28 Dec PRIORITIES

 In this week’s parshah, Yosef is reunited with his brothers after a twenty-two year absence. “Vayitein ess kolo b’vchee, And he (Yosef) wept aloud. (Bereishis 45:2) It is with many tears that Yosef, now viceroy of Egypt, reveals his true identity.

With heartfelt emotion, Yosef tells his brothers that they need not feel guilty for the way they treated him, as it was all orchestrated by HaShem.

Yosef takes the high road. Instead of plotting revenge, he reaches out and connects with his brothers. He sends them back to their father’s home laden with gifts, and tells them to share the good news with Yaakov that he was indeed alive and prospering. Yosef invites the brothers to return with their father and families and settle in Egypt.

It was a time of famine. Grains and produce were scarce and hard to come by. Because of Yosef’s foresight and plan of stockpiling food during the years of plenty, the brothers and their families would not go hungry in Egypt.

Yosef tells them to settle in the land of Goshen, a fertile area with pastures ideally suited for shepherding. Goshen – close to Yosef, but not too close. While Yosef wished for his brothers to be nearby, he also wanted to insulate them and their families from the negative influences of Egyptian culture and society. He wanted them to be distant from the large metropolises, to protect them from assimilation, and give them the space and environment to flourish as an am kodosh, a holy nation.

Upon hearing the incredible news, Yaakov begins preparing for his family’s journey. While he yearns to be with his beloved son Yosef, he is apprehensive. He knows that he is leaving the land of his forefathers, and traveling to Egypt, entering what he knew would be the beginning of a long exile.

Yaakov’s first concern and priority was the Torah education of his cherished children and grandchildren. “V’ess Yehudah sholach l’fonov, And Yehudah he sent ahead of him, l’horos l’fonov Goshnah, to prepare ahead of him in Goshen.” (Bereishis 46:28)

Yehudah was Yaakov’s emissary, for it was Yehudah who showed care and concern in assuring his father that he assumed full accountability for the safe return of Binyamin. And later, Yehudah showed leadership and responsibility by speaking up on Binyamin’s behalf, telling Yosef “how can I return to my father, without my brother”. 

“L’horos l’fonov Goshnah, to prepare ahead of him in Goshen.” Exactly what preparations was Yaakov instructing Yehudah to make? Rashi quotes a Midrash that Yaakov’s instruction of “l’horos” was meant to establish a House of Jewish scholarship – a yeshiva. Yaakov could have easily thought there is so much to do, so much to prepare before our big move. Establishing a yeshiva could wait until the family settled in. But with his great wisdom, Yaakov understood that his first priority must be Torah education, for that is the key to our survival as a nation.

What a powerful message Yaakov gave not only to his family, but for all generations to come. What matters most is an infrastructure of shuls, yeshivos and mikvahs, rather than parks, gyms and restaurants. Yaakov’s message was that Torah study never ends. There must be centers of Torah study and Jewish life not just for the children, but for the adults as well.

We just put away our menorahs and dreidels. But the essence of Chanukah remains with us. Within the word Chanukah we find the word chinuch, teaching. The Greeks, and many others over the centuries, tried to break us, to destroy our spirit. But with chinuch, Torah knowledge, our neshamos remain strong, and the light of Torah cannot be extinguished.

The dreidel has a message of its own. The letters on the dreidel are nun, gimmel, hey and shin. The very same letters that spell Yaakov’s instruction to Yehudah: Goshnah – go to Goshen. The lessons of Goshnah should always be with us. To prioritize Torah values and learning, to treasure who we are and where we come from and know the path of life that we must follow as Torah Jews.

My mother a”h would bemoan the fact that if she asked the average Jewish student on a college campus the name of Moses’, Moshe Rabbeinu’s mother, she would be met with silence and blank stares. Yet, they all knew the name of Yoshke’s mother. Sadly, in the midst of Anytown America, we encounter a generation that knows every book but their own.

To my zeide, a yeshiva education meant everything. One of his first actions upon surviving the Holocaust and arriving to this country was to start a yeshiva. He established it in a neighborhood that had a large Jewish population, but where virtually all of the children were attending public schools. He exerted great efforts in convincing parents that their Jewish destiny and that of their children and future generations could only be guaranteed by enrolling their children in his newly found yeshiva. Though he spoke mostly in Yiddish, mixed with a broken English, his words emanated from his heart and entered the hearts of others. And so, Yeshiva Ateres Yisroel was born. Often, it was an uphill battle to convince parents who were getting a free education for their children in public schools. Zeide would enroll these children, even if it meant that he had to fundraise to cover the tuition that their parents wouldn’t be paying.

Over the years, I have met countless graduates of Zeide’s yeshiva, who are now adults, and share that they are proud Jews, connected to their people, because of the education they received at Ateres Yisroel. 

In our own time, as opportunities arose for Jews to settle in cities and towns across America, forward looking people understood that a priority must be Torah education. They established yeshivos and shuls, places to study and pray, places where not only they, but their children’s spirituality would be nurtured. 

From, Goshen to cities worldwide, Yaakov’s legacy of prioritizing the establishment of institutions of Torah study lives on within us all.