T orah P ortion
Being a Light Unto the Nations
BY RABBI DANIEL LEVITT
Parshat Vayishlach
AT THE END of this week’s
parsha, there is a rather
disturbing episode. Jacob’s
daughter Dina gets kidnapped
and raped by a local Canaanite
prince. After the incident,
the rapist’s father attempts to
betroth Dina to his son.

Initially, Jacob’s family
agrees to the marriage under
the condition that the entire
city converts to the Jewish
religion and all the men get
circumcised. After agreeing
to the demands, Jacob’s sons,
Shimon and Levi, sneak into
the city and kill them all in
retaliation for what had
happened to their sister.

Even though Shimon and
Levi believed that they were
justified for what they did,
Jacob scolds them harshly. He
fears for the way in which his
family will be perceived by the
rest of their neighbors.

There is a midrash which
adds depth to the nature of
Jacob’s disapproval of their
terrible act. Rather than
seeing Jacob’s objection based
solely on self-preservation,
this midrash shifts the focus
on how the immoral action of
Shimon and Levi will under-
mine the mission of the Jewish
people. The midrash (Bereishit
Rabbah Vayechi 98:5) portrays
Jacob as chastising his sons for
breaking the wall of conver-
sion, one of the essential walls,
assumed by the midrash, that
holds up the house of Israel.

Judaism is not a proselytizing
Happy Th anksgiving
from th e
Jewish Exponent
www.jewishexponent.com 24
NOVEMBER 18, 2021
religion; there is a mitzvah to
convert someone who sincerely
wants to cast his or her lot with
the Jewish people, but the focus
of this midrash seems to put
a weight on conversion that
we don’t traditionally find. So
what can we learn from this?
The mission of the Jewish
people is to be light to the
nations of the world. This can be
done by positively influencing
others to be better people and
make the world a better place.

For the rest of the world to be
willing to be influenced by the
Jewish people, it is necessary
that we also find ways to trust
and be influenced by them.

Throughout the midrashic
commentaries on the stories
of the patriarchs, we see a
description of our forefathers
inf luencing, teaching and
CAN DL E L IGHTIN G
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converting the world to their
moral perspective, belief in one
God and the ethics which are
influenced by such a belief.

Jacob feared that by
deceiving the Canaanites by
allowing them to convert, and
subsequently killing them,
Shimon and Levi had under-
mined the potential to fulfill
their mission in the world
because it undermined the
trust necessary to positively
influence others.

Jacob’s perspective is that
their crime has far more
negative implications than the
act itself, heinous as it may have
been; what they did was also a
chillul hashem (a terrible sin
where a person causes others to
lose respect for God, Judaism
and the Jewish people).

Sometimes our zealousness
for our own perspectives and
beliefs causes us to ignore the
impact our actions are having
on others. Our values and
beliefs need to be seen through
the lens of the overarching
values of being a light unto the
nations. l
Kaufman, executive director
of the Jewish Addiction
Awareness Network.

With addiction becoming
something the Jewish commu-
nity has become more aware
of due to increasing numbers
of those struggling, additional
spiritual guidance has become
available. More rabbis in
recovery are sharing their
stories around addiction,
which, in turn, lets congregants
know they have somewhere to
turn if they are struggling.

After a year as the rabbi at
Temple Sinai in Cinnaminson,
New Jersey, Rabbi Michael
Perice, who has been sober from
opioids for more than 10 years,
told his congregants about
his substance abuse disorder.

They were overwhelmingly
supportive, he said.

“I knew I was in a place to
share this with this community
because I built up that level of
support, that level of trust with
my congregants,” Perice said.

“I was honoring the trust they
placed in me by showing them
I trusted them as well.”
This isn’t the case for all
congregations. “Many times rabbis don’t
feel like they can fully trust
their congregants, and that’s a
real shame,” Perice said. “Our
congregations can handle way
more than we often give them
credit for.”
On a synagogue-wide level,
Kaufman insists there is still
more that can be done.

Synagogues can host serenity
Shabbat services, in solidarity
with those in recovery. They can
have sober seders and design
programming where alcohol is
not served.

“When you open the
dialogue, you reduce stigma,”
she said. l
Rabbi Daniel Levitt is the executive
director of Hillel at Temple
University: The Rosen Center.

The Board of Rabbis of Greater
Philadelphia is proud to provide
diverse perspectives on Torah
commentary for the Jewish
Exponent. The opinions expressed
in this column are the author’s own
and do not reflect the view of the
Board of Rabbis.

Addiction Continued from Page 15
to what’s available: 12-step
programs and Alcoholics
and Narcotics Anonymous
meetings. But these resources
aren’t accessible to everyone,
said Rabbi Abby Michaleski,
the rabbi at Beth Israel in
Vineland, New Jersey, and a
licensed addictions counselor
who also is in recovery. Many
NA and AA meetings take
place in church basements
or contain Christian liturgy,
making some Jews feel unwel-
come or uncomfortable.

“There’s this message that,
as Jews, we don’t necessarily
belong there,” she said.

The lack of NA and AA
meetings in Jewish contexts
sends the message that Jews
aren’t welcome to talk about
substance abuse in Jewish
spaces either.

“It’s just another message
that says we don’t have this
problem or we don’t care about
this problem,” said Marla
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