I discuss the parsha with Rabbi Rabbs Mondays at 7pm PST on my live cam.
This week we will discuss our Torah portion of Vayigash (Genesis 44:18-47:27).
* Jews were shepherds. Egyptians despised that profession, just as Christians despised money lenders in the Middle Ages and pornographers today.
Jews wanted their own area and Egyptians wanted to put them in their own area.
It’s important to know your place in life.
Should Jews live in their own enclaves as they did at Goshen?
* Awareness of being strangers in Egypt left a profound impression on the Jewish consciousness and is a source of numerous statements in the Torah such as to the love the stranger.
* What do you think of Rabbi Meir Kahane?
* Dennis Prager: “The greatest human task is to see people different from us as fully human. One of the few places to embark on this task is America.”
* Was it hard for you to grow up to see other groups as fully human? Blacks or women or Reform Jews?
* Do you feel any comfort with Genesis being filled with dysfunctional families and imperfect people?
