People stand in the cold by the thousands in Times Square, New York City. What draws them to that place? There’s no sporting event or rock concert. There’s just a huge lighted ball that drops down a pole on top of a building. It takes only a few seconds, and it hardly seems worth fighting traffic and subway crunch to see—except that it happens on New Year’s Eve.
Why have we created a holiday over such a nonevent? Other holidays celebrate famous birthdays or historical milestones or something. New Year’s Eve just celebrates the passage of time. We make such a fuss because it signals the end of an old era and the beginning of a new one. The old year’s problems and struggles become a dim memory when we think of getting a fresh start.
It
must have been something like that for our people when our patriarch Jacob
passed away in this week’s Torah portion. His death and the death of Joseph and
his brothers marked the end of an era. Even at the very end the brothers not
trusting Joseph lied saying “Before his death your father left this
instruction: so shall you say to Joseph, ‘forgive, I urge you, the offense and
the guilt of your brothers who treated you so harshly. ‘” (Genesis 50:16-17 )
Despite the fact that Jacob speaks to Joseph, his grandchildren, and blesses his
sons, nowhere in this parasha does Jacob ever say these words.
Although
we know there will be 210 years of slavery ahead of them, this will not be the
end of the Jewish people, but the real beginning of our nation. Best of all, as
we will begin the book of Exodus in one week they will have God’s promise that
He would be with them redeem them out of Egypt and bring them to the land of
Israel, a land flowing with milk and honey.
As
we stand with our back to the past 12 months and our face toward the 2024, we
can have hope because we too can be sure of God’s help. That makes the prospect
of a secular new year worth celebrating!
Something
extra for this week: Did you know that there’s a popular Jewish song embedded
in this week’s Torah portion? Jacob’s blessing for his grandchildren is put to
music. The first site will give you the words both in Hebrew and English with a
citation and the second site presents the Maccabeats singing their version.
http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=5343
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqCYL467nc8
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