= Parshat Vayigash: In Search of Serach =
This week we read of the members of Jacob's family who went down to Egypt. There were 53 grandsons listed, but only a single granddaughter – Serach, the daughter of Asher. The commentators wonder, what was so exceptional about this girl that her name was recorded? The Midrash spills forth with stories portraying an image of a unique and endearing Biblical heroine.<ref name="ftn0">Midrash HaGadol on Gen. '''45:26''':

<div align="right">‎‏"ויגדו לו לאמר 'עוד יוסף חי'" (בר' מה:כו) רבנן אמרו אם אנו אומרים לו תחלה יוסף קים שמא תפרח נשמתו. מה עשו? אמרו לשרח בת אשר, "אמרי לאבינו יעקב שיוסף קים והוא במצרים. מה עשתה? המתינה לא עד שהוא עומד בתפלה ואמרה בלשון תימה: יוסף במצרים/ יולדו לו על ברכים/ מנשה ואפרים. פג לבו כשהוא עומד בתפלה. כיון שהשלים ראה העגלות, מיד "ותחי רוח יעקב אבינו" (שם<nowiki>). [</nowiki>מדרש הגדול על בר' מה:כו]‏</div>

<nowiki>[The brothers said:]If we tell him right away, "Joseph is alive!" perhaps he will have a stroke [lit., his soul will fly away]. What did they do? They said to Serah, daughter of Asher, "Tell our father Jacob that Joseph is alive, and he is in Egypt." What did she do? She waited till he was standing in prayer, and then said in a tone of wonder, "Joseph is in Egypt/ There have been born on his knees/ Menasseh and Ephraim" [three rhyming lines:</nowiki>''Yosef be-mizrayim / Yuldu lo al birkayim / Menasheh ve-Ephrayim'']. His heart failed, while he was standing in prayer. When he finished his prayer, he saw the wagons: immediately the spirit of Jacob came back to life. (Translated by Avivah Zornberg in Genesis, the Beginning of Desire, p.281).</ref> Serach stands as a trusted, beloved sage of the people. She possessed an uncommon gift of healing through poetry and music. Somewhat as Orpheus is to Greek myth, so is Serach to the Biblical myth – the archetypal poet and bard.The Midrash on this week's parsha tells of the brothers' concern that their father Jacob would die from shock upon hearing the astounding news that his son Joseph was alive and well in Egypt. Their solution – to appoint Serach to the task of sharing the news with him. In one version Serach masterfully waits until Jacob is praying and then relays the news to him through the poetic form of three rhyming lines.[http://www.weebly.com/weebly/main.php#sdfootnote1sym 1]In another rendering she sings the news to him gently and wondrously with a harp.Both versions reveal a girl with psychological insight into just how to approach Jacob with the potentially lethal news. Serach intuits how to tend to Jacob's emotional wounds with song. Even though she was sharing a truth with him, sometimes the sharing of truth with someone can be even more shattering than a lie. Where the bald facts could have killed Jacob, Serach's simple almost child-like rhyme and song healed him, opening him to hope and possibility after decades of despair.So what is it about song and rhyme which is able to impart such promise and soothe such wounds? Voltaire is famous for saying, “Anything too stupid to be spoken in words is sung.” And this might be true enough if one were to survey song lyrics for their intellectual content. But God forbid the purpose of music would be deliver intellectual points. No, the great gift of song rests in its stirring of sentiment, its arousal of spirit, its curative catharsis of emotions. Serach, with her ample emotional intelligence and creativity knew how to utilize song, rhyme & poetry for their subtle therapeutic properties.May all of our artistic endeavors likewise access healing and inspiration, offering hope and the possibility of betterment in the face of any despair. The poem below is a prayer and request to Serach to instruct us in how to do just that.Serach, teach us pleaseyour therapy of harmony- that exquisite techniquethat you work with your speechReveal to us, ancient sisteryour mesmeric tinctureof lyric and meterAnd mix us well a word elixirto soothe the wounds ofinjured listenersJust the wayyou sung your wayand stood in the wayof the heart-halting paradeof gold-laden wagonssent to stun an old mantoo fast from his depressionFor even one's despair can bea precious thingto those who cling to their miseryas if it were a love letterto the ones they've lostBut you with your harploosened that knoton the yarn of a liethat had so long boundJacob's beguiled mind- as you appliedthe cautious remedyof a child's rhyme[http://www.weebly.com/weebly/main.php#sdfootnote2sym 2]Plucked hope backinto a ruptured heartand strummed himthrough the sting and stunof lossSuddenly reversedthrough your verse- with the touch of a songFor is not the crowning goalof creative endeavorto heal the bereavedand herald in a better reality?So teach us more-loudly yourchemistry of compositionto make what's writtenglisten from the pageto release vast repositories of painTo make space forthe joyful reception of miraclesof salvation and spiritual accumulationlike wagons laden with breadand corn, and a child rebornin the midst of a famineAnd a lie overturnedand a family re-fashionedSo teach us Serachyour eternal talentof healing hearts with harpsand the ancient artof rhymeAnd let it startwith these faltering lines- a prayerfor the gentle unravelingof our long-heldlies

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