Last weekend, Congregation Beth Israel hosted Rabbi Jonathan Cohen, Ph.D., as our scholar-in-residence. Just one of our multiple scholar events during the year, Rabbi Cohen, a lawyer, former dean of HUC-JIR, and former congregational rabbi, his depth and breadth of Torah and interpretation were gifts to us.

In particular, Rabbi Cohen’s D’var Torah on Friday night included the role of the weekend’s b’nei mitzvah boys. In his remarks, he urged them to see themselves as future Jewish leaders. His reference point was the Torah portion, itself, where Jacob, on his death bed, blessed each of his sons individually and respectively. Judah received a blessing that included his father’s awareness of his courage and destiny. Calling him a lion, he accentuated his position above all creatures and his noble quality in nature. As a person, he was the sibling who, despite some critics, managed to save his brother, Joseph, from death. The story is filled with reasons even to question Judah’s actions, but we recall, as I have taught, long before Joseph was left in a pit and his brothers tattled on him to their father, Jacob responded to them that he would “keep the matter in mind.”

It was the commentator’s conclusion that Jacob had a positive insight founded on faith about how events would unfold. Though the journey was long and arduous, Jacob was right, and Judah participated in ways that secured his father’s trust in his people’s future. We are, thus, the descendants of Jacob, for sure, but more specifically, the descendants of Judah. We hear it in our name, Jews and Judaism, from the tribe of Judah.

When Rabbi Cohen related this Torah portion to the b’nei mitzvah boys whose Torah portion it was, he did more than express a courtesy. He bound them to Torah and the obligation each generation that is fortunate to be brought up to Torah should bear, not only in the weight of the scroll in their arms, but also the duty they bear in their hearts. Furthermore, Rabbi Cohen referenced the conditions that prevailed in the time of Jacob that caused his family to be in Egypt. Famine, economic strife, military power, and regional conflict drove them to find sustenance. Little did they know that they would find Joseph and a path to prosperity.

Everyone in the congregation that evening understood the relevance of the rabbi’s reference to our times. As I commented to him afterwards, “The more things change the more they stay the same.” And therefore the lion of Judah from which we descend must emerge again in our spirit, our soul, and our might to see our future as a product of what we accomplish together, and in what the next generation joins us in doing.

If you have any doubts, rest assured that the roles of both young men on their bar mitzvah day is all the proof we need that the future is at hand. They are the products of The Shlenker School and The Emery/Weiner School. To date, they demonstrated the unique ability of Jewish day schools to prepare young people not only to carry Judaism into the world, but to address the world as knowledgeable and self-respecting Jews.

What remains is how we, who are long past the age of b’nei mitzvah, will see ourselves as the descendants of Judah. Will we live up to the legacy of his blessing and be lions who hold fast against the tides of antisemitism, anti-Zionism, and the painful denial of Jewish values that have contributed vastly to the well-being and prosperity of our nation and the world? It isn’t too much to ask ourselves; not if we expect our young Jewish adults to take the lead after us.

May we live up to our good name.

L’Shalom,