We see this in the final parasha of the book of Breishit this week, as Jacob offers blessing to his favored son Joseph through his grandchildren Ephraim and Manasseh. Jacob, who offered Pharaoh a weighted introduction of pain and sorrow saying 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 47:9), now reframes his life experience and blesses, The Gd in whose ways my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd from my birth to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all harm - bless the lads. In them may my name be recalled, and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they be teeming multitudes upon the earth (Gen. 48:15-16). In this liminal moment, Jacob acknowledges his blessings, his place in a larger lineage, the relationship with the holy that has attended to his feelings and his fears over time, the source that uplifted his strength as he struggled for transformation, and the power to place himself at the heart of the future, the clasp on the generational chain.
Jacob reframes the lens of who he is and how we might remember him, whether offering this bracha to children at bedtime ( click here for one melody) or blessing children on Friday nights כאפרים וכמנשה - to be like Ephraim and Menashe. He demonstrates that in offering blessing, we choose how we remember, which of the 70 faces of Torah to reveal.
The blessing of how we see ourselves and the world is significant as we enter 2021. Many want to burn the bridge of 2020 behind us. It has been tough in so many ways, globally, communally, personally and interpersonally. We could just cut the year loose. But 2020 sharpened our vision about race, justice, family and friends. It illuminated agility and adaptation. It shone new light on how we walk in the ways of our ancestors, how we are seen, and from where our strength comes. We enter the new year 2021 with wisdom we did not have before, knowledge we could not have anticipated about ourselves and our world. Each of us has established new norms for our daily/weekly/monthly existence, adding exercise, prayer, reading, writing, cooking, baking, drawing, painting, walking, dancing, add your practice to the list. We have found resilience and joy.
As we begin our sojourn in 2021, let us appreciate our arrival at this place in time and open our hearts to what lies ahead. May we tell the story of what we do have and to what we aspire. May we create the future we want to live and hand over in blessing to the next generation. The Torah of this time is in our hands. We are strong. We are connected. We can enter this next chapter with love. If someone asks, why? You can respond, why not!
Shabbat Shalom and a toast to our next loving chapter,
rg
