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The saintly Or Hahaim commented:
Indeed, the plain sense of
Scriptures is that it is well-known that the custom of kings was
that the great men of the kingdom and the kings' ministers sat
before them, and if an individual came on a judicial matter, or on a
matter concerning the king, he would not stand in the space
separating the king from his ministers, who sat first in the
kingdom, rather he would stand outside the circle
and speak from
there. Judah had spoken according to this fashion until this point; only afterwards
did he approach him [Joseph], that is to say, did he venture beyond the divide and
stand between the king and his ministers, so that no one could hear him except for
the king.
What did Judah whisper to Joseph after he crossed the divide? A conversation of kings?
As face answers to face in water, so does one man's heart to another (Proverbs 27:19); as
befits two brothers who discover that one common blood flows through their veins;
certainly they did not conduct a negotiation between slave and king.
The attempt to reflexively ascribe logic to Judah's string of arguments seems
unconvincing. For the three methods of approaching an enemy that Judah had learned
from his father – presents, prayer and combat – are only effective when utilized in a
carefully orchestrated manner. Prayer is always necessary, before, during and after the
encounter. However, prayer, unlike presents and combat, has its own intrinsic worth.
Indeed, presents and combat are diametrically opposed entities. Presents are only
effective when given at the beginning. For what purpose is there in going to war, if an
understanding can be peaceably reached. In the case of Jacob and Esau, presents did the
trick and a war was avoided.
Judah opens his argument with the words "for you are as Pharoah"(Gen 40:18) – "if you
provoke me, I will murder you and your master"; he threatens war and only thereafter
offers a compromise, slavery. This approach does not seem to mirror the three-phased
one adopted by Jacob. For here phase one does not lead to phase two; rather, there seems
to be a mixture of conflicting claims. Joseph's demand that Benjamin be brought before
him to prove the veracity of the brothers' story and their integrity does not make sense in
light of the serious nature of their alleged crimes. So too, finding the goblet in
Benjamin's sack does not readily translate into Joseph's attempt to turn this prince into a
slave. Perhaps, Judah's attempt to rationalize the unfolding events is as questionable as
Joseph's attempt to put into play a series of libels to prove the brothers' malicious intent.
Why did Judah believe that Joseph would accept his arguments? What crisis point was
reached that led Joseph to lift his veil?
Perhaps, we have before us an important lesson regarding how to deal with the mysteries
of existence. An enigma opposing or wrapped in a riddle; the absurd facing the absurd, in
keeping with the credo "with an upright person act uprightly, with a scoundrel act
villainously"(cf. Psalms 18:26-27) Answer the dolt as befits his doltishness. Do not try to
educate a fool.
The Torah approach to the riddle of existence: when you are faced with two verses that
contradict one another, search for the solution in the third verse which reconciles between
them. That is to say, do not fall into the net of the romantics who search for the solution
above or beyond the boundaries of life, and do not get caught up in the angst of the
existentialists who have completely despaired of a solution. Life is only an unsolvable
riddle for those who deny the heavenly entourage. A retinue which peers beyond the
cracks in the mechanistic veil of two-dimensional existence. Search for the divine
presence beyond the pargod, the screen, in order to find the logic and purpose in
existence. To find eternity in the ephemeral and the kernel of truth through what
transpires, as a product of the kingdom of illusions. The simple understanding really is
not beyond the sea; there is no need to cut oneself off from reality in order to reach the
heavens. It is in your mouth and in your heart to observe it (cf. Deut 31:13-14). Truth
grows in the moist soil of the human heart; its language is the language of the heart and
its rationale is composed of good character traits: compassion, love and kindness.
This is the language Judah used in talking with Joseph after he demonstrated his strength
in the realm of power and in the realm of the spirit; let the law take its course (literally,
cut through the mountain). We lawfully sold our brother, and, notwithstanding, his blood
is demanded of us. There is a reason why this is transpiring, an incontrovertible reason
that pierces the veils of time and circumstance. We are not being accused of theft; rather
the blood of our brother is demanded of us, for we failed to see the distress he was in
when he pleaded with us. Judah, proving that he has understood Joseph, proclaims the
sanctity of life, and discards his belief in an idea that demands life be sacrificed on its
behalf, an ideological approach which Joseph from the very beginning had viewed as
foreign and dangerous. (See Exodus 5764, for further elucidation of this fundamental
principle.)
On a more profound level, Joseph learns along with Judah during the course of their
princely encounter. He too learns a lesson. He both learns and teaches about the
fundamental basis upon which existential matters are constructed. What is the difference
between a solid basis upon which existence rests and a "dependency" or "reliance" upon
which existence only appears to depend? If the lesson to be learned is that "we can only
rely upon our Father who art in heaven," why did G-d engender or create such a vast
plurality of things or matters, the attempt to find the rationale linking them is bound to
end in failure.
Trust in G-d, and do not engage in unnecessary
extraneous striving (hishtadlut
). If
dependency thrives here. And if the striving involves finding something to rely upon, one
must diligently strive to construct reality out of specific individual components of
existence, based upon a rigid recipe (the halakha), composed of substantial divine
presence and the tangible components of reality. This is a task demanding devotion and
care that cannot tolerate negligence which may destabilize the delicate balance of the
whole system. The supernal system whose components have substance is an extremely
vulnerable structure for it is built upon an inherent contradiction. Its balance is dynamic;
it is constantly undergoing a process of remaking itself, which can be destabilized by the
treatment it receives from its guardian, who holds the key to its balance that is from the
man who worships G-d.
The key holder is not simply a human being called upon to create an encounter between
and join heaven and earth; rather, the human being possessing spiritual and human
quality proactively facilitates the diligent integration of the two. In keeping with the
verse, "man was born to toil," man who is tasked with facilitating the meeting between
spirit and matter, may not suffice with letting the encounter develop on its own. He must
take an active role for in this meeting of opposites disaster looms for spirit and matter can
cancel each other out. The divine worshipper is charged with the ultimate creative
challenge, to insert supernal contents into the lower realm, to insert meaning into matter
while diligently monitoring the developing ongoing balance.
The Shabbat – A Return to the Original Balance: The Role of the Divine
Worshipper on Shabbat is to Focus Upon Observing the Shabbat. He is Relieved of
His Obligation to Focus Upon Creating the Balance Himself
Only on Shabbat is it appropriate to loosen the diligent monitoring of the balance. "One
who toiled upon Shabbat eve, will eat on Shabbat;" that is to say, one who diligently
toiled to achieve a proper balance during the six days of the week, when Shabbat arrives,
for him rest arrives, the solid base which the world has been founded upon since it was
created is revealed; a foundation independent of man, existent by its own right; the
revelation of the divine presence, revealed as the basis of sanctity, upon which the
mundane (hol) rests and is constructed without a separation between them.
Prayer – the request for a division between the sanctified and the mundane expresses the
desire of the person praying to distinguish between holy and mundane; a distinction
which is dynamic in nature for the holy is the essence of both parties. On Shabbat the
dynamic activity is extraneous and unnecessary for it may blur the essence. The ability or
power to see the essence clearly, notwithstanding the dynamic striving of the mundane
weekdays, is at the root of the quest to draw a distinction. The apparent opposition
between toil and rest is at the root of the divine worshipper's trial.
Trust in G-d which
stands in direct contradistinction to the obligation to strive
(hishtadlut
) does not hang upon a hook high above reality or outside of it; rather, it rests
upon the solid basis of the sense of tangibility possessed by the divine presence, upon
which reality is constructed and which enables the divine presence to be actualized. Judah
and Joseph share their opinions on this matter. Judah whispers in Joseph's ear that he
learned the lesson regarding the human foundation, a message which he is not ashamed to
admit he learned from Joseph's tragedy. Joseph is not ashamed to admit that he has
learned more about the contents of this human foundation; contents made up of divine
values whose only expressions are found in the human foundation. Aside from these
contents there is no value which endows the distinction between king and slave with
supreme meaning.
"We are both kings," says Judah to Joseph, "and we are both obligated to uphold the
supreme value. In order to uphold this supreme value, I have no difficulty becoming your
slave; however, you must accept this principle too and agree that your servitude to us in
days gone by was also "for the sake of Heaven," to defend our father's Torah of truth.
We did what we did, albeit mistakenly, for the sake of Heaven, not because we gave into
the despicable traits of jealousy, hatred or pride, heaven forbid."
Joseph happily discovers that the subject's
goal, the goal of the divine man determines divine truth; a
principle for which he was willing to make the absolute sacrifice,
though feeling abandoned and alone in his battle; "I am a Hebrew"
(literally, one from the other side); "for I was surely stolen from
the land of the Hebrews"(Gen 40:15). The pain of Joseph's
grandfather Abraham, for he too was alone in the world; Abraham was
on one side and the world was on the other. To his surprise Joseph
discovered that when one is acting for the sake of Heaven, like a
kosher mikveh
(ritual bath), this intention, this end,
purifies all the means – the means of existence and its components – leading to that goal.
Tears of joy sprang from his eyes. "And Joseph could not restrain himself"(Gen 45:1).
Were these really tears of joy? Is this not a contradiction in terms – tears and joy? Joseph
is attempting to prove to his brothers that there are no separate tracks in divine service.
The brothers wept and Joseph wept. Each river flows in its own way. A dangerous
tendency toward pluralism seems to be developing here. One party, the Lithuanian Jew,
barricades himself behind the walls of the halakha, crying out let the law cut through the
mountain (literally, take its course). The other party rides upon a wave of romantic
emotion carried away from shore to the open sea where there is no defined path or
purpose.
Both ignore reality which demands that attention be paid to those blocking the way in
order to sanctify matter. This approach is the only one that enables the divine presence to
be actualized in the world. Depending upon heaven while separating oneself from the
earth is not Jacob's way, neither is drowning oneself in waves of emotion, an approach
devoid of permanence and clearly defined values and Jewish law. The ladder is set upon
the earth upon the foundation of divine substance, not upon the illusion of permanence
and solidity found in the material world; Reliance becomes aware that ever-lasting
concreteness is not solely dependent upon reality. Trust in the Lord means recognizing
the concrete reality of the divine foundation as a given foundation upon which, and, only
upon which, the entire reality of creation is constructed. Trust without questioning this
foundation endows the believer with a pure perception of the heavens and the earth as
one; everything that occurs, both in the public sphere and the private one, here and now
and in the distant future depends upon this foundation.
A worldview which encompasses ends and means, and prevents man from making the
mistake of separating them. Joseph's, the righteous man's, prayers arise out his longing
that his brothers and all the members of his father's household understand this complex
reality. After hammering out the matter with Judah, who represented the brother's
worldview, Joseph was convinced that his brothers had reached an understanding similar
to his own, albeit while starting from the opposite end. For they had begun with the
halakhic reality which ignores the existential reality at whose center is humankind, and
reached the awareness of divine unity. To Joseph's joy, after the brothers realized
Joseph's pain, they made human suffering central to their worldview, an issue which was
not to be ignored.
To Joseph's surprise, after proving that sweetness can come from strength, after
discovering the possibility of revealing the truth by rubbing elbows with crime, a
surprising discovery that passing through the dark passageways of evil is like entering a
smelting furnace which purifies the good and pure, removing their impurities, a limitation
which is choking at times; after attempting to frequent the warm protective bosom of the
pure of heart, before being forced to confront external reality, before his encounter with
the [evil] inclination which crouches at the heart's entrance. When Joseph discovered the
possibility of man's redemption through suffering, he remembered his suffering, and for
the first time broke into an emancipating flood of tears.
The foundation upon which the world rests, upon
which man merited constructing the divine presence, contains the
Shekhinah (Divine Presence) which along with the Israelites
was exiled to Egypt and which suffered in watching the Israelites
suffering and was pained by their pain. From this we may conclude
that the Shekhinah is the actualization of the divine
presence within man. In line with this realization, we can
resolve Nahmanides' astonishment in grappling with the problematics
of punishment raised by Maimonides in the first part of The
Guide for the Perplexed. Likewise, we can explain the saintly
Or Hahaim's ranking of the Shekhinah's
presence in the congregation of the
Lord, in the Temple, among ten, among three, and even with one Israelite who is
immersing himself in Torah study. Apparently, the presence does not descend from
above; rather, the divine creation of presence is the product of the divine worshipper's
laboring in the vineyards of the Lord, whatever level he may be on. See Nahmanides
41:1, and Or Hahaim 3:
So I will teach you that the
levels of the Shekhinah's light are many. For you will find
that ten who sit and immerse themselves in Torah study … the
Shekhinah dwells among them, and even among two [who do so]
or [even] one … But certainly, there are an infinite number of
levels of the Shekhinah dwelling among them, as the
exoteric Torah (be-sod) teaches "For the lofty one guards
…"[cf. Eccl 5:7], and the light will be multiplied by his dwelling,
in keeping with the essence of the one who turns (the cause) the
Shekhinah
dwells"
This passage supports our argument
that man is the cause; created in G-d's image, he can provoke the
divine presence concealed within his divine foundation to transform
itself from being a potential to an active force. This ability does
not depend upon the conditions or the will of anyone but him, when
he recognizes his being the divine foundation and his ability to
expose this foundation. "It is not in the heavens nor beyond the sea
… It is in your mouth and your heart to do it" (cf. Deut 31:13-14).
This is the entirety of man's role in his world, and an element
within all his labor, to be the footstool of the Shekhinah
which radiates from within him.
A reality of substance is only attained when
man has transformed reality with the divine presence. Notably, many
people, among them the brightest and the best, have been caught up
by superficial thinking and understand divine reality to be
inherently different than existential reality. As if the divine
worshipper lives on a different planet refusing to take part in or
consider his surrounding environment, ignoring it as if it does not
exist. The biographies written about the gedolim –
spiritual giants – do indeed tell their life stories in this vein.
As if divine worship transcends ever-changing reality. As if the
gedolim
succeeded by freezing reality and transcending it both in terms of space and
time. But this is not so. Divine worship is the art of revealing in every situation, be it a
good one or one less good, the quality of the divine presence which is always visible.
The divine worshipper's presence in a particular reality teaches him that he is charged
with exposing the holiness inherent in it. If the reality at hand is particularly difficult to
explain, the divine worshipper will view his presence as a compliment, a badge of honor
awarded him by divine providence which recognizes his ability to transform the
confusing reality into a sanctification of the divine name. Indeed, he expressly fails to
view his presence as an attempt to test him by causing him pain. The righteous individual
relies upon his interaction with the reality he finds himself in to enable him to fulfill his
duty of turning his potential abilities into an active force.
This
insight provides the background for understanding a key passage in
Rabbi Haim of Volozhin's Nefesh ha-Haim
:
In truth, it is a great
matter and a wonderful harbinger of good things to come
(segulah
) [for a man] to cast off and void all laws and other desires so that they
cannot govern him and make no impression upon him at all. When a man
determines in his heart to declare that Hashem is the true G-d, and there is no
other force like Him, may He be blessed, in the world, … and everything is filled
solely with His unity … and he [this man] completely voids [all the above
mentioned] in his heart, and he pays no heed to any force or will in the world, and
he enslaves and attaches the purity of his thoughts exclusively to the one Master,
blessed is He, so that He, blessed be He, may cause with His mighty hand that all
the forces and wills in the world nullify themselves in so far as this individual is
concerned, so that they can have no effect on him whatsoever.
A superficial analysis of this wondrous and holy passage would tend to lead its student to
explain R. Haim of Volozhin's approach in the following manner. Remain oblivious to
the diversity and uniqueness in the particular situation by grasping the divine kernel of
reality buried within it and ignoring all else. However, this in fact, is an incorrect reading,
the opposite is true. Man must carefully analyze the particulars composing a specific
reality searching for its inherent and unique character which differentiates it from every
other form of reality. By attaining this understanding, he can express the divine kernel
hidden within this reality and within its components and the unique particulars
characterizing it.
Contrasting
Abraham and Noah:
Abraham differed from Noah in the following
manner. Noah was dependent upon the Creator, "and Noah walked with G-d" (Gen 6:9);
he was obedient; he performed only what G-d commanded. The divine reality was kept
tightly sealed in the ark; it did not belong in the world. In contrast, Abraham knew how to
turn every situation into a divine reality including unexpected ones and including those
situations which were impossible to integrate into natural reality. Abraham was not
dependent upon G-d. He knew how to rely upon the divine truth that was within him, as
the verse indicates "walk before me"(Gen 17:1).
A similar distinction seems to apply to the Messiah, descended from Joseph, and the
Messiah, descended from David. Joseph strove for absolute perfection and integrated
emotion with intellect while constraining them and integrating them perfectly into the
halakhic track. This radical demand for perfection could not be made of the masses; only
the perfect integration of the measures of justice and of mercy belongs to those divine
worshippers who only reached the exedra (the outer hall or porch). Therefore, Joseph's
approach is not viable for it cannot be adopted by the majority of existence or fulfill the
needs of men. Therefore, Joseph died before his brothers and the Messiah, descended
from Joseph, is killed. Notwithstanding, Joseph was held up as a role model so that those
who chose to emulate him might come close to perfection; for those who designate a goal
built upon the principles of relativity, will never achieve more than mediocrity.
Therefore, the Messiah, descended from Joseph, precedes the Messiah, descended from
David. The former is killed and the latter attains eternal life, for David is marked by
relativity and called Adino the Eznite (II Samuel 23:8), busy with the foetal sac and the
placenta of the common folks' existential needs while his head and shoulders – indeed,
the focus of his being -- dallies in the supernal heights. In David, both these traits
coexisted. Joseph in the face of Judah's acceptance of his complex position as the a priori
one, perfectly composed of all of man's needs: the emotional and the intellectual, both
included within the halakhic track. Joseph's path, the a priori one, paves the way for
Judah.
Translated by
Rabbi Meshulam Gotlieb
www.MGtransEd.com
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