When we look at photos from the past year, we are often unrecognizable. Was that really me? We dressed differently, we had different hairstyles, and we have experienced life’s ups and downs. When we look in the mirror in a new secular year, we are in fact a different person. The same is true when Joseph reunites with his brothers. They do not recognize him as a person second in command in the land of Egypt. Joseph urges them to tell their father that God has made him the master of all Egypt in order to take care of his family. In this speech, Joseph says, “It is my mouth that is speaking to you.” Rashi explains that Joseph spoke lashon hakodesh, the sacred language of Hebrew. While he may have been dressed as the master of Egypt, he truly was their brother and son, the child they knew years before.
We will celebrate a secular New Year tomorrow evening. It is the time when the world makes resolutions to do better. Let us look into the mirror, speak lashon hakodesh, sacred words that matter, and live our life with renewed purpose in the year ahead. For when we do, no matter what clothes we wear, or what we look like, we will recognize the pure hearts and souls of the other.
