My Weekly Drash (a mini D'var Torah) - Vayigash
Posted by Daniel M. Kimmel on December 13, 2007 | Tags: Vayigash
Film director Garry Marshall tells the story of actor Richard Gere taking him to meet the Dalai Lama. Gere introduced Marshall as "the funniest man you ever met." Marshall had no idea how to live up to that and blurted out to the Buddhist spiritual leader, "We're both the same age." The Dalai Lama replied, "And we've both done pretty well for ourselves." Meeting celebrities or high officials can be intimidating since we're usually not invited to relate to them person to person. Such is the case this week in Parshah Vayigash when Joseph takes his father to meet the Pharaoh. Pharaoh asks, "How many are the years of your life?" Jacob replies, "The years of my sojourn are one hundred and thirty. Few and hard have been the years of my life, nor do they come up to the life spans of my fathers during their sojourns." (Gen. 47:8-9) That's probably more information than Pharaoh wanted to know. Jacob's life has not been easy and he's reached an age where he doesn't care who knows it. That fearlessness may be reason enough to listen our elders. That freedom to speak one's mind may be one of the gifts of old age.
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Daniel M. KimmelJoined: October 2, 2007 Daniel M. Kimmel is a Boston area film critic, lecturer and author. He does these weekly mini-lessons for the Mishkan Tefila Brotherhood's newsletter. You are free to use them for similar purposes. Divrei Torah (117) |
