This week’s Parsha is "Miketz," which means "At the end" and it can be found in Bereishit, or the book of Genesis.

This parsha continues with the story of Joseph, and his time in Egypt. When the Pharaoh dreams of seven fat cows that are swallowed up by seven lean cows, and of seven fat ears of grain swallowed by seven lean ears, Joseph is brought in to interpret his dreams. Joseph interprets the dreams to mean that seven years of plenty will be followed by seven years of hunger, and advises Pharaoh to store grain during the plentiful years. This leads to the end of Joseph’s imprisonment, and Pharaoh appoints Joseph governor of Egypt.

As predicted, famine soon spread throughout the region. In order to obtain food for themselves, 10 of Joseph's brothers journey to Egypt. Joseph immediately recognizes his brothers, but they don’t recognize him. Joseph then accuses them of being spies, and demands that they bring Joseph’s other brother, Benjamin, back to Egypt with them. When the brothers return back, Joseph invites them to a meal at his house. Joseph then plants his silver goblet in Benjamin’s bags, and then accuses his brothers of stealing it. Once the goblet is found, Joseph allows the rest of his brothers to return home, but keeps Benjamin as a slave with him in Egypt. 

This Parsha is quite interesting because there are a few things we can take away from it. For starters, we have the idea of karma, and what comes around goes around. Joseph’s brothers were pretty cruel to him, and look where they ended up. Joseph ended up as governor of Egypt, while his brothers were left hungry, begging him for food. The Parsha also brings up the ideas of healing, through repentance and forgiveness. 

Take some time this Shabbat and think about both forgiveness, and how your actions may up impact others and yourself. 

Shabbat Shalom

Rebecca Salomon, Regional Shlicha,  Big Apple Region