A midrash describes that both love and hate can upset the natural order of the world. In essence, love and hate are both exceptional, and they can drive us to do exceptional things. The midrash turns to this week’s parashah, where Joseph and Jacob are reunited after decades apart and incredible pain. The Torah describes that Jacob has arrived in Egypt and that Joseph prepares to meet him. But instead of Joseph ordering his staff to get the chariot ready - afterall, he is royalty! - Joseph prepared the chariot himself. He then drove the chariot to meet his father, saw him, was entirely overcome with emotion and wept as they embraced (Genesis 46:29). The midrash sees this outpouring of love and knows that it has the power to change the natural order of the world, the way things might ordinarily go.
Similarly, the midrash knows that hate can also do the same thing. In fact, this midrash uses an almost identical phrase as its proof - that Pharaoh prepared his chariot to chase after the Israelites, after they had been liberated from slavery in Mitzrayim. This hate, the Torah knows, can also change the natural order of the world.
Of course, the midrash wants us to see ourselves as vessels of love, as those that can use love to change the world. On this last Shabbat of 2020, this teaching feels so relevant to me. This has been a year with a lot of hate, a lot of pain, a lot of difficulty. And of course, we know that love has the power to change things. Love has the power to alter things ever so slightly. What’s powerful about Joseph’s gesture is that it isn’t grand, yet it made the world of a difference. He was able to prepare the chariot himself to go see his father; he acted from a place of love. It doesn’t move mountains but it is an expression of love, and it heals a shattered relationship.
The midrash comes to a close, “Let preparing counteract preparing. Let Joseph’s preparing of his chariot to meet his father counteract Pharaoh’s preparing to go and pursue Israel.” The order of the world can change based on love. I pray that 2021 brings us more love, counteracting any hate in the world. I pray that in 2021 we can put hate and divisiveness behind us, and I pray that our small gestures of love have the ability to upset the natural order of the world.
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Sarit
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