Torah For Christians: Under New Ownership
"There arose in Egypt a Pharaoh who knew not Joseph." Was he unaware of Joseph or did her choose not to know Joseph? That is the question to answer on this episode of Torah for Christians.
Torah for Christians
Season Four Episode Two
UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP
First broadcast on June 20, 2022
A new king arose in Egypt who did not know Joseph (Ex. 1.8)
The Israelites got a new boss. Then, the trouble began. You know what comes next.
I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr and this is Torah for Christians.
MUSIC
Welcome to Torah for Christians. I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr.
Have you ever worked for a company that was sold, merged with another, or had a significant change at the top? Aside from the understandable economic uncertainty, how did this affect the culture of the workplace? Did you have to work (or lose) overtime? Were you able to work from home? Did you take an early retirement because of these changes? Did you lose your job? No matter what, life was not the same.
If your experience is not with a large corporation, but rather with a non-profit, think about the inevitable change when the new Executive Director or Board President takes the helm. There are times when workers welcome the new Executive Director as a person of vision and warmth. A new Executive Director might terminate beloved co-workers or cut favorite programs, all in the name of progress.
Even in the mom-and-pop store, change is inevitable. The trusted cashier retires, the janitor who knew more about the business than anyone else dies, the owners receive an “offer they couldn’t refuse,” or the back-room workers wonder what the future will bring when the Wal-Mart opens just down the road.
Such a traumatic change happened in Egypt. When a new dynasty came to power in Egypt, the new Pharaoh, eager to make a name for himself and needing to shed the relics of the previous dynasty, enslaved the previously favored Hebrew tribes. This new Pharaoh was determined to undo the legacy of Joseph, the slave who became Pharaoh’s trusted vizier. This new Pharaoh resented the power and influence of the Israelites and enslaved them due to his fear and jealousy of them. The Hebrews were forced to build great cities for the Pharaohs – although not the pyramids as is commonly assumed. Generations of Hebrews lived and died as slaves; their dreams of freedom and of a return to the Land of Canaan dying with them. This Pharaoh even went so far as to kill the newborn Hebrew males! He threatened the very supply of slave labor that he needed to complete his massive building projects[1].
Today, we find such slavery abhorrent. We work tirelessly to liberate modern-era slaves and end human trafficking. We agonize over our past shortcomings when white Americans and Europeans bought and sold west Africans and their descendants. We understand, as did the Torah, that the natural state of human beings is to be free; anything less is ungodly.
Even as we campaign against physical slavery today, we are still slaves to many other things, such as fashion, our employers, our families, even to our causes. Anything that places us at the mercy of someone – or something – else is enslavement.
I have a friend who is a doctor. He is a wonderful practitioner; his patients love him and are eager to refer him to their friends. One reason he is so beloved is because he is easily accessible. He is always at the office and drop-in patients are welcome. We can see him before school, in the early evening, on Saturday, whenever we need him. And if he is not in the office, he is sure to call us as soon as possible. For us, it is a great situation.
However, I do not think that this is such a good situation for him. He is a slave to his job. I know far too many people like him for whom work is all-consuming – not because of the financial benefit but because they cannot pick their heads up and see that there is just so much more to life than the office. Often their families suffer terribly because of their voluntary enslavement.
Another case in point: years ago, I knew a minister who worked extensively with AIDS patients. This was in the late 1980’s, when AIDS was a death sentence: we did not yet have the medical means to test for and treat HIV; we were only warning gay men to avoid bathhouses and doing little else. It was a terrifying time. He and I were working together in an interfaith network supporting AIDS patients and trying to foster an awareness of this dreaded disease in the general community.
His church offered communion during Sunday morning worship. While there is nothing unique about that, many AIDS patients came to his church because of his special ministry. As he explained to me, his congregants would take communion first, all drinking from the same chalice. Next, the AIDS and HIV positive worshippers would take communion from that very chalice. Finally, he and his family would drink from that same goblet. He structured this sacrament so that his congregation would realize that people didn’t’ get AIDS from a common cup and that it was appropriate to worship with and support AIDS and HIV positive binary and non-binary individuals. To him, Jesus would have been among the AIDS patients, lovingly ministering to them.
While I greatly admired him, his ministry took its toll. After I moved away, I later found out that after several years of counseling, praying with and eventually burying dozens of AIDS patients, he was overwhelmed and resigned from his church. The stress of his calling had left him empty. He had become enslaved to AIDS; his only liberation was to run away. What a loss for those who needed him the most.
Change in our lives does not mean that we must be slaves to that change. We have the power to embrace the change in our work situation. We can moan about it, like the Israelite slaves, or we can do something about it, like Moses. It is not the change that matters; it is instead our reaction to that change that will determine the outcome for us. This, by the way, is the beauty of Judaism: the ability to adapt to such monumental change and survive, both as a faith and a people.
In his book The Success Principles[2], Jack Canfield sets forward an equation: E + R = O. Event plus Response equals Outcome. Stuff happens; that’s E, the Event. We don’t have control over this. A new rabbi, priest or minister for the congregation is an E, an event. It happens.
We only have control over R, Response. Continuing with our example, we can lament the loss of the former clergyperson, we can be angry about the choice that leadership made, we can even leave the congregation. Or we can be ecstatic about the new person arriving with fresh ideas and recommit to the mission. The response is up to us.
O, Outcome is the result of our Response. If we decide to be supportive, the outcome for us goes in one direction. If we decide to leave the congregation, that means an outcome in a different direction. We choose the Outcome due to our Reaction to an Event.
How does this relate to the Pharaoh who knew not Joseph?
This is the event in question. Pharaoh’s response to his rise was to enslave the Israelites. The outcome for Pharaoh was that he now had a large slave labor force, able to construct huge structures. Another outcome was the economic deprivation of the Israelites and their loss of status in Egyptian society.
Naturally, the Israelites reacted quite differently. Their reaction was, frankly, to submit to their changed status. This change in status broke them; they lost their capacity for independent thought and their ambition. This outcome continued until Moses came to free them, which can be considered God’s reaction to Israel’s enslavement. That outcome we all know well and celebrate at Passover every year. Had the Israelites chosen to fight and not become slaves, the outcome would have been different. But that’s just speculation.
There are many lessons to draw from the story of the new Pharaoh’s ascent. However, the three most important ones are:
- When change occurs, we must look for creative ways to adapt to our new situation.
- We must be pro-active and take responsibility for our actions.
- God is good.
Our reaction to an event determines the outcome. That response is our choice to make. Nobody can choose a response but us. While there might be many options available, and many people offering opinions and data, ultimately, we affirm or reject those options. That’s called making a decision, a Response.
To create a favorable outcome, being both pro-active and creative are essential. I referred earlier to our ability as Jews to adapt to changing conditions. When the Babylonians carried the residents of Judah into captivity, the remnants returned as Jews, along with the written Torah. When the Romans destroyed the Second Temple, Jews created the Oral Torah: the Mishnah and later the Talmud. When England, France and Spain expelled their Jewish populations, we found new lands in which to thrive. And when the Enlightenment came to Europe, Jews created their own form of Enlightenment, the Haskalah, allowing for liberal and modern Orthodox forms of Judaism to emerge so that we could live amongst with Christians neighbors, away from our isolated ghettos yet still maintain our Jewish identity.
Finally, a believe in a loving God is essential. While there are many ways in by which we as Jews view God, the common components are that 1) there is a God and 2) God is good. Jews cannot today believe in a capricious God; that if we follow the mitzvot, good things will come to us. If we do not follow all the mitzvot, or don’t follow them at all, we are punished. Today though, we cannot accept this. Today, we believe there is always hope that we will return to the proper way of life. Teshuvah, repentance, and not punishment, is the Jewish ideal. That is a response to momentous changes in Judaism – and in world civilization – over the centuries.
If we remember these three lessons, to be creative, to be proactive and to have an overarching believe in Divine benevolence, we can respond to any change in a positive way. When we are respons-able for our responses to change; we determine the outcome of that change. We must be sure, in this rapidly changing world, to manage such change so that we can prosper and enable others to prosper.
Once again, let me review the three principles so central to Moses’ story.
When change occurs, look for creative ways to adapt to our new situation.
Be pro-active and take responsibility.
God is good.
This is the perfect time to announce that we have a new website, www.torahforchristians.com, where you can access previous episodes, transcripts, write a comment or ask a question, catch up on my Substack columns, Wednesday Torah and Bible Stories They (Never) Taught You in Religious School – or even book me as a speaker. Soon, there will also be a membership opportunity, which will entitle you to a free e-book and members-only ZOOM talks, when we can interact in real time. There’s a lot on the horizon so sign up for our mailing list and become a part of our community.
I want to thank you for listening to Torah for Christians. If you enjoyed this podcast, tell your friends, and spread the word. You are the reason for our success. And whether you identify as a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim or even as a skeptic, we are all in this together. So please remember: Hinei Mah Tov… L’hitra’ot, till we meet again. I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr and this is Torah for Christians.
NOTES:
[1]This is the inevitable result of his decree that all male babies would be cast into the river.
[2] Canfield, Jack: The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (Jack Canfield, 2005), pp. 5-7.
