MIKKETZ – Shabbat Hannukah 5772

THE ENABLING CANDLE AND THE ENABLING PEACE MAKERS

No blessing is recited prior to lighting the Shamash, yet it is perhaps the most important candle since following the appropriate prayers its flame is transferred to all the other candles. In contemporary parlance, the Shamash is an “enabler.”

The saga of Joseph and his brothers is the longest narrative in the Bible. Following Jacob’s death, the brothers were concerned, possibly even convinced, that Joseph would ultimately avenge himself for all the misery they caused him. His magnanimous and incisive response was that it was God who sent him to Egypt to provide them with sustenance during the famine. Joseph thus perceived himself as an enabler who was chosen by God to orchestrate the family’s descent into Egypt, first for sanctuary and then for the long servitude that God had told Abraham would befall his descendants.

Joseph thus contended that whatever had unfolded within the family was part of a vast God authored cosmic plan. Yet if getting Joseph into Egypt was part of the divine plan, then the brothers who sold him into slavery were also enablers, and since the intense envy and the resulting hatred of Joseph was precipitated by Jacob, he too was an enabler.

The protagonists of the Joseph drama were unaware of their role as enablers. They had no knowledge of the forces they set into motion, and only with the benefit of hindsight did their roles become clear to them.

I suspect that all of us can recall decisions or actions of our own that impacted upon others. Every action we take is much like a pebble thrown into a pond that causes the water to spread out from the point of impact into many concentric circles of ripples. This is hardly surprising since we are interdependent in so many ways, and in countless situations and scenarios we do brush up against one another.

There are positive and negative enablers. The alcoholic’s wife who calls her husband’s office when he is drunk to report him ill and unable to get to work is a negative enabler. By such seemingly benevolent deeds, she enables her husband to continue his self-destructive behavior.  There is, of course, any number of family scenario in which negative behavior is not only denied but actually reinforced.  

Moshe Katsav, the former President of Israel, was found guilty of sexual assault and the misuse of his power over female staff. This tragedy may well have been prevented had his colleagues and possibly his family not overlooked this obvious weakness of this public persona even as they enabled his career to go forward.

The stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process is high on the international agenda. The Quartet, the Americans, the UN are all committed to jump start the negotiations. They perceive themselves as enablers to get the parties to Panetta’s “damn” table. Should these efforts prove successful, no one can foresee all of the consequences, both positive and negative, that may follow from a peace treaty and the “two state” solution.

Within Israel, the Right and the Left, posit different scenarios of the consequences of maintaining the status quo or of coming to terms with the Palestinians. While peace enablers deserve not only our praise but also our cooperation, we all live with the tension of not knowing the ultimate benefits or costs of shalom/salaam. As we hopefully move toward this goal, we do so with the prayer that this fits into a Divine plan to bring blessing into all our lives.

From the holy city of Jerusalem, Rae joins me in wishing all a Shabbat Shalom u’Mevorach, a Shabbat of peace and of blessing  and an ongoing joyous Hannukah celebration.

Rabbi Arnold M. Goodman
Senior Rabbinic Scholar
Ahavath Achim Synagogue
Atlanta, Georgia 30327
December 22, 2011
26 Kislev 5772