"Now that G-d has made all this known to you, clearly there is no one as discerning
and wise as you"(Gen 41:39)
Again we come face to face with the puzzling encounter between the two tracks: "But
Joseph replied to Pharoah, saying, "Without me, G-d shall provide Pharoah with a
reassuring [some say, favorable] answer"(Gen 41:16). What is the meaning of Joseph's
reply? If Joseph means that he is not the man for the job, why did he continue presenting
his hypothesis regarding the correct interpretation of the dreams? Was Joseph simply
demonstrating a polite fear of Heaven typical of those whose mouths are filled with
exaltations of G-d (cf. Psalms 149:6)? Was he demonstrating an outward show of
emotion, like those who declare "with Hashem's help," "blessed be Hashem," and so
forth, and then immediately returning to the pragmatic-existential track?
Apparently Joseph
meant to tell Pharoah that he was not a dream interpreter who
possessed esoteric keys known to those practicing sorcery; he was
not an individual who approached each dream in a professional
manner, but without recourse to a bigger picture. Joseph intimated
that he did not traffic in dreams themselves. He was not a
professional wonder maker. His only preoccupation was worshipping
the Creator, or to be more specific, enabling or facilitating the
successful encounter between the supernal dimension
and the existential one by employing a tripartite paradigm.
For Joseph busies himself with closing the circle between the supernal vision and the
anxiety concerning reality by drawing upon the supernal realm's meanings and contents.
The dream dimension is a force with pull; the dream dimension causes meaning to
descend so that it can be garbed in an actual event. As if the dream state enables a pre-
existential encounter where the vision of reality wafts heavenward leaving behind the
reality plane and meeting up with meaning descending from the heavens intent on
metamorphosing into the divine presence in the real world.
Only an individual who studies the encounter between these two tracks can explain the
point of meeting. This is the only reason, claims Joseph, that his dream interpretation is
different than that of the professional dream interpreters. "Without me," that is to say, I
do not possess the technical knowledge necessary to interpret a dream by applying the
professional tools in the appropriate places, treating the dream as a phenomenon in and of
itself. I envision the dream as an encounter between the two tracks, the heavenly and the
earthly.
In this manner, man,
himself, becomes the meeting place. The divine ability within man is
realized. This ability is not a result of happenstance, of random
chance; rather, it is the result of man purifying his divine quality of the limitations imposed by material mechanism
, a purified status resulting from the toil of awe, toil which brings together the
best intellectual and spiritual qualities found in the righteous man. Thus, man in all his
glory can express his true divine ability in his encounter with the divine track.
Pharoah understands the structure that integrates the single unit comprising human and
divine discernment - manifesting the complete divine presence - in a fashion that
completes the entire circle. Pharoah's seemingly contradictory utterances should be
understood from this perspective. In Gen 41:38 Pharoah asks: "
Is there another such
man possessing the divine spirit within him?" In the following verse he states: "Now that
G-d has made all this known to you, clearly there is no one as discerning and wise as
you"(Gen 41:39). We can explain Pharoah's intent: Only a discerning man who
comprehends the manner in which the two tracks meet, and a wise man who recognizes
and understands the structure connecting divine providence and reality, only "such a
man" merits serving as the Creator of the World's conduit for delivering His messages to
the world. From here stems Joseph's daring willingness to express his two readings: one
relating to the rules governing the Creator's ways and the other relating to the manner in
which these rules are applied to the real system comprised of its own pragmatic
principles; a combination of diagnostics and advice given in one fell swoop. This
approach, indeed, parallels the Torah's vision that prohibits separating theory from
action; the messenger who delivers the missive (the message) and reads it aloud, brings it
to fruition. Pharoah had reached a similar understanding, so he appointed Joseph to
administer the kingdom.
After Achieving Greatness, Why did Joseph Hesitate to Tell His Father that He Was
Alive
Nahmanides comments on Gen 42:9:
Were it not for this
consideration, Joseph would indeed be regarded as having committed a
great sin: bringing anguish to his father, leaving him in the
position of being bereft and mourning for Simeon and for him. Even
if it was his intention to cause his brothers minor anguish, how did
he not have compassion for his elderly father? But he assigned
each to its proper time
in order to fulfill the
dreams, knowing that they would truly be fulfilled (Chavel, 1971, 512)
The commentators fail to clarify what enormous importance Joseph attributed to the
fulfillment of the dreams, an importance that measured up equally with his respect for his
father. In keeping with the fundamental concept we introduced above, via the dream
Joseph drew upon the point where the two tracks come together; the dream was a symbol
of how the tracks complete each other on their way to realizing the ideal of the divine
presence in the world. Joseph understood that Jacob chose him, out of all his brothers, to
complete his task, lest the dangerous division between the divine-ideal track and its
actualization in the existential track get out of control. Joseph understood this division to
be at the heart of the brother's perilous mistake when they sentenced him to death based
upon the principles of truth, ignoring the traditions of Jacob, their father, who toiled all
his life to bring truth down to the earth. Joseph understood that bringing truth down to the
earth was still not enough to fulfill the mission, truth needs to be tattooed upon
everyman's heart. On the ground. When truth grows in the garden of the human heart,
both human emotions and the human ability to comprehend another's heart absorb some
of the truth.
Peace can only dwell among men and love,
immersed in the pure waters of truth, can only survive among them
when the following condition is kept. Joseph understood that the
dreams had to come true and the brothers' had to recognize their
truth before the brothers could understand their roles in the world.
Therefore, Joseph needed to overcome his compassion for them and his
love for his father in order to bring this human
truth
to
earth. The false charge of spying which Joseph pinned upon his brothers was also
intended to demonstrate to them how degraded reality can become. Even though reality is
supported by cold hard facts anchored in pure logic, it can find itself stumbling into the
impregnable wall of the absurd and metamorphose into foolish injustice.
The honest simpleton
may commit deeds of murderous cruelty when he is supported, as
Laban was in his time, by the rules of reason stemming from ideals afloat in the realm of
theory. The discerning wise man knows that truth must undergo the test of reality. Only
in this manner can truth undergo the trial of good and evil. In contrast, the brothers
perceived the dream and the hope it engendered to form a mystical reality stemming from
a foreign source (idol worship), found neither in the heavens nor in reality, but rather in
the perversions of the animal psyche when it can not remain subservient to the existential
rules because of the difficulties of existence. A form of escape from reality, a choice
made to ignore the laws of reason, just as the dreams ignore the source of divine truth.
Our Sages teach that all dreams possess some extraneous matter; indeed, a dream may
express a psychological trauma difficult to digest. However, as the saintly Or HaHaim
has argued concerning "the two-fold repetition of the dream," there is a type of
substantial dream that exists and expresses a heavenly message to the dreamer and those
close to him. This, for instance, is true of Joseph's dreams which Joseph wisely
understood to be the link in a chain joining the two tracks. A dreams which makes
manifest the truth which flourishes in the human garden found in mans' heart.
The brothers have difficulty dismissing the rule of reason underlying reality. Therefore
they have difficulty accepting Joseph's stubborn insistence that bringing Benjamin will
prove their story, as if the story about an aged father and the young son of his old age
(father of ten) is an inviolable and vital proof of their integrity and credibility - proving
that they are not spies! For some reason, having no choice, the brothers accept his
arguments and do not suspect his motivations; just as they were not suspicious of him
when he asked about their father's welfare and after receiving an answer added "Is he
still alive?"(Gen 43:27); a strange addition for if Jacob was well than presumably he was
still alive. Similarly, the brothers were not suspicious of Joseph when they were
suspected of vulgarly stealing the money found in their sacks, or when he jailed Simeon.
Indeed, not only did they fail to suspect Joseph, they even accepted his abuse and blamed
themselves for what had befallen them now as a recompense for their sin in the distant
past of selling Joseph.
The brothers' self-accusation did not call into question their moral judgment, by law they
still perceived themselves to have acted correctly; however, now for the first time they
called into question their cruelty, their dismissive attitude toward the humane aspects of
the case. For the first time they realized that Jewish law is false when it fails to take into
account the human perspective, fails to include the broader picture of human reality in its
deliberations. For the first time they accepted Joseph's version of the events and admitted
that justice was on his side not theirs, to the point where Judah, the brothers' leader,
even formally declared their culpability. Until this point, Joseph restrained himself, and
did not let his burgeoning love for his brothers erupt. The battle between the brothers, as
has been noted, was a battle of the Titans over which worldview would triumph and
embrace the world, not just a petty rooting about over the rules of reason in the
superficial fragmented reality we inhabit.
We Can Distill Certain Lessons Concerning Man's Struggle to Understand His
Responsibilities Toward the World from the Story of Joseph and His Brothers
The first lesson highlights the inherent shakiness and weakness of the existential track
based exclusively upon what seem to be its valid laws. Laws that at a glance seem to be
legitimately in force, seductively aspiring to tranquility which turns out to be an illusion
ending in disappointment and a broken heart. The comfort of routine leads man to close
himself off from the search for truth. Occasionally man needs to be shaken up, to be
drawn out of the trap of routine; forced to confront the absurdity of existence, the
conflicts of interest, the treacherous conduct and the questionable credibility of the
approach created by man in his great pride.
There is no way for
man to avoid inserting basic fundamentals of the divine truth into
the human-earthly system by educating [his children] towards
accepting a supreme authority, to respect and accept the yoke of the
kingdom of heaven. We are not speaking of solely accepting
principles of faith, but rather of injecting them into the core of
the human system through behavior patterns that become routine --
replacing the stultifying routine that stems from an anaesthetizing
laziness with contents that call for the challenge of creativity
, the grappling with creativity's goals, and immunize man from the temptations
of the imagination and the senses. The Torah system comprised first and foremost of its
halakhic components, and then of its exalted contents, its values and its ideals that endow
it with a supernal dimension is, indeed, like this.
This parsha courageously and painstakingly forms the backdrop for a confrontation
between the pillar of the halakha Jewish law - and the pillar of values and traits derived
from it. The brothers remain attached to the halakha as the sole track representative of the
truth, granting it the deciding vote on all problematic behavior. Joseph views the
brothers' approach as a dangerous one, one that might even undermine the existence of
truth itself. Without unrelenting educational efforts and uncompromising nurturing of the
character traits represented by the metavalues, of truth closely linked to kindness, truth
cannot arise. Kindness founded upon truth and truth closely linked to kindness possess
the redemptive formula which was eventually accepted by all twelve of G-d's tribes and
transmitted by them to the future generations; a formula that stood by the children of
Israel's side throughout the throes of their enslavement during their sojourn in the
Diaspora; a formula incorporating deep within itself the secret of Judaism's power to
survive.
The
separation between kindness and truth -- often deemed a
desideratum
by selfish
reason -- treats kindness as a human weakness lacking a concrete stance and truth as a
cruel tool derived from the workshops of Laban and Esau. Jacob, the chosen patriarch,
entrusted the redemptive formula to his beloved son. His present, the "coat of many
colors" literally, the striped coat, was composed of tracks upon tracks which never met.
Tracks which expectantly wait for the faithful hands of the righteous individual to be
woven into a coat, turning the formula into a garment as the Creator of the World,
Himself, had done when he sewed garments of skins for Adam and Eve; the same
honorific garments which Ham stripped from his father, Noah; the same garments kept by
Rebecca, the devoted mother, in her own closest, and bestowed by her upon the son
designated by the Holy Spirit as fitting to wear them; the same sanctified garments
designed for the honor and glory of the High Priest who served in the Holy of Holies; the
same cloak which Elijah, the prophet, dropped upon Elisha, his disciple; the same royal
cloak that David tore when he fled from King Saul, and the same royal garments anointed
with the oil of consecration belonging to the royal House of David, garments carefully
preserved for the coming of the King, the Messiah.
Translated by
Rabbi Meshulam Gotlieb
www.MGtransEd.com
|
