Dear Friends,
“Do not quarrel along the way.” (Genesis 45:24)
Such was Joseph’s final words to his brothers, after he revealed himself as the viceroy of Egypt, and sent his shocked brothers to Canaan to retrieve their father, Jacob. The brothers had been famous for their quarreling – their sparring – and Joseph knew it. Thus, as he packed up camels and donkeys and clothing and foodstuffs for his brothers’ journey to Hebron and back, he gave them this instruction: “Don’t fight as you make your journey.”
It might remind us of those long family road-trips, when the kids were in the back seat of the station wagon and were tired of playing word games or looking at license plates, and began their eventual and incessant childish bickering. Mom or dad would turn around and say, “Stop fighting! Don’t quarrel!”
But, that’s what siblings do. Especially when on long journeys, and especially when they have to go tell difficult news to a parent.
In the Genesis case, the brothers were about to concede to their still-grieving father that they had deceived him decades ago, that Joseph had not been eaten by a wild animal and that Joseph’s multi-colored tunic hadn’t been bloodied by a jackal, but by themselves. Moreover, they were about to tell Jacob that his beloved son was alive and the vizier over all of Egypt. Joseph knew that this would be an opportunity for his still-petulant brothers to point fingers, assign blame, and fight and bicker. He tried to forefend against it by instructing, “Do not quarrel along the way.”
It was good advice – then, and now. We live in a bickering day. Quarreling seems to be the norm. Just look at representatives in Washington. Or in our own community.
Joseph certainly was no saint. He demeaned his brothers. He curried favor with his father. He helped Pharaoh aggrandize himself at the expense of starving Egyptians. Yet, when he saw the potential for in-fighting to undermine both his family and the future of the Jewish people, his instructions were to stop it.
When we are on our way – wherever our journeys may take us: “Do not quarrel along the way.”
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
“Do not quarrel along the way.” (Genesis 45:24)
Such was Joseph’s final words to his brothers, after he revealed himself as the viceroy of Egypt, and sent his shocked brothers to Canaan to retrieve their father, Jacob. The brothers had been famous for their quarreling – their sparring – and Joseph knew it. Thus, as he packed up camels and donkeys and clothing and foodstuffs for his brothers’ journey to Hebron and back, he gave them this instruction: “Don’t fight as you make your journey.”
It might remind us of those long family road-trips, when the kids were in the back seat of the station wagon and were tired of playing word games or looking at license plates, and began their eventual and incessant childish bickering. Mom or dad would turn around and say, “Stop fighting! Don’t quarrel!”
But, that’s what siblings do. Especially when on long journeys, and especially when they have to go tell difficult news to a parent.
In the Genesis case, the brothers were about to concede to their still-grieving father that they had deceived him decades ago, that Joseph had not been eaten by a wild animal and that Joseph’s multi-colored tunic hadn’t been bloodied by a jackal, but by themselves. Moreover, they were about to tell Jacob that his beloved son was alive and the vizier over all of Egypt. Joseph knew that this would be an opportunity for his still-petulant brothers to point fingers, assign blame, and fight and bicker. He tried to forefend against it by instructing, “Do not quarrel along the way.”
It was good advice – then, and now. We live in a bickering day. Quarreling seems to be the norm. Just look at representatives in Washington. Or in our own community.
Joseph certainly was no saint. He demeaned his brothers. He curried favor with his father. He helped Pharaoh aggrandize himself at the expense of starving Egyptians. Yet, when he saw the potential for in-fighting to undermine both his family and the future of the Jewish people, his instructions were to stop it.
When we are on our way – wherever our journeys may take us: “Do not quarrel along the way.”
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn