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January 5, 2001/Tevet 17, 5761, Vol. 53, No.14
Serach is model for Jewish memory
Torah Study
NEIL GILMAN
VaYigash/Genesis 44:18-47:27
The one verse from this week's rich Torah portion that cries out for commentary is buried deep in the genealogy that appears in Genesis 46:8-25.
The section begins: "These are the names of the Israelites, Jacob and his descendants, who came to Egypt." There follow the names of Jacob's sons, his daughter Dinah and his grandsons. All of the grandchildren listed are male, except for one, Serach, who is referred to as the sister of Asher's four sons.
Who is Serach, daughter of Asher, and what is she doing in this list of grandsons?
Her name appears twice more in the Torah: in Numbers 26:46, as Asher's daughter, in a listing of "the descendants of the Israelites who came out of the land of Egypt;" and in I Chronicles 7:30, again as the sister of Asher's four sons.
Commenting on the Genesis reference, Nahum Sarna notes that, first, it is inconceivable that Jacob should have had 53 grandsons and only one granddaughter; and second, in light of the tendency of biblical genealogies to omit any reference to women, there must have been some significant reason for listing this one. But in none of these three passages are we given any more information about Serach.
Yet catch the implication of the first two references to her, in our Torah portion, and in Numbers 26. In the first, we are told that she was among the group of Israelites who came to Egypt. In the second, she is listed among the Israelites who came out of Egypt. The Israelites dwelt in Egypt for over 400 years. Did Serach live 400 years?
Thankfully, the Midrash embroiders the story of Serach with a rich commentary that bears upon a significant issue in our communal memory. Serach was beautiful, bright, wise and talented, the Midrash teaches. When Jacob's sons returned with the news that Joseph was still alive and ruling over Egypt, they feared that Jacob would not survive the shock, so they asked Serach to play on her harp and sing the news to Jacob. In gratitude, Jacob blessed her with eternal life.
So Serach survived the 400 years of Egyptian servitude. At the end of that period, when Moses appeared to redeem Israel, only Serach could remember that God had indeed promised her grandfather Jacob that he would be taken back out of Egypt. It was only then that the Israelite elders confirmed that Moses was sent by God to redeem Israel.
Finally, when the Israelites were about to leave Egypt, they recalled the promise to bring Joseph's body with them back to the Promised Land. But nobody remembered where Joseph had been buried - except Serach. She led them to the site, they recovered the body and they left Egypt.
Serach lived on. She is portrayed as intervening in a Talmudic dispute over how the waters of the Red Sea looked when they parted. Eventually, like Elijah, she entered paradise alive.
I am constantly amazed at the fact that my younger students know nothing of the Vietnam War, the event that traumatized America just a few decades ago. How quickly we forget. But it is precisely a community's memories that shape its identity as a people.
That's why the Torah commands us again and again to remember our people's history. Remember the Exodus from Egypt. Remember Amalek. Remember Sinai. That's why we are commanded to retell the story to our children year after year at the Passover Seder, lest they forget.
Serach's name is listed among the names of Jacob's grandchildren because she remembers everything. She is the guardian of Israel's communal memory. What stories she must be able to tell.
Neil Gilman is a Conservative rabbi and assistant professor of philosophy at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
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