By BARBARA S.ROTHSCHILD
Courier-Post Staff
CHERRY HILL
The portion of Genesis 47 quoted by Rabbi Fred J. Neulander during his address to the jury stresses the importance of living a good life. It also served as a reminder of the convicted murderer's prowess with Hebrew liturgy.
"He is using the text accurately," said conservative rabbi Steven C. Lindemann, spiritual leader of Temple Beth Sholom in Cherry Hill.
Neulander latched on to the biblical question, "How many are the days of the years of your life?" These words are the literal translation of a question from Pharaoh, who is asking the patriarch Jacob how old he is.
Throughout his sermon-like allocution, Neulander referred to "the days of the years of my life" as he talked about how he lived his life prior to his wife's murder, how he'd lived since then, and how he hoped to live the rest of his life if the jury spared it.
In Genesis 47, a portion of the first book of the Torah that is read in the Commentaries, Joseph travels from famine-plagued Canaan to Egypt. He asks Pharaoh if he, his father, Jacob, and his brothers can settle in Goshen, a part of Egypt where the land will be lush for their livestock to graze upon.
When Pharaoh answers favorably, Joseph brings his father before the leader. Pharaoh asks Jacob, "How many are the days of the years of thy life?"
Jacob answers, "The days of the years of my sojournings are a hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojournings."
Lindemann said it's not Pharaoh's question but Jacob's answer that is significant.
"He reflects on his life - not simply as a passage of years, but as a passage of his experiences. Jacob was saying we experience life within the context of those years. That's the way it looked to Jacob," Lindemann said.
"It's not the length of life that's important. It's the quality of the life he leads. Unfortunately, he (Jacob) learns it rather late," Lindemann added.
The portion goes on to explain how Joseph makes a deal with Pharaoh for the Jews to work the land and give one- fifth of their harvest to the ruler. "Thus Israel settled in the country of Egypt, in the region of Goshen; they acquired holdings in it, and were fertile and increased greatly."
As Neulander explained, it would be later, in the Book of Exodus, that the once-benevolent Pharaoh would become a villainous, hard-hearted figure.
As with Neulander himself, another side of Pharaoh is exposed to the people. The Jews undergo much hardship, but it is Pharaoh's own people and particularly his own family who ultimately suffer.
Reach Barbara S. Rothschild at (856) 486-2416 or brothschild@courierpostonline.com
