<meta name="Keywords" content=""> <meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"> <meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 2008"> <meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 2008"> <link rel="File-List" href="file://localhost/Users/Steven/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0clip_filelist.xml"> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:documentproperties> <o:template>Normal.dotm</o:Template> <o:revision>0</o:Revision> <o:totaltime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:pages>1</o:Pages> <o:words>1552</o:Words> <o:characters>8850</o:Characters> <o:company>Hampshire College</o:Company> <o:lines>73</o:Lines> <o:paragraphs>17</o:Paragraphs> <o:characterswithspaces>10868</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:version>12.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves>false</w:TrackMoves> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:drawinggridhorizontalspacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing> <w:drawinggridverticalspacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing> <w:displayhorizontaldrawinggridevery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:displayverticaldrawinggridevery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:dontautofitconstrainedtables/> <w:dontvertalignintxbx/> </w:Compatibility> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="276"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--> <style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Baskerville Old Face"; panose-1:2 2 6 2 8 5 5 2 3 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face";">This week’s <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">parashah</span> is <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Miketz</span> (Genesis/<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Bereshit</span> 41:1-44:17). The saga of
<br />Joseph and his brothers continues in this <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">parashah</span>. We read in the narrative of Joseph interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams, being made vizier of Egypt and then of his brothers coming to seek food during the famine.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face";">Below is a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">midrash</span> that I wrote focusing on an imagined dream Joseph had and what it might have taught him about the nature of identity and the need to mindful of who we are at any given moment.<span style=""> </span>Some of you may have read this before, but this is a newly edited version.<span style=""> </span>Comments and questions are always welcome!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face";"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Shabbat</span> Shalom and Happy Last 2 Days of Hanukkah,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face";">Steven<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"> </span></o:p></span></u></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><u><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;">The Dreamer's Other Dream<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;">It had been more than almost a quarter of a century since Joseph was exiled from his homeland and sold into slavery by his own brothers. Since then, he had known the pleasure (if you could call it that) of serving the wealthy as well as the pain of imprisonment and near death. Now, he was living in a world he had forgotten existed – the world of freedom. Not only freedom, but also control. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;">Once again, Joseph was in charge, just as in the old days when he was his father's favorite and could do no wrong. In those days he really thought that he was in control of his brothers and everyone around him. He certainly knew that he had his father wrapped around his little finger. However, those illusions died the moment he was thrown into the pit by his brothers and came to realize how little control he had over anything or anyone - including Joseph, himself!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;">Now he was lying on silken sheets on a luxurious bed remembering the past and enjoying the present immensely. Earlier that day he had been dressed in<o:p></o:p> garments that made the multi-colored cloak his father had given him seem<o:p></o:p> like peasant's rags. More than that, Pharaoh himself had placed a signet ring on his hand making him part of Pharaoh’s household. He had clearly made it to the top simply by interpreting a couple dreams and suggesting a plan for the future based on them. Yet, in spite of the day and the comfort of his<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;">bedchamber, he could not sleep. He tossed and turned for hours, unable to get comfortable. Then finally he drifted off into sleep where he had a dream of his own. This was the first dream that he could remember having since the fateful ones he had in Canaan that predicted that his brothers would some day bow down to him.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;">In the beginning of the dream Joseph was seated on a throne overseeing<o:p></o:p> the distribution of food to the hungry that had come to him seeking sustenance. He felt as if he were seated on the divine throne itself, but he knew that this was not so. He was too much of flesh and blood, as were the others who sought him out. Moreover, the throne was of this world, not in some otherworldly realm.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;">Suddenly he heard a voice calling out "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Zaphenat</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Paneah</span>." No one answered. Again, the voice called out "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Zaphenat</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Paneah</span>." Again, no response. This began to irritate Joseph who finally called out impatiently "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Zaphenat</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Paneah</span> must respond immediately or there will be consequences!" All movement ceased, as everyone looked up at Joseph with a puzzled look and stunned. "Why are you looking at me so strangely? Why have you all stopped moving?" he asked. Again, there was a long, unbroken silence. Then a small voice spoke. "My lord, you are <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Zaphenat</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Paneah</span>. Certainly you must know this." It was as if something struck Joseph in the chest at that very moment. He lost his breath. He could not speak. Then, with a great deal of struggle, he spoke, "Me? I am not <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Zaphenat</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Paneah</span>! Who dares to speak so impertinently to me?" A young boy stepped forward, "I do," he said timidly, but with a degree of certainty. "And who are you?" Joseph asked. The boy looked as stunned as Joseph had just a minute ago. Then he began to cry uncontrollably.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;">Joseph was had no idea what was happening. "Stop crying boy and answer<o:p></o:p> my question. Who are you? Why do you say that I am <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Zaphenat</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Paneah</span>?"<o:p></o:p> With that, the boy became silent, stepped up to Joseph, removed a ring<o:p></o:p> from his small finger and put it in Joseph's palm. "This is who I am."<o:p></o:p> Joseph looked down at the ring. It was clearly the signet ring of a great man and his house. Around the border of the ring it read, "The seal of the house of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Zaphenat</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Paneah</span>, vizier of Egypt, right arm of Pharaoh. " You are <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Zaphenat</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Paneah</span>?" Joseph asked. "No," cried the little boy with a mixture of fear and frustration, "you are, my father." Joseph felt both rage and confusion, "Me! Do you not think that I know my own name? I am Joseph, son of Jacob and Rachel. I am not <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Zaphenat</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Paneah</span> and I am certainly not your father!" The young boy then looked up into Joseph's eyes. His eyes looked so familiar to Joseph, and yet he did not know why. The boy then stated with firmness, "you are <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Zaphenat</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Paneah</span>, and I am your son, Manasseh."<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;">Manasseh.<span style=""> </span>The name touched something seep within Joseph.<o:p></o:p> Manasseh was a Hebrew name meaning "the one who made me forget." His head began to spin. He tried to speak.<span style=""> </span>He tried to move.<span style=""> </span>He could do neither.<span style=""> </span>Joseph then looked down at the boy’s small brown eyes. Seeing them for the first time he realized that they were Jacob's eyes. He knew then that the boy was telling the truth. Yet, how could this be? How could he have a son and not remember him?<span style=""> </span>And why was he calling him this strange name?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;">Joseph then spoke, "Come here my son, and tell me our story? I have forgotten it." The boy looked confused, but did as he was asked. Manasseh then told Joseph the story that had told him since he was an infant. He told him of how <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Zaphenat</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">Paneah</span> had been born into a special family in Egypt<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;">in which all the men had served as confidante to Pharaoh. He told his father that it was he who had foreseen the 7 years of plenty and 7 years of famine,<o:p></o:p> then creating a plan to save the nation from starvation. He then told his father how he had married <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">Osnat</span>, daughter of a high priest and how this<o:p></o:p> marriage had been arranged in order to unite their two powerful families. He also told him of his other brother Ephraim, who was off somewhere playing with his friends, no doubt.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;">The man seated on the throne no longer knew who he was or what to<o:p></o:p> believe. Was he Joseph or <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">Zaphenat</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">Paneah</span>? Was he the son of nomadic<o:p></o:p> Hebrews or the son of a privileged Egyptian family? Did he have a wife<o:p></o:p> and two sons or was he a young, single man who had barely escaped death<o:p></o:p> and imprisonment? He no longer knew who or what he was. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;">Then suddenly he heard a familiar voice calling out to him. "Joseph!” "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">Hineni</span> – Here I am,” he replied, “though I don’t know if I really am here." "Yes, you are here," the voice responded. "But," Joseph asked, "how do you know that I am Joseph, when I cannot even be certain of my identity?" The voice replied, "you have responded with the word <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">Hineni</span>.<span style=""> </span>This is the same word used by your grandfather and father when I called to them. It is the word you used when your father last called upon you.<span style=""> </span>And it is the same word that some day will be used by the man who will lead my people out of Egypt when I first call upon him to serve me.” " But who am I?" he shouted back to the unseen voice, "and who are you?"<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;">"I am the God of your mothers and fathers. I am your protector. But, you are the only one who possesses the answer to your other question. I can only ask the same question you are asking yourself, who are you?"<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;">At that moment, Joseph awoke. His head was still reeling from confusion. However, with his eyes open and his mind beginning to clear he remembered that earlier in the day he had indeed been appointed second to<o:p></o:p> Pharaoh and had been given the Egyptian name <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">Zaphenat</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">Paneah</span>, meaning<o:p></o:p> "God speaks, he lives." And so it was that God had spoken to him in his dream. God had also spoken to him through Pharaoh when Pharaoh delivered him from jail and then bestowed upon him this new name. It was indeed because of God that he was alive. It was because God had been present for him that he could now proclaim "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35">Hineni</span>."<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;">Then he remembered the names of the children in his dream. The young<o:p></o:p> one with Jacob's eyes with the name Manasseh, he who has made me forget,<o:p></o:p> and the other, Ephraim, "he has made me fertile." Manasseh and Ephraim - he knew that these names were themselves prophecies of warning and of promise. Manasseh's name - and his eyes - were meant to remind him that, no matter how much he might want to forget the travails of his life, he could not. They were always to be a part of him. He had arrived at this point in his life not because he had been born to Egyptian aristocracy, which would have made his life's story much simpler. Rather, he had arrived where he was because the hand of God had guided him and because he was able to follow the path he had been shown. As long as he remembered that he was Joseph, though everyone might call him <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_36">Zaphenat</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37">Paneah</span>, then God would see to it that he would be fertile. God would then guarantee that he would not only have a family, but that he would continue to grow and increase in wisdom, knowledge, kindness and holiness, as he was meant to do.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;">As his father had always been both Israel, the one who struggled<o:p></o:p> with God, as well as Jacob, the heal-grabber, so now he would always be Joseph, the one who added joy to his father's life and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_38">Zaphenat</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_39">Paneah</span>, the one to whom God speaks and whom God protects.<span style=""> </span>He would be both of Canaan and of Egypt.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;">Though he never did become totally accustomed to his Egyptian name, he did follow the path shown to him in his dream that night. Joseph lived many years in the land of Egypt and was as fertile as the land itself during the seven years of plenty. He did marry <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_40">Osnat</span>, the daughter of a high priest, though of his own free will and not because it was arranged.<span style=""> </span>And <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_41">Osnat</span> gave birth to two beautiful boys that he asked be named Manasseh and Ephraim. Then, at the end of the seven-year period of plenty, the land dried up, as God had promised, and famine struck the entire region. With God's guidance Joseph had seen to it that there was enough food to prevent starvation for the people of Egypt and for them to provide food for those who sought help from elsewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;">In Canaan, Jacob, and his children heard of the plenty in Egypt, collected during the fertile years by the man known as Zaphenat Paneah. And Israel <span style=""> </span>sent all of his sons down to Egypt for food, except for Benjamin, the only remaining son of Rachel who remained after Joseph’s disappearance.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; color: black;">When the brothers finally arrived in Egypt, they did now know whom they were about to meet. When Zaphenat Paneah saw them enter the great hall where he dispensed food - and justice - he realized that he was not sure who was about to meet them either. Nor was he certain what he would do.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Baskerville Old Face";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->
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Posted By Rabbi Steven Nathan to <a href="http://mindfultorah.blogspot.com/2009/12/dreamers-other-dream-midrash-for.html">Mindful Torah</a> at 12/18/2009 12:38:00 AM