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Vayeshev - December 24, 2005

Hineini.

Here I Am.

A response to a call, a response to a request. In a small way, it was my response to Rabbi Meiri when she asked me to do the D’var Torah today.

When we hear the word Hineini, we usually think of the Akaida, the binding of Isaac. In that story, Hineini was Abraham’s response when God called his name, stopping him from killing Isaac. It marked a cessation of action, a change in direction, a new dimension in Abraham’s relationship with God.

Hineini is used again in today’s parasha, Vayeshev. The parasha begins describing Joseph as a 17 year old youth, the favorite son of Jacob, hated by his brothers. We are told of two of his dreams, which his brothers interpret to mean that Joseph saw himself as ruling over them, fueling their hatred of him. Between the lines of the story we feel a sense of egotism in Joseph. He was pampered, the son of the favorite wife, and his brothers were both jealous of him and resentful toward him. The dreams were the last straw. And through it all, Jacob, his father, knew of the anger and disgust that his sons felt for Joseph.

Yet, Jacob asks Joseph to go to his brothers, who were tending sheep in another region, to see how they were doing. And Joseph responds “Hineini.”

Why?
Jacob could have most likely sent someone else to check on his sons, if that was truly the purpose of the journey. The text clearly states that Jacob knew of the friction between Joseph and his other sons, He also knew that his sons were capable of violence, as we remember from the story of Dina. Why would he send Joseph into a potentially dangerous situation?

And why the word Hineini? Surely other words could have been chosen?

Joseph’s Hineini connects us to Abraham’s Hineini- a cessation of action, a turn in direction, a new relationship to God. It suggests that at that moment, Joseph was perhaps more than an impetuous youth of 17 saying; ” Sure, dad, I’ll go,” in innocence and arrogance. It suggests that Joseph had reached a level of maturity and understanding that this was a pivotal moment in his life. It was a connection between the physical reality of his actions and his world with the beginning of his spiritual connection with God and the mission he was destined to pursue. It was a real change in direction.

Perhaps Jacob recognized that in Joseph’s ability to dream, he was destined for something that could only be realized if he was sent out to meet his fate. Most likely, Jacob saw himself in Joseph. Both had prophetic dreams that ultimately brought the Jewish people to the next step in their journey. But what a painful choice to make- sending out your child to meet the unknown, while aware of the dangers that could be encountered. It is a part of life that we all face daily, in every phase of our loved one’s lives. Jacob, heartbroken when his sons returned without Joseph, mourned his decision and his loss until he was amazingly reunited with him later in his life.

What courage this takes, both on the part of the one who sends, and the one who accepts the mission to go. Going out into the unknown, knowing the difficulty of this task, never really being ready, but doing it anyway.

Again, we see a parallel to Abraham, who goes forth into a land that he does not know. Ultimately Abraham’s acceptance of this journey leads to a major shift for the Jewish people, as does Joseph’s journey. Both voyages into the unknown lead to the formation of the Jewish people. This theme is repeated again in the story of Moses. He, too, says Hineini when speaking to God in the burning bush, and he, too, somewhat reluctantly, accepts the mission to go, changing the lives of the Jewish people. In each of these stories, the integration of the physical and the spiritual lead to a partnership with God for the purpose of sustaining the Jewish people, forming them into a group with common values and ideals.

It seems that the message is that we have to be willing to accept the call to face the unknown, to go forth, to connect our physical world with our spiritual selves, in order to grow, in order to be who we are destined to be. And we have to be willing to let our loved ones go to meet their destiny, no matter how hard it is, even if we have an understanding of the perils they could face in their journey.

It is never easy, it can be painful, it can also bring great joy.

When we face that moment in our lives, may we each be able to say Hineini.

Sharon Mond