the hidden miracles and our eventual salvation.

Noach retrospective - Squandering & Mute

3 events in Noach are examples of squandering

A. The people who got washed away

B. Noah planting the vineyard and got drunk

C. The people of the Tower of Babel

In each case they were given a great gift and abused it. The people of the flood acted like uncivilised animalistic barbarians and never looked beyond their personal desires. Noah went too far and thought he ended up in the Garden of Eden after the flood - he wasn't and it backfired. The tower of Babel people had technology (bricks) and were capable and hard-working and systematic - not stupid, but they reached to be like God and did not appreciate that they were on this Earth to do good here. In each case, they had a purpose and they squandered the opportunity.

In each case the people were punished in their own unique ways, middah kneged middah - attribute for attribute. The people who squandered creation were destroyed by the force of creation. Noah squandered the opportunity to make a great blessing with wine, was shamed by the effect of wine. The Babel people who abused technology were confused with miscommunication and misinformation and could not continue their work.

So who do we have introduced to us at the end of the parashah that is the great tikun - the fixer? Avram (Abraham). He examined the past, he examined the reality of the universe and considered others in the future. The old ways could not continue. He realised that we are in this world not to squander the gifts given to us - the food, war, nature, plants, wisdom & technology - but to be grateful and appreciative and put them to a use that makes the world a better place.

Noach is called an 'ish tamim b'dorotav' (righteous man in his generations). Tamim is plural which indicates more than one attribute. Tam can be righteous. Tam can be simple. Tam can be mute.

Noach was righteous because he recognised and heard God and did as he was told. That's good. In those times it was amazing. No one else was on that level.

It is a very simple way to go about life. This is the way God set out the world and whatever God says to do, this is how we conduct ourselves. To be a good student there is no answering back to the teacher. My life has rules and I do no swerve. If there are issues at the back of my mind they are easily dispelled because I am a completely willing servant without question.

But there is also a mute. A mute is someone who does not have the capacity to speak. In Noah's case he was tam. In some ways a good attribute and some ways it is a fault. In order to be great you need to speak out. Abraham learnt to speak out. If God says I'm going to vent my fury on the world, you can pray and do tshuvah (answer back) and say please, are you sure? If something happens in your life you can always turn to God and say are you sure?