This week’s Torah parsha (portion) is Shemot, Hebrew for “Names.” It is the first parsha in the second book of the Torah. We begin with a list of the names of Joseph’s eleven brothers who came to Egypt with Jacob (Joseph was already there). Joseph dies and there is a description of a prolific growth of the Israelites. In a dramatic turn of events, we learn, “A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, ‘Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous for us. Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase…’ (Shemot 1:8-10).”

In his book The Heart of Torah: Volume 1 – Essays on the Weekly Torah Portion: Genesis and Exodus, Rabbi Shai Held shares:

Commenting on Pharaoh’s purported ignorance of Joseph, a midrash asks, “But how can this be, for to this very day, the Egyptians know the kindness Joseph did for them?!” Rather, the midrash answers, “Pharaoh knew Joseph but did not pay him adequate attention and was ungrateful to him. And in the end, he was ungrateful to God as well, as it says, ‘I do not know the Lord.’ From this we learn”, the midrash adds, “that ingratitude is closely related to rejection of God” (Midrash Ha-Gadol to Exodus 1:8). When the Torah tells us Pharaoh did not “know” Joseph, in other words, it means to suggest not that Pharaoh was unacquainted with Joseph, but rather that he did not acknowledge Joseph and the great debt that Egypt as a whole, and Pharaoh in particular, owed him.

Rabbi Held continues, “Gratitude and ingratitude are ways of being in the world – the former has the potential to pervade and enrich every corner of our lives, and the latter has the power to metastasize and poison every aspect of our being. Pharaoh’s ingratitude permeates his entire world, and it drives his life in endlessly destructive ways.”

In contrast to Pharaoh is Moses, grateful and humble. In the interest of time and minimizing your scrolling, I won’t dig deeper in to how these figures are so different from one another.

We have the choice to decide how we make our way through our days. Are we grateful for the people we encounter, the relationships we form, and the lessons we learn along the way (even when things don’t fully go as planned), or are we stubborn, solely focused on ourselves, not recognizing or acknowledging the larger ecosystems we are part of?

As we move into Shabbat, I encourage you to make time to acknowledge and express gratitude to the Eternal, to the people you encounter, and for the experiences that shape your days.

Shabbat Shalom!