Don't Let the Light Go Out
Dear Friends, As we approach Chanukah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa I want to share some thoughts about religious freedom. In this week's Torah reading (scriptural reading which begins with Genesis Chapter 37) , we are reading about the beginning of the Joseph narrative. When Joseph is sent out to find his brothers he encounters someone who in Hebrew is called "Ha ish," the person. That person asks him "for what are you looking "mah t'vakeish?" The person is not identified and could be anyone. It is a reminder that any of us have the potential to impact someone's life. If the person doesn't tell Joseph the best way to look for his brothers and he finds them too soon, they might kill him instead of throwing him in a pit. Ultimately Joseph is taken to Egypt where he interprets Pharaoh's dream and saves humanity from the famine. (please read Genesis 37 and the next several chapters which through the end of Genesis tell the saga of Joseph and hi...