[Jewish] Weekly D'var Torah (Torah Commentary)

[Steven Nathan]

Dear Hampshire friends,

I write a weekly d'var Torah (or at least I try) that I send to an 
online Yahoo group.  I decided that I'd send it out to the Hampshire 
Jewish list as well, if you'd like to study a little Torah each 
Shabbat.  I hope you find it meaningful.  I also welcome, questions, 
comments and constructive criticism at any time.  If you are interested 
in seeing any archived commentaries (including original poetry and 
midrash/stories) just go to www.groups.yahoo.com/group/mindfultorah.

Shabbat Shalom!
-- 

Steve Nathan


This week's parashah/portion is Vayeishev (Genesis/Bershit 37:1-40:23).  
It tells the story of Joseph's growth from adolescence to adulthood.  At 
the beginning of Vayeishev, Jacob is living in Canaan with his twelve 
sons and one daughter. Born when Jacob is elderly, Joseph is a favored 
child. Jacob demonstrates his preference by making Joseph a beautiful 
coat of many colors. The other brothers are jealous of Joseph and what 
his new coat seems to represent.

The Torah tells us that Joseph's brothers hated him so that they could 
not speak a friendly word to him. (Genesis 37:4). In addition to his 
coat, Joseph possesses a great ego. He reports to his father whenever 
his brothers misbehave. He tells his family about his dreams which seem 
to suggest that the members of his family will one day bow down to him. 
Between how he acts and what he shares, Joseph intensifies his brothers' 
feelings toward him.

One day, Joseph is sent by his father to check on his brothers as they 
tend the flocks in the field.  On his way to find them he encounters a 
stranger who asks him "what do you want?" He tells him that he seeking 
his brothers and the stranger tells him where they might be.  As they 
see Joseph approach, the brothers decide to kill him. Reuben the oldest, 
asks the others not to kill him but, instead, to throw Joseph in a pit 
in the wilderness. The brothers strip Joseph of his colored coat, throw 
him in the pit, and dip the coat in blood to present to their father. 
Jacob assumes that a wild beast has eaten Joseph. He is inconsolable. 
Reuben later returns to the pit to rescue his younger brother only to 
find that Joseph has been taken away and sold to traveling merchants.

Joseph is taken to Egypt and bought by Potiphar, the highest ranking of 
Pharaoh's officers. Potiphar puts a Joseph in charge of his household, 
who, with God's help, manages it excellently. Potiphar's wife tries to 
seduce Joseph but he refuses to become involved with her. She becomes 
angry and lies to her husband saying that Joseph tried to force himself 
on her. Potiphar has Joseph thrown in prison.

Even in jail, Joseph is blessed. Joseph is put in charge of the other 
prisoners, including two of Pharaoh's former servants. One night both of 
these men have dreams which, with God's help, Joseph interprets. 
Joseph's predictions, which are based on these dreams, come true. 
Pharaoh's former baker is put to death and the cupbearer is returned to 
his old job. Joseph asks the cupbearer to remember him so that he too 
can be freed from jail. The cupbearer quickly forgets Joseph.

There is much upon which I could comment in this parashah, as it is the 
lengthy Joseph narrative that begins the transition from the days of the 
patriarchs and matriarchs to the time of slavery and redemption in Egypt 
that we find in the book of Shemot/Exodus.

In reading this narrative I am drawn to the idea that each character in 
the story represents an aspect of each of us as individuals; that the 
story of Joseph is our story not only as a community, but as individuals 
as well.

If this is true, then for me the figure of Joseph clearly represents the 
ego in all of its self-centered glory.  Joseph sees himself as the 
center of the universe, just as the ego within each of us seeks to 
convince us that we are indeed the center of the world.  And how we are 
drawn to believing the ego's message!  How often are we tempted to 
clothe ourselves/our egos in a cloak of many colors, reminding us of our 
individual glory and status!  How often are we tempted to show others 
how much better we are, just as Joseph does through the recounting of 
his dreams to father and brothers.

Our ego has taught us how to protect it throughout the years, for it 
knows that it's existence is dependent on our belief that it is real.  
As Jacob protects and adorns Joseph, so do we shield and polish our 
egos.  As Joseph and Jacob dwell in the protected valley of Hebron while 
the brothers are out working in the open fields of Shekhem, so do we 
keep our ego hidden and protected within us so as not to be subject to 
attack from the forces that seek its ultimate destruction.

When Jacob finally sends Joseph to seek out his brothers it is a signal 
that the status quo is about to shift.  Yet, he does this subtly, simply 
asking Joseph to seek out the "shalom" of his brothers.  A strange 
request, considering the fact that his brothers have known little 
shalom/peace -- especially when it comes to their relationship with 
Joseph.   However, the journey upon which Joseph is sent is the journey 
of discovering that peace ... which is Jacob's peace ... our peace.  
Little does he know that ultimately the piece can only be achieved by 
him being cast into the depths of the pit of suffering.
And so Joseph leaves the protection of his father and enters the 
emptiness of the wilderness.  There he encounters a stranger (always 
viewed by the classic commentators as an angel/messenger of God) who 
asks not "Where are you going?" but "What do you want?"  Joseph responds 
that he seeks his brothers and asks where they might be tending their 
flocks.  The stranger tells him that they have left and that he 
overheard them saying, "Let us go to Dothan."

The Hassidic Rebbe Menachem Mendl of Kotzk comments that "the angel 
taught Joseph here that whenever he finds himself wandering on life's 
paths, when his soul weeps inside him from despair and doubt, he should 
remember first to become clear about what he really wants and years 
for.  Then he will be able to return to his task; his vision and his 
path now will be the same."

And what is it that Joseph yearns for? As ego, he years for nothing more 
than his own self-aggrandizement.  As part of the psyche of his father 
(also an egotist in his own right, judging from his younger days!) he is 
seeking the Shalom/Peace/Wholeness of his brothers.  He is seeking, as 
deep down each of us is, a reunion with all the disparate parts within 
that makes us whole.  The brothers, who in a few moments will try to 
kill their brother, recognize the forces within each of us that we 
choose to ignore, yet which eventually bring about the ultimate 
salvation.  They represent both the more assertive, even aggressive, 
parts within us that will do anything to achieve a goal.  Yet, they also 
represent the shepherds, the tender ones, the caretakers, and the 
compassionate within us all.  These brothers, each described later as 
unique in his own right, represent the forces from with in that -- 
though they may seem at odds with each other -- realize that the 
ultimate way to achieve Shalom/Peace/Wholeness is by sublimating the ego 
so that we can realize that we are all a part of the One of the Universe 
that is the Divine.

And so Joseph must be cast in the pit. The ego must be sublimated in 
order for the process to begin.  The status quo must be supplanted by a 
state of upheaval, pain and uncertainty, just as happens to Jacob when 
he believes Joseph to be dead. Our security, and even complacency, must 
be torn apart, just as Josephs' coat is torn to shreds. Yet, even after 
all that occurs, we see that Joseph, the ego, rises again to power in 
the house of Potiphar.  Yet that episode also ends with him being cast 
once again into prison.  For the ego does not want to give up its life 
-- it's hold over us -- without putting up a fight!

The ultimate reunion of brothers with father, the union of all parts of 
us with the One will not take place until the end of the book of 
Genesis.  In the meantime, we will watch as Joseph, our collective ego, 
wanders on the paths of his journey until he -- until we --finally 
discover the answer to the question of the Divine messenger "what are 
you looking for?".  For, as Reb Menachem Mendl said, we must eventually 
come to the place where our vision and our path are one. At that moment, 
we will come to realize that each and every step of the path is about 
realizing the vision that God is one and that we are one with God.

Shabbat Shalom.





Steven P. Nathan

Campus Rabbi and

Interim LGBTQ Advisor

Hampshire College 
                                                           

Office of Spiritual Life -- Box SA

Amherst, MA 01002

Phone: (413) 559-6234

Fax: (413) 559-5663

snathan at hampshire.edu <mailto:snathan at hampshire.edu>


 

"The more deeply immersed I became in the thinking of the prophets, the 
more powerfully it became clear to me what the lives of the prophets 
sought to convey: that morally speaking there is no limit to the concern 
one must feel for the suffering of human beings. It also became clear to 
me that in regard to cruelties committed in the name of a free society, 
some are guilty, all are responsible."

-Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

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