Prayer for Reconciliation, Unity and Peace Within the Family

Parashat Vayigash

Prayer for Reconciliation, Unity, and Peace Within the Family 

So many beautiful families are sadly split apart.

Sentiments of love and peace I yearn to impart.

 

Why do our vital relationships have to be so askew?

Hashem, please help us to heal, so we can start anew!

Truth is to see the whole picture from A to Z

For that, we need to be moving from ‘me’ to ‘we.’

 

Hashem, help open our perception beyond the narrow lies,

so we can relate and regard each other with refreshed eyes.

 

Guide us to become good daughters, wives, sisters, and mothers,   

to relate seamlessly and get along with our sisters and brothers.

 

Hashem, help us repair our essential family bond,

so we can show love to every one of whom we are fond.

 

On our path to healing our relationship’s hurtful breach,

help us stir away from satiric, insensitive speech.

Rectified communication is such a vital art.

Teach us to speak clearly, directly from our heart.

 

Purify our ears from anything we may have misheard.

Let us realize that the ‘offence’ may never have occurred. 

 

May we resolve misunderstandings and clean out old pain,

so that our arduous efforts to reconcile won’t be in vain!

 

Help us realize that painful interaction comes to release

old festering wounds, so that the soreness can finally cease.

 

Who has appointed us to become prosecutor and judge?

Let us remove the slightest tinge of resentment and grudge!

 

Why must we carry the burden of aversion and spite,

when letting it go clears away the obstacles to unite.

 

Refine our hearts from every negative emotion and lack of love,

Remember we are only human, and we need help from the One Above.   

Based on the Book of Bereishit Chapter 45 verse 3-7

 

ספר בראשית פרק מה פסוק ג

וַיֹּאמֶר יוֹסֵף אֶל אֶחָיו אֲנִי יוֹסֵף הַעוֹד אָבִי חָי וְלֹא יָכְלוּ אֶחָיו לַעֲנוֹת אֹתוֹ כִּי נִבְהֲלוּ מִפָּנָיו:

(ד) וַיֹּאמֶר יוֹסֵף אֶל אֶחָיו גְּשׁוּ נָא אֵלַי וַיִּגָּשׁוּ וַיֹּאמֶר אֲנִי יוֹסֵף אֲחִיכֶם אֲשֶׁר מְכַרְתֶּם אֹתִי מִצְרָיְמָה:

(ה) וְעַתָּה אַל תֵּעָצְבוּ וְאַל יִחַר בְּעֵינֵיכֶם כִּי מְכַרְתֶּם אֹתִי הֵנָּה כִּי לְמִחְיָה שְׁלָחַנִי אֱלֹהִים לִפְנֵיכֶם:... (ז) וַיִּשְׁלָחֵנִי אֱלֹהִים לִפְנֵיכֶם לָשׂוּם לָכֶם שְׁאֵרִית בָּאָרֶץ וּלְהַחֲיוֹת לָכֶם לִפְלֵיטָה גְּדֹלָה

“Then Yosef said to his brothers, ‘I am Yosef. Is my father still alive?’ but his brothers could not answer him because they were startled by his presence. Then Yosef said to his brothers, ‘Please come closer to me,’ and they drew closer. And he said, ‘I am your brother Yosef, whom you sold into Egypt. But now do not be grieved, nor angry with yourselves that you sold me here; for it was to preserve life that G-d sent me before you G-d sent me before you to make for you a remnant in the land, and to preserve you alive for a great deliverance” (Bereishit 45:5,7).

PARSHAT VAYIGASH from TAL CHERMON

By Rav Shlomo Aviner, translated by Bracha Slae

 

ספר בראשית פרק מה פסוק יד וַיִּפֹּל עַל צַוְּארֵי בִנְיָמִן אָחִיו וַיֵּבְךְּ וּבִנְיָמִן בָּכָה עַל צַוָּארָיו:

(טו) וַיְנַשֵּׁק לְכָל אֶחָיו וַיֵּבְךְּ עֲלֵהֶם וְאַחֲרֵי כֵן דִּבְּרוּ אֶחָיו אִתּוֹ:

“He fell on his brother Binyamin’s neck, and he wept, and Binyamin wept on his neck” (Bereishit 45:14). “And he wept - over the two Temples which would be built on Binyamin’s portion, and would be destroyed, and Binyamin wept over the Mishkan of Shiloh which would be built on Yosef’s land and would ultimately be destroyed” (Rashi, ibid.).

Why are the brothers crying now, at the time of their great joy, over the future destruction? And why is each one crying over the misfortune of the other and not over his own? We know that the Temples were destroyed because of baseless hatred (Yoma 9:2). Now when Binyamin and Yosef were reunited, they realized that the separation they had suffered was caused by baseless hatred, and they immediately foresaw the future Destruction, another result of baseless hatred. That is why they cried. That same baseless hatred that had caused them so much suffering would also be the source of future calamities.

 

The cure for baseless hatred is to promote the growth of mutual love until his friend’s pain hurts him more than his own does. Therefore, each brother wept over the others misfortune, teaching us that what was most important to each one was what happened to the other. This was despite the fact that the Temple of Binyamin could not have been built until the Mishkan of Yosef had been destroyed. Nevertheless, Binyamin would have preferred that his Mikdash not even be built if it entailed the destruction of his brother’s. 

Love is the cure for baseless hatred. 

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