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Live With Death; Die With Life |
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Written by Shimon Posner
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Tuesday, 25 December 2012 00:34 |
If you want to know what a bureaucracy does, suggests PJ O'Rourke, watch it when it does nothing. If you want to know what people think about life, watch them when death sticks out his calling card.
Many act like it ain't happening. They dress the dead in tuxes and ballroom dresses and do the dead's hair and apply them with make-up. We're here to celebrate a life, they chirp, while the elephant in the room swishes his large head.
They exchange stories of (I'm not making this up) the deceased's delicious flanken and chicken soup (we called them Godzilla balls!) and they solemnly vow to keep the condo in Boca "because Dad loved the water". But this ignoring of death is not simply ignorance; this ignoring speaks of a deep, silent fear: a fear of the unknown.
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Written by Naftali Silberberg
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Wednesday, 19 December 2012 18:16 |
"But now do not be sad, and let it not trouble you that you sold me here, for it was to preserve life that G-d sent me before you... You did not send me here, but G-d, and He made me a father to Pharaoh, a lord over all his household, and a ruler over the entire land of Egypt... (Joseph to his brothers, Genesis 45:5, 8).
Needless to say, most people in a similar situation would have reacted very differently. In hindsight, G-d's hand in the events which led to Joseph being elevated to royalty is unmistakable. It is easy for us, however, to view the entire story objectively. But Joseph had suffered the agony of being sold into slavery and being alone in an alien country for over two decades because of his brothers' actions. His ability to see beyond his personal pain, and appreciate the Divine strategy which brought him to Pharaoh's palace, is a testament to Joseph's self-control and maturity of wisdom.
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Written by Yitschak Meir Kagan
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Wednesday, 12 December 2012 20:43 |
The Torah portion of Miketz relates how the seven years of plenty came to an end as foretold by Joseph, and "... the entire land of Egypt hungered, and the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians: 'Go to Joseph (and) do what he will tell you.'"
Commenting on the words "... do what he will tell you," the famed commenter Rashi states: "For Joseph was telling them to circumcise themselves, and when they came to Pharaoh and said 'this is what he tells us [to do],' Pharaoh replied: 'Why didn't you gather produce? Didn't [Joseph] notify you that the famine years were coming?' They said to Pharaoh, 'We indeed gathered much produce -- but it rotted!' He replied, "If that is the case, do everything he will tell you; you see that he decreed against the produce and it rotted -- what if he will decree against us and we die?!'"
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