Parshat Vayechi

Rabbi David Hoffman

Was Abe Lincoln Honest? 

Some of the more amusing commercials running on television today are put out by GEICO. One series of ads begins with the question, "Would switching to GEICO save you money on car insurance?" My favorite in this series addresses the potential consumer with yet another question: "Was Abe Lincoln honest?!" What follows is grainy footage of Abe Lincoln's wife asking him if the dress she just tried on looks flattering on her; we then see Honest Abe struggle, trying to suppress his opinion ultimately without success. He tells Mrs. L. the bad news and she walks away from him in frustration and, one would imagine, anger. Abe Lincoln was so honest that he would not even compromise his truth telling in order to protect his wife's feelings. (The message is: of course, Abe Lincoln was honest, and of course, GEICO can save you money on car insurance.) What is memorable is that Abe doesn't make the decision that most of us would have made: he doesn't offer the small, white lie for what we might consider to be the greater good of protecting his wife's feelings.

A well-known reading of our Torah portion for this Shabbat finds a source from the story of Joseph's interactions with his brothers for the idea that the small fib-the white lie-is religiously justified in certain circumstances. After Jacob's death, the brothers keep their promise to their father and take his body back to Canaan to bury him in the cave of Makhpelah, the burial site of his ancestors. At the conclusion of the mourning period, the family returns to Egypt without Jacob. As the brothers settle back into their lives in Egypt, a familiar anxiety begins to blossom. They express their fear: "What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrong that we did him!" (Gen. 50:15).

In truth, this seems like worry well-placed. Behind their words lies an unspoken incredulity perhaps complicated by lingering guilt. In the terseness of the text, I imagine the brothers' conversation held behind closed doors: "Is it possible that Joseph really forgave us for taking him from his family and selling him into slavery? We have not spoken of the incident in the 17 years since our reconciliation with him. In fact, we have never asked for his forgiveness for the terrible wrong we perpetrated against him (see chapter 45). Perhaps Joseph has patiently waited for our father's passing before he moved to settle old scores?" 

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for additional insights on this week's parsha and others, visit The JTS Torah Commentary archive: http://www.jtsa.edu