It's (Not) Chinese to Me

The preamble to our nationhood comes to a close in this week's parsha. Having enjoyed seventeen years of serenity with his beloved Yosef, Yaakov's "time to die" approached. The Gemara in Bava Metziah (87a) informs us that "Yaakov beseeched [G-d] for mercy", and thus was the first person in history to become ill before dying, which allowed him to put his (the nation's) spiritual affairs in order by blessing his children beforehand.

In the fateful foreword to these final blessings, the Torah tells us (48:1)

And it came to pass after these matters that he said to Yosef, "Behold!-your father is ill." And he took his two sons with him, Menashe and Ephraim.

Wondering who the "he" is who informed Yosef of his father's illness, Rashi brings us two opinions, the second of which (Medrash Tanchuma) tells us that it was Ephraim, since

Ephraim was often in Yaakov's presence for study, and when Yaakov took ill in the land of Goshen, Ephraim went to his father to Egypt to tell him.

Ok, that sounds innocent enough. Except that it appears that Yaakov suffers from amnesia during Ephraim's short round-trip to fetch his father, since the Torah tells us

And Yisroel saw Yosef's sons and he said "Who are these?" And Yosef said to his father, "They are my sons whom G-d has given me with this." He said, "Bring them to me, if you please, and I will bless them." (48:8-9)

Wow!! Talk about "out-of-sight-out-of-mind"!!! In just a very short time period Yaakov can no longer recognize his grandson/chavrusa (study-partner)?!

Rashi, bothered by this obvious anomaly, quotes the Medrash Tanchuma once again, to resolve the inconsistency

And Yisroel saw Yosef's sons-He wished to bless them, but the Shechina (Divine Presence) departed from him, because [the evil] Yeravam and Achav were destined to come forth from Ephraim, and Yehu and his sons from Menashe.
And he said "Who are these"-From where did these who are unfit for blessing emerge?

In other words, Yaakov knew full well who they were, but when the Shechina departed from him as he was about to bless them, he realized that it was due to evil descendants that would issue from them. Thus his inquiry as to "who they were" was a query about their pernicious progeny.

Oh, okay, that solves that problem, but it creates another. In response to Yaakov's request for identification, Yosef responds that "they are my sons." Clearly Yosef would not want to take ownership of the offensive offspring, so he must have misunderstood the subjects of Yaakov's question; he must have perceived his father as speaking about the identity of the two young men standing before him. Rashi bolsters that thought by telling us what Yosef meant when he said "They are my sons whom Hashem has given me with this": "[Yosef] showed [Yaakov] marriage documents."

Huh?! Now we're suggesting that after seventeen years in Egypt Yaakov wasn't even sure if Yosef was properly married? It was hard enough to conceive that he did not know who Ephraim was. Rashi purports to solve that problem, but then creates a bigger one! Not only does Yosef misunderstand which of his descendants Yaakov is inquiring about, but he also thinks Yaakov is questioning their parents' marital status! But it appears that Yaakov and Yosef are speaking the same language, since Yaakov appears assuaged, by responding "Bring them to me...and I will bless them."

Yet what appears to be mollification, may actually have been "further investigation".

The next passukim tell us

Now Yisroel's eyes were heavy with age, he could not see; so he brought them near him and he kissed and hugged them. Yisroel said to Yosef, "I did not imagine seeing your face, and here G-d has shown me even your offspring!" (48:10-11)

Finally, in his famous blessing of Ephraim and Menashe, Yaakov says "may my name be declared upon them." (48:16)

The Alshich HaKadosh, in his analysis of this strange dialogue, illuminates

We have explained earlier that tzaddikim like Yaakov have the ability to look at someone's face and tell whether a person is a tzaddik or a rasha, and that this had been the reason Yaakov went to Egypt personally; he had wanted to be convinced that Yosef remained a tzaddik. Since Yaakov appeared to have doubts about the character of Yosef's sons, Yosef brought them closer to his father so that he could look at their faces from up close...Once the boys had come really close, Yaakov could see in their faces that they were indeed tzaddikim. Then he said [to Yosef] "I had not hoped to see your own face reflect your righteousness, and now G-d has even shown me the righteousness of your sons!"...[and] Yaakov was further telling Yosef "may my name be declared upon them," which is equivalent to wishing that they [and their descendants] remain loyal to the Jewish tradition as had his own sons without exception.

So according to the Alshich, Yaakov and Yosef understood each other quite well. Due to the Shechina's departure, Yaakov perceived Yosef would have evil descendants. Due to his perception of those evil offspring, Yaakov was concerned even about the righteousness of Ephraim and Menashe. Due to Yaakov's concerns, Yosef brought them closer to his father so he could properly ascertain their righteousness. Fears finally allayed, Yaakov blesses them and prays that they always remain loyal to Jewish tradition.

Well I'm glad we cleared that up, but it still leaves us with some problems pending. If Yosef understood that Yaakov was concerned about their spiritual DNA, then why did he bother to bolster their biological background by providing his marriage documents? Furthermore, was it really such a surprise to Yaakov that there would be at least some bad eggs from amongst the hundreds of millions (billions?) of his descendants who would break from tradition? What was it about Yeravam, et al. that was such a cause for consternation? Finally, why is their an emphasis on loyalty to Jewish tradition, without exception, in Yaakov's bracha to Ephraim and Menashe, who were born in exile?

I recently set up a Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund Account in my parents' memory/name. Basically, it is an independent public charity with a donor-advised fund program. That is a fancy way of saying that one can deposit funds for donation into the account and get the tax deduction immediately, while not committing the funds at that time to any one given charity. It is "donor-advised" in that one can then "advise" Fidelity where to send the funds, and, provided it is for an eligible non-profit, they will send the money to that organization. They have sent over $13 Billion in grants sincetheir founding in 1991, and over $1.5 Billion this year alone.

As I was perusing the thirty-two page "guidelines" for the account, I came across something that blew me away. Tucked deep inside the guidelines was the following paragraph, entitled Minimum Grant Amounts

Fidelity Charitable will consider grant recommendations of $50 or more...Grants must be recommended in increments of $5 or $18, as this number has cultural significance for some donors.

WOW!!!!!! Look what an impact our people have!! A multi-billion dollar charitable fund, one of the largest of its kind, and it recognizes only $5 and CHAI!!! We rock! We're the greatest!! At least, that is, from the "outside". While that number may have cultural significance for many of its donors, unfortunately it's not clear if that would be the same as religious significance.

There was a poll taken about ten years ago, that found that the richest Jews in America give mostly to non-Jewish causes. Between 1995 and 2000, there were 188 "mega-gifts" of $10 Million or more that the nation's wealthiest Jews handed out, amounting to $5.3 Billion. That amount represented a staggering 18% of the $29.3 Billion in total mega-gifts granted during that period (recall that we make up only 2% of the population). How much of that mega-gift largesse went to Jewish institutions? A paltry $318 Million (6%)!! So while it is clear that it is in our DNA to be wildly generous, it is equally clear that it is misguided: giving non-Jewish institutions gifts in "chai" increments (especially while Jewish institutions are starved for funds) is not "remaining loyal to Jewish tradition without exception".

As depressing as those statistics may be, there was an article in the newspaper this week that shook me to my core. We are all well aware of the Jewish love-affair with Chinese food. I once saw a comedian who noted that the only calendar "older" than the Chinese calendar (which is about 4,700 years old) is the Jewish calendar, leading him to inquire what the Jews did for 1,000 years without Chinese food! While that makes for good comedy, there was absolutely nothing funny about the article I read.

Entitled Jewish tradition: Chinese for dinner, it went on to describe Jews' "emotional connection" to Chinese food, particularly highlighting their swarming attendance at Chinese restaurants on December 25th, since Chinese eateries are the only ones open on that day. Quoting multiple owners of non-kosher Chinese restaurants about the droves of Jewish customers on that day, it went on to offer samplings from sociological research papers written on the topic, including its history. It confirmed a theory I have proffered for years, namely, that non-kosher Chinese food gained acceptance among the early Jewish immigrants to America because much of the patently-forbidden ingredients are chopped-up into small pieces, allowing for them to be more easily ignored. As one of the researchers stated: "If you couldn't identify it, it was considered 'safe-treyf'. Rabbis generally don't agree with this interpretation." (they don't?!)

We are all (unfortunately) sophisticated enough at this point, that these revelations no longer shock the conscience. But there was another quote in the article that was impossible to ignore, and one which may give us insight as to the confusing conversation between Yaakov and Yosef mentioned above. Hannah Raskin, the food critic for Seattle Weekly, who wrote her master's thesis on the topic, said:

Although contemporary Jews have other options for food on Christmas Day, many continue to eat Chinese, to connect with their ancestors and maintain a family tradition. There's a need to observe tradition in December, no matter what religion you belong to.

What???!!! Now this is no longer about finding an open restaurant when all others are closed? Now this is an ancient tradition? This connects the diners to their ancestors? This allows Jews to observe tradition in December (Um, if I'm not mistaken, I think we have a holiday that usually falls out around this time of year)?

Perhaps the only thing worse than breaking tradition, is having the wrong one, is having a misguided one, is having a made-up one. You can't do teshuva from those, because you've convinced yourself that you're actually fulfilling the customs of old. And even worse, you are corrupting the characteristics and strengths that are inherent to Jews, and misusing them. Our natural nobility, our aptitude for altruism, our tendency for tradition, those are in our DNA. They have coursed through our veins from the times of our forefathers, but now they have just become coarse.

And that may very well explain the irregular interchange between Yaakov and Yosef in the passukim above. When Yaakov perceived the depraved descendants that would issue from his grandsons, he became concerned. Not because he expected national perfection, but rather because of who these troublemakers were. Yeravam and his cohorts led the nation astray by convincing them to worship idolatry, by convincing them there was a different tradition. They sought to maintain our status as the Jewish nation, they never denied that. Rather, they encouraged the Jews to pray devoutly and to worship well, just to a different god. They encouraged them to continue to tithe their gold and silver, just for an idolatrous purpose. They took advantage of our attributes and used them for evil.

That is precisely what Yaakov feared when he foresaw the future. Thus he needed to inquire further as to his grandsons' spiritual DNA, precisely because they had Yaakov's superior biological makeup, making its misuse most malignant. Yosef misunderstands, and tries to reassure his father by providing proof that they are his biological children, thus assuming their strengths will remain uncorrupted, even in exile (as Yosef's did). Yaakov responds (by wanting to view their righteousness more closely) that he is not concerned about their characteristics, but whether they will be able to continue to channel them towards the proper upkeep of tradition. Yaakov, perhaps convinced that at least his grandsons had maintained their righteousness even in exile, prays and wishes that they "remain loyal to the Jewish tradition, as had his own sons, without exception."

Sadly we are far from unscathed, and we have lost many of our bretheren along the way. Worse, many of our nation have taken the very talents and gifts that our forefathers passed on to us, and have used them in a misguided way; all the while thinking they are fulfilling tradition and the Will of our Creator. We have many wonderful traditions in our religion and, due to the distant and distinct lands we have lived in during our exile, they are as diverse as they are deep. BUT, they must be authentic. Chai is not nearly as meaningful of a number when it is directed to non-Jewish causes. So while there are many things about our traditions that I still need to learn, I am certain of one thing: When I see an article whose title begins "Jewish Tradition:", I know the next words to follow are that......IT'S NOT CHINESE TO ME!!

Good Shabbos.

This week's TMOT is dedicated in memory of my Mother, Rus bas Tzvi Noach (HK"M).