Coming Full Circle: from Joseph's Wagons to Kavana's Year-in-Review
This week, in Parashat Vayigash, the Joseph story comes full circle! The parasha opens with Judah pleading with Joseph (now a high official in Pharaoh's court) not to keep the youngest brother Benjamin as a prisoner. The brothers collectively seem to have passed Joseph's test -- their willingness to protect Benjamin marks a dramatic change from their earlier abuse and abandonment of Joseph -- and he reveals his true identity to them.
Next, Joseph seeks to reunite with his father Jacob, who still resides in the land of Israel. As the conversation unfolds, one surprising detail in the text of Genesis 45 is that "wagons" (Hebrew: "agalot") are mentioned over and over again:
v. 19: And you are bidden [to add], ‘Do as follows: take from the land of Egypt wagons for your children and your wives, and bring your father here.
v. 21: The sons of Israel did so; Joseph gave them wagons as Pharaoh had commanded.
v. 27: But when they recounted all that Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.
The presence and prominence of agalot/wagons of course captured the attention of generations of Torah interpreters! Citing a classic midrash (Genesis Rabbah 94:3), Rashi, for example, explained:
"As evidence that it was Joseph who was sending this message he had informed them of the religious subject he had been studying with his father at the time when he left him, viz., the section of the Heifer (עגלה) that had its neck broken (Deuteronomy 21:6). It is to this that Scripture refers in the words “And he saw (i.e comprehended the meaning of) the עגלות (here to be taken in sense of Heifer) which Joseph had sent — and it does not state “which Pharaoh had sent” (as one would expect if עגלות meant wagons)."
In other words, Rashi and the midrash are using word play to connect the word "eglah" to "agalot"... a clever interpretation, given that the concept of "eglah arufah" fundamentally is about who bears responsibility for wrongdoing, a conceptual question that certainly could be applied to Joseph's own personal story.
Another explanation I've been thinking about this week is that the Hebrew word "agalot" can also mean "circles" or "cycles." In sending wagons from Egypt to his father Jacob, it is possible that Joseph was alluding to the ways in which his own life had come full circle. In this sense, the agalot could signify acceptance and forgiveness, making these wagons not only a tangible mode of transportation (sort of like sending a car to pick him up!) but also a beautiful symbolic invitation to Jacob to join with all of his children in Egypt for a family reunion.
Circles and cycles are so important throughout Jewish tradition. When I hear the word "agalot," I also can't help but think of the phrase "ma'aglei tzedek" from Psalm 23... often translated "right paths" but literally meaning "circles of justice." (Incidentally, this concept of "circles of justice" is the reason the Israeli Supreme Court building in Jerusalem incorporates so many curves and circles into its architecture!) And finally, one other important cycle is established in this parasha: the cycle of exile and return, which is both demonstrated on a personal/family level and set up on a collective/national level in this week's Torah portion.
Musing on the theme of agalot, circles, and cycles feels particularly appropriate during this, the last week of calendar year 2022. This is the week when we're all awash in year-in-review summaries; it can feel satisfying to see stories circle back on themselves as they come to a close.
As 2022 draws to a close, it's lovely to be able to reflect on how far we at Kavana have come over the past 12 months (our small circle) and also over the past almost 17 years (our larger circle). When we look back on 2022, we will always remember this as the year in which Kavana emerged from our pandemic triage mode into a new phase of growth, expansiveness, and new community offerings! This year, our educational programs returned to in-person formats (to the delight of students of all ages!); Kavana hosted glorious Purim and High Holiday "festival-style" events; we've continued to support our partners through life-cycle moments both wonderful and challenging; we sent our first-ever travel group to Israel and the West Bank; we hired three incredibly talented new full-time staff members (welcome, Rabbi Jay, Rachel O, and Avital!); and we participated in a Project Accelerate cohort to strengthen our organizational capacity... including a successful fundraising campaign that will unlock matching funds and will lay the groundwork for continued growth and evolution in the year(s) to come!
My Kavana co-founder, Suzi LeVine, recently shared with me a document we created before Kavana was formally launched -- a "Kavana Cooperative Executive Summary" dated January 2006 -- in which we had attempted to commit our initial vision to paper. Back then, we wrote: "We hope to create a pluralistic and non-denominational community group in Seattle making Judaism joyous through spiritual, educational, communal, and next-generational programming." While Kavana's language and demographics have certainly shifted a bit during the many years since 2006, our core aspiration remains pretty much intact. It feels incredibly gratifying to circle back to this early articulation of our vision in order to be able to see just how far we have come!
Thank you for being part of the story, and for traveling these circles with the Kavana community. As we read this week about the wagons that Joseph sent to his father Jacob, we too can consider how meaningful it is to be tied to one another in ever-cycling ways. As one year comes full circle and we move together into the next, here's to a wonderful 2023 for all of us!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum
