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ShareKeeping Traditions Alive
(כד) וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יוֹסֵף֙ אֶל־אֶחָ֔יו אָנֹכִ֖י מֵ֑ת וֵֽאלֹהִ֞ים פָּקֹ֧ד יִפְקֹ֣ד אֶתְכֶ֗ם וְהֶעֱלָ֤ה אֶתְכֶם֙ מִן־הָאָ֣רֶץ הַזֹּ֔את אֶל־הָאָ֕רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר נִשְׁבַּ֛ע לְאַבְרָהָ֥ם לְיִצְחָ֖ק וּֽלְיַעֲקֹֽב׃ (כה) וַיַּשְׁבַּ֣ע יוֹסֵ֔ף אֶת־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לֵאמֹ֑ר פָּקֹ֨ד יִפְקֹ֤ד אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶתְכֶ֔ם וְהַעֲלִתֶ֥ם אֶת־עַצְמֹתַ֖י מִזֶּֽה׃ (כו) וַיָּ֣מָת יוֹסֵ֔ף בֶּן־מֵאָ֥ה וָעֶ֖שֶׂר שָׁנִ֑ים וַיַּחַנְט֣וּ אֹת֔וֹ וַיִּ֥ישֶׂם בָּאָר֖וֹן בְּמִצְרָֽיִם׃
(24) And Joseph said unto his brothers: ‘I die; but God will surely remember you, and bring you up out of this land to the land which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.’ (25) And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying: ‘God will surely remember you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.’ (26) So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old. And they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
פרקי דרבי אליעזרפרק מז
וכשבאו משה ואהרן אצל זקני ישראל ועשו האותות לעיניהם הלכו אצל סרח בת אשר אמרו לה בא אדם אחד אצלנו ועשה אותות לעינינו כך וכך,
אמרה להם אין באותו ממש,
אמרו לה והרי אמ' פקוד יפקוד אלקים אתכם,
אמרה להם הוא האיש העתיד לגאול את ישראל ממצרים, שכן שמעתי מאבא פ"א פ"א פקוד יפקוד, מיד האמינו העם באלהיהם ובשלוחו,
שנ' ויאמן העם וישמעו כי פקד ה' את עמו (שמות ד,ל"א)
...
ולא נמסרו האותיות אלא לאברהם אבינו, ואברהם אבינו מסרן ליצחק, ויצחק מסרן ליעקב, ויעקב מסרן ליוסף, ויוסף מסרן לאחיו, [ואמר להם "פקוד יפקוד אלקים אתכם" (בר' נ:כד] ואשר בן יעקב מסר סוד הגאולה לסרח בת אשר.
Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer Chapter 27
And when Moshe and Aharon came to the Elders of Israel and made the signs before their eyes, they went to Serach bat Asher and said to her: "A man has come before us with these signs"
She said: "There is nothing to that man".
They said: "He said: G-d will remember you"
She said: "He is the the man who will bring Yisrael out of Egypt, for I heard from my father 'Peh Peh' 'Pakod Yifkod' [are the magic words]
They immediately believed in their G-d and His emissary as it says: "The nation believed and listened because G-d remembered His people". (Shmot 4:31)
...
These letters (peh-peh) were delivered solely to our father Abraham. Our father Abraham delivered them to Isaac, and Isaac [delivered them] to Jacob, and Jacob delivered the mystery of the Redemption to Joseph, as it is said, “But God will surely take notice of you (Pakod yiphkod etkhem)” (Gen. 50:24). Joseph his son delivered the secret of the Redemption to his brothers. Asher, the son of Jacob, delivered the mystery of the Redemption to Serah, his daughter.
Why do you think Serach bat Asher tested Moshe? How do you think he felt about it?
Do you feel like you are being tested to see whether you are faithful to the past?
How do memories of camp work, since it only happens once a year?
Has Covid changed the way we remember camp? How?
How does memory get passed down?
What is the role of a reminder?
Memory and Innovation
[יג] ר' יוחנן הוה יתיב דרש כיצד היו המים עשויין לישר' כחומה. דרש ר' יוחנן כאילין קנקילייא. אדיקת שרח בת אשר ואמרת תמן הוינא ולא הוון אלא כאילין אמפומטא.
Rabbi Yochanan sat and elaborated on how the water became for the Jews like a wall [at the splitting of the Sea] [...] that it was like lattice-work. Serach bat Asher looked out and said, it wasn't like that - it was like a glass window. ...
Serach bat Asher is the only woman named among Jacob's tribe of 70 when they originally go down to Egypt. In the rabbinic imagination, she lives for thousands of years and enters the rabbinic study hall in the Talmudic period.
What would it be like for Rabbi Yochanan to have his version of events corrected by someone who was there?
What would it be like for Serach bat Asher to hear her experience misreported?
Is one of them right? Are there elements of each version which are useful?
Does it compare to the good old days?
This is an account of the construction of the Second Temple, 70 years after the First Temple was destroyed.
The elders who saw the First Temple felt that the Second Temple was far inferior, so they wept. Everyone else was excited to have any temple at all, and so they were happy.
- When have you wept, and when have you been happy, to see new versions of something that was destroyed?
- Return to camp can be intense, especially because of the large groups of people. What does the prophet Ezra experience during his people's return?
- What do you think has come back worse than it used to be? What has come back better? (Doesn't have to be camp-related)
What if we weren't there?
אמר רב יהודה אמר רב בשעה שעלה משה למרום מצאו להקב"ה שיושב וקושר כתרים לאותיות אמר לפניו רבש"ע מי מעכב על ידך אמר לו אדם אחד יש שעתיד להיות בסוף כמה דורות ועקיבא בן יוסף שמו שעתיד לדרוש על כל קוץ וקוץ תילין תילין של הלכות אמר לפניו רבש"ע הראהו לי אמר לו חזור לאחורך הלך וישב בסוף שמונה שורות ולא היה יודע מה הן אומרים תשש כחו כיון שהגיע לדבר אחד אמרו לו תלמידיו רבי מנין לך אמר להן הלכה למשה מסיני נתיישבה דעתו חזר ובא לפני הקב"ה אמר לפניו רבונו של עולם יש לך אדם כזה ואתה נותן תורה ע"י אמר לו שתוק כך עלה במחשבה לפני ...
§ Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: When Moses ascended on High, he found the Holy One, Blessed be He, sitting and tying crowns on the letters of the Torah. Moses said before God: Master of the Universe, who is preventing You from giving the Torah without these additions? God said to him: There is a man who is destined to be born after several generations, and Akiva ben Yosef is his name; he is destined to derive from each and every thorn of these crowns mounds upon mounds of halakhot. It is for his sake that the crowns must be added to the letters of the Torah. Moses said before God: Master of the Universe, show him to me. God said to him: Return behind you. Moses went and sat at the end of the eighth row in Rabbi Akiva’s study hall and did not understand what they were saying. Moses’ strength waned, as he thought his Torah knowledge was deficient. When Rabbi Akiva arrived at the discussion of one matter, his students said to him: My teacher, from where do you derive this? Rabbi Akiva said to them: It is a halakha transmitted to Moses from Sinai. When Moses heard this, his mind was put at ease, as this too was part of the Torah that he was to receive. Moses returned and came before the Holy One, Blessed be He, and said before Him: Master of the Universe, You have a man as great as this and yet You still choose to give the Torah through me. Why? God said to him: Be silent; this intention arose before Me. ...
Do you think what God told Moshe, that it was the same Torah, was comforting?
Do you think it was true?
Is it possible to tap into something that you were never at?