Something similar happens in the Torah this week. The patriarch Jacob sits on his deathbed and
speaks of the future. Then he dies and
is buried, his quarrelsome sons gathered uneasily for the rites. When the Book of Genesis closes, favorite son
Joseph, too, will have met his Maker.
Mandela reminds me of Joseph. Each was a chieftain’s son. Each dreamt of a bright future. Each spent long years languishing in prison,
and each was released to ascend the heights of power. Each managed to put aside bitterness and
pursue reconciliation. Each accepted the
supreme challenge of transforming a nation, and each succeeded. Each combined great leadership with profound
humility.
How does it happen that the Torah speaks of the burial of a
great leader on just the week that a great leader is laid to rest? Is it cosmic coincidence or the hand of God
that two men teach us anew how to dream?
Who can explain the mystery of being reminded again and again of the
power of forgiveness? The Torah never
ceases to astound me.
Lest we forget: every
single person has been in prison – perhaps not prisons of bars and barbed wire,
but certainly prisons of resentment, of harmful patterns, or of inability to
see a better way. People can make their
own prisons. Let Joseph and Mandela both
remind us that the doors of every jail can swing open, and that one day we,
too, can be wholly free.
From now on, Joseph’s rainbow-colored coat will evoke for me
the promise of Mandela’s Rainbow Nation, and a better day for all. Zichronam l’vracha – their memories
are a blessing.
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