Portion of the Portion

GASH

In two verses in this week’s portion the Torah uses the root word GASH. The first location is in B’reishit 44:22, for which the portion gets its name. It starts VAYIGASH YEHUDA - Yehuda walked up to Joseph and said let me say something to you personally - in your ear. This is Yehuda’s way of being responsible for his brother and getting his message across to Yosef.
The second place is later on - 45:4, when Yosef reveals his true identity to his brothers. The brothers are embarrassed. First Yosef makes everyone leave the room and he tells his brothers who he is and asks about his father. The brothers are shocked to hear who he is and can’t respond.  Then Yosef says to his brothers, G’SHU NA ELAI - Please come closer to me”. Why did he need them to come close to him? They were alone in the room - why did they need to be so close?
Rashi says that he saw that they moved away from him out of fear of what he might do to them so he tried to calm them down by talking calmly to them and telling them that it was okay to come close to him.
Rashi also brings a Midrash that says he needed them to come close so he could show them that he was circumcised. But doesn’t this seem a strange thing to do when you meet your brothers after so many years? Why did he want to show them that he had been circumcised?
Radak says it was so that they would believe that it was really Yosef. But one can ask - the Arabs also do circumcision, and Rashi tells us in 41:55 that Yosef had instructed everyone in Egypt to circumcise themselves if they wanted to get food from him. So Yosef’s being circumcised wasn’t such a big deal - there were lots of other people in Egypt like him. What did he want to show his brothers?
Chizkuni answers this question by saying that the poor Egyptians circumcised themselves because they had no choice - they had to if they wanted to get food from Yosef. But the rich Egyptians didn’t bother to because they had enough to eat. It wasn’t convenient or necessary for them. Yosef, as the viceroy could have gotten away without circumcising himself. He wanted to show his brothers that even though he had been living in the palace in Egypt for so many years he was still a G-d fearing Jew who followed the ways of the children of Israel.
This past week my daughter had a baby boy, so I will be zocheh to be at the Brit Mila of my first grandson. Although parents normally would never dream of inflicting pain on and drawing blood from their child , we all celebrate the MILA with a festive air. It is because we have a unique opportunity - a moment of TIKUN OLAM when man becomes partner with G-d in perfecting the world. BRIT MILA is a physical sign attesting to a covenant of the heart. It is a symbol of Jewish distinctiveness and a testimony to inclusion of this child within the Jewish people - a seal of Jewish eternity as G-d’s chosen people. This is definitely a cause for celebration.
We should not take this mitzva lightly. There have always been Jews who have given their lives throughout the generations to guard this act. Unfortunately there have been those who have neglected this commandment as well - We just celebrated Chanuka - when the Greeks decreed against circumcision. At that time there were Jews who tried to reverse the circumcision that had been done to them as children. And there are people nowadays who want to do away with BRIT MILA all together. Also in the time of Eliyahu HaNavi there were people who neglected circumcision. Eliyahu defended G-d’s honor against this neglect and (Melachim Alef 19:10) therefore Hashem told him that Jews would perform circumcision only when he sees it with his own eyes. That is why there is a KISEI SHEL ELIYAHU - a special chair at the BRIT for Eliyahu. Eliyahu, who never died, is also the MALACH HABRIT - the angel or messenger of the BRIT (Malachi 3:1) who will come to herald the redemption - may it come speedily in our days.
The Rabbis have compared a BRIT to a Korban and eating at a SEUDAT BRIT to eating a Temple sacrifice. For that reason some people will serve only meaty at a BRIT.

HERE IS A MEAT RECIPE that uses up the leftover chickpeas from the Shalom Zachar.

MEAT & CHICK PEAS STEW
1/3 cup flour
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 lb. (1 kilo) boneless stew meat,  cut into 1-inch squares
2 Tbsp. oil
1 (28 oz.) can tomatoes, cut up
1 cup water
2 (3”) cinnamon sticks
2 (4”) strips orange peel
1 Tbsp. instant minced garlic
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. sugar
4 carrots, cut into 1 inch sticks
2 (15 oz.) cans chick peas, drained

In a large plastic bag combine flour, salt and pepper. Add 1/3 of the meat cubes; shake to coat with flour mixture. Remove meat. Repeat twice with remaining meat.  Cook meat in hot oil about 10 minutes or until browned. Remove from heat. Stir in undrained tomatoes, water, cinnamon sticks, orange peel, garlic, cumin and sugar. Simmer, covered, about 1 1/4 hours or until meat is almost tender. Add carrots; cook, covered, until tender, about 20 minutes. Stir in chick peas; cook 5 minutes more or until heated through. Serve over couscous or rice.

• Other Portion of the Portion
• SHOV'VIM TAT
• The Women in Sh'mot
• Fanatic? Who Me?