Make it Happen! Take Matters Into Your Own Hands – Vayeshev 5783

There are women throughout history that open doors for the rest to follow. This is the case of Judge Rachel Freier, a modern superwoman. She became a Judge in New York criminal court in 2016. The first Hasidic women to achieve this. The NYT ran an inspiring piece on her. What is astonishing about this story and this woman is that she became a judge while raising 6 children and she stayed within her Hasidic traditions. She dresses as any other Hasidic woman: modest with a wing covering her hair, she prepares for sabbath, she keeps a kosher home and cares for her family. Rachel Freire stayed true to herself, and to her ambitions of being a judge until it happened. When I think of her, chills run through my spine arousing goosebumps in my skin.

What must be noted is Judge Rachel Freier envisioned a future for herself and as challenging as the road ahead looked, she kept at it. She took matters into her own hands to make it happen. “It is my turn to go to school”, she recalls saying to her husband. She didn’t give herself excuses, and there were many she could have found. Judge Freire put herself through school, tended to her children’s needs, kept her home along with the traditions we work with so much effort to keep. “Its never going to happen”, she heard from many people, but that didn’t stir her. She saw the road ahead.

Woman of Valor Make It Happen

Women like Rachel Freier pave the road for all of us. Through their example, they show us, it’s possible. It can be done if you want it bad enough. Throughout history we encounter strong women who give us this message as is with this week’s Parsha and the story of Tamar.

“So she took off her widow’s garb, covered [her head] with a veil and covered her face, and she sat down at the crossroads that were on the way to Timnah, for she saw that Shelah had grown up, but as for her she was not given to him for a wife.”

We know the story; Tamar was married off to 2 of Yehuda’s sons. She waited for Shelah, to have a child from this family. Tamar envisioned she was going to have a seed that will bring kings and a savior. But the road there was not direct. Tamar would wait for HSelah forever.. We read, she covered her face to appear as a harlot, she placed herself in a situation where she would encounter Yehuda and sleep with him. Tamar became pregnant and had 2 children, twins, from this episode.

Strength and Courage To Achieve

Tamar shows us to have the strength and courage as Rivka and Sarah did. Both women that mothered a nation. Actions of this kind elicit talk and criticism. To this day, as we read the Parsha there are those that think Tamar was wrong for doing this. Doing what? Tamar took a promise given to her. What some see wrong is that she took matters into her own hands and made it happen, the best way she knew how.

As I read this story of Vayeshev I can’t help but be inspired by this woman. It is a reminder that we can make our future happen as we envisioned it. We need to trust ourselves, pray and go out to achieve it. There are things that get sacrificed along the way, great things result from great effort, but we can stay true to ourselves and to our religious traditions and make it happen. To make it happen, at times you have to get creative and get help, it’s part of the process, that’s making it happen.  Just as Judge Rachel Freier did. Just as Tamar. Devorah and many other women in our history.