Sacks 6/7:6 or 7 Insights by Rabbi Sacks in the Coming Parshiyot

As an official grandfather and person deep into his middle age years, I know I am not alone as someone who has fell into the trap of “6/7:.

The first time I fell into the 6/7 trap, I was teaching 10th graders who caught me when I was talking about Shabbat and said, “It’s 6 and 7, 6 days of work, 7 makes it complete”. The response was laughs. 

6/7, according to AI,  “is intentionally nonsensical, often used as a meaningless response online, originating from a rapper's song… Its meaning is to be undefinable, sometimes meaning "so-so," but its primary function is to be a nonsensical and frustrating placeholder.”

As nonsensical as it is, say 6/7 to anyone under 30 and you will get a look.

This year, in my parsha learning, I have been diving into the new Koren edition of the Chumash with translation and commentary from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.

Throughout the week, already, each day, I pick up a thought or an inspiration that I have been sharing with students and colleagues. This is something that Rabbi Sacks was tremendously gifted at–sharing deeply meaningful and spiritual lessons with accessible, concise language. 

In that spirit, every week or so, depending on the Parsha, I will share 6 or 7 insights from Rabbi Sacks that stuck out to me and will inspire us in the coming week or weeks.

Bvracha,

Aaron 

Insight #1-וַיֵּשֶׁב on 37:1

The Quiet Life is Often Not Realistic

 37:1 וַיֵּשֶׁב יַעֲקֹב Yaakov settled…"Having fled twice, once from his brother Esav, a second time from his father-in-law Lavan, he longs for a quiet life. He will not achieve it. The Sages said: “Yaakov sought to dwell in peace; immediately there broke upon him the storm of Yosef” (Rashi, commentary on Gen. 37:2, on the basis of Bereshit Rabba 84:3). (p. 265)

Insight #2-וַיֵּשֶׁב - on 37:4 

Human Relationships are Blessedly Complicated

”To create a universe, Genesis implies, is easy. It takes up no more than a single chapter (1:1–2:3). To create a human relationship is difficult. Yaakov’s love for Yosef – innocent, human, benign – generates envy and hate. It is this honest confrontation with complexity that makes Genesis so profound a religious text. It refuses to simplify the human condition.” (p. 264)

Insight #3-וַיֵּשֶׁב on 37:20

Angels Come into Our Lives

“When Heaven intends something to happen, and it seems to be impossible, sometimes it sends an angel down to earth – an angel who does not know he or she is an angel – to move the story from here to there.

I believe that there are times when we feel lost, and then someone says or does something that lifts us or points the way to a new direction and destination. Years later, looking back, we see how important that intervention was, even though it seemed slight at the time. That is when we know that we too encountered an angel who didn’t know he or she was an angel.” (p.269)

Insight #4-וַיֵּשֶׁב on 38:26 

The Heroic Act of Admitting We Are Wrong

"Yehudah is the first person in the Torah to explicitly admit he is wrong. We do not realize it yet, but this seems to be the moment at which he acquires the depth of character necessary for him to become the first baal teshuva, the first penitent. We see this years later, when he – the man who proposed selling Yosef as a slave – becomes the man who is willing to spend the rest of his life in slavery so that his brother Binyamin can go free (Gen. 44:33). I have argued elsewhere that it is from here that we learn the principle that a penitent stands higher than even a perfectly righteous individual (Berakhot 34b). While Yehuda the penitent becomes the ancestor of Israel’s kings, Yosef the righteous is only a viceroy, mishneh lemelekh, second to the king.” (p. 278)

Insight #5-וַיֵּשֶׁב on 40:8

Listening to the Vulnerable

“Now in prison, home to the most powerless, Yosef’s attentiveness to his fellow inmates will ultimately – though indirectly – change the course of world events. If the opportunity to help a vulnerable other presents itself, advises Rambam, do not hesitate. Our next act might tilt the balance of someone else’s life and our own. We are not inconsequential. We can make a difference to our world. When we do so, we become God’s partners in the work of redemption.” (p. 284)

Insight #6-וַיֵּשֶׁב on 40:23

Life is Lived Forward and Understood Backwards

“Do not think you understand the story of your life at halftime. That is the lesson of Yosef. There is no way of predicting how the story will end on the basis of the events so far. The good things that are about to happen may be because of the bad things that have happened to you. Thus far may be the necessary prelude to the good things that are about to happen because of your ability to survive, seen through the eye of faith, today’s curse may be the beginning of tomorrow’s blessing.” (p. 288)