Parashat Vayigash- Slavery Comes in Many Forms

V’atah tzuveitah zot asu. And now you are commanded to do this. (45:19)

These words in parashat Vayigash do not come from God, but from Pharaoh.  When the prophesized 400 years spent in slavery are counted, they start from the good times.  Midrash teaches that the Israelites were not enslaved by force, but by sweetness and kindness. 

How often do we find ourselves trapped in a favour or required to take on more responsibility at work.  “But you’re so good at it” starts the request.  Pharaoh promises Joseph, “I will give you the good land of Mitzrayim, and you will eat of the fat of the land…give no thought to your goods, for the good of all the land of Mitzrayim is yours.”  Joseph presents each family coming to Egypt with a wagon, provisions, and clothing.  Benjamin is given even more, and silver as well, and to his father Joseph sends pack animals laden with goods and food.  From all these riches it may seem that Joseph has been freed from slavery, freed from prison.  Certainly with all the perks of being Pharaoh’s right hand man and slaves of his own, Joseph believed he was free.  But in fact Pharaoh’s words above show us that he is just as much a slave while a prince in Egypt as he was in the house of Potiphar.  “V’atah tzuveitah zot asu.”  “And now you are commanded to do this.”  Slavery can be imposed upon us, as Joseph’s first experience was, or created of our own doing, as with the Israelites’ move to Egypt, accepted along with the kind words and gifts.

At all times, whether in prayer or through holiday observance, we remember that we Jews are who we are and do what we do because we “were once slaves in Egypt.”  We are expected to remember that condition and bring the experience of moving from slavery to freedom to our lives and to the lives of others. This can inform us to fight against oppression and for freedoms for people everywhere, or this can teach us to beware of the things to which we enslave ourselves.  As people everywhere begin to make New Year’s resolutions in honour of the secular New Year, may we all be able to perceive the thing that enslave us and work for ourselves to be free.

Rav Sean, Jesses, Gavriel, & Keren wish you all a healthy, happy, and free 2012.