How to Change the World (Vayeshev, Covenant & Conversation)

The Rabbi Sacks Legacy

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 601 Ratings

🗓️ 13 December 2022

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Welcome to Rabbi Sacks' commentary on the weekly Torah portion. This series of Covenant & Conversation essays explores the theme of finding spirituality in the Torah, week by week, parsha by parsha. You can find the full written article on Vayeshev available to read, print, and share, by visiting: www.rabbisacks.org/covenant-conver…eling-the-fear/ The new FAMILY EDITION is now also available: https://www.rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation/vayeshev/how-to-change-the-world/ For more articles, videos, and other material from Rabbi Sacks, please visit www.RabbiSacks.org and follow @RabbiSacks. The Rabbi Sacks Legacy continues to share weekly inspiration from Rabbi Sacks. This piece was originally written and recorded by Rabbi Sacks in 2015. With thanks to the Schimmel Family for their generous sponsorship of Covenant & Conversation, dedicated in loving memory of Harry (Chaim) Schimmel.

Transcript

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0:00.0	How to change the world. In his laws of repentance, Moses Maimonides makes one of the most
0:07.8	empowering statements in religious literature. Having explained that we and the world are judged
0:14.6	by the majority of our deeds, he continues, therefore we should see ourselves throughout the year as if our deeds and those of the world are evenly poised between good and bad,
0:27.4	so that our next act may change both the balance of our lives and that of the world.
0:34.8	We can make a difference and it's potentially immense. That should be our mindset always.
0:42.5	Well, few statements are more at odds with the way the world seems to us most of the time.
0:48.6	Each of us knows that there's only one of us and that there are seven billion others in the world today what
0:55.5	conceivable difference can we make we're no more than a wave in the ocean a
1:00.0	grain of sand on the seashore dust on the surface of infinity is it
1:06.1	conceivable that with one act we could change the trajectory of our life, let alone that of humanity as a whole.
1:14.6	Our Parcia tells us that, yes, it is.
1:18.6	As the story of Jacob's children unfolds, there's a rapid rise of tension between his children
1:24.6	that threatens to spill over into violence. Joseph 11th of
1:30.3	the 12 is Jacob's favourite son. He was, says the Torah, the child of Jacob's old age. More
1:37.6	significantly, he was the first child of Jacob's beloved wife, Rachel. Jacob loved him more than his other sons, and they knew it and resented it.
1:48.5	They were jealous of their father's love. They were provoked by Joseph's dreams of greatness.
1:55.0	The sight of the many-colored robe Jacob had given him as a token of his love provoked them to anger.
2:03.3	Then came the moment of opportunity. The brothers were away, far from home, tending the flocks,
2:10.2	when Joseph appeared in the distance sent by Jacob to see how they were doing. Their envy and
2:16.3	anger reached boiling point and they resolved to take
2:19.2	violent revenge. Here comes that dreamer, they said to one another, come now, let's kill him and
2:25.0	throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a wild animal devoured him. Then we'll see
	...

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