Vayeshev Parshah Thoughts – Ill get to Chanuka later
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Who Are Your Experiences?
Yosef was sold to Potifar, butcher of Paroh. (Some say he butchered people: he was Royal executioner) He was also a
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Who Are Your Experiences?
Yosef was sold to Potifar, butcher of Paroh. (Some say he butchered people: he was Royal executioner) He was also a sexual deviant, Rashi points out. By all accounts he was not your ideal roommate. Yet few short years later Yosef married the daughter of Potifera, Kohain of On. Rashi says the two Potifars were the same man.
The Kohain of On was High Priest of On, a god. Potifar had become a theologian! How does a butcher and deviant, simple and brutish, turn into an intellectual, a theologian!?
We think our personality is who we are deep down. It reflects our core. This is not only false, its backwards. In reality we are developed by our experiences. Raw chocolate turns into a nut-covered nougat bar at the candy factory; it is heated, transformed, its taste and texture changed and so on. Very little is left of the original chocolateness! We too are nearly completely formed – and transformed – by our experiences.
Yosef was awarded stewardship of Potifar’s house. ‘Hashem was with him’. He mentioned Hashem at every turn; “Can you finish this job by noon?” “With the help of Hashem, sure!”
“Think you can repair my car?” “If Hashem wishes!” And so on. (Rashi)
This changed Potifar. Yosef constantly mentioned Hashem being in charge, and Potifar began to think about G-d. He brooded about the purpose of the universe, if it is managed by a Higher force and what would be the nature of that Force. And he developed. He went so far that eventually he was chosen as High Priest of On, having become one of his nation’s highest theologians.
What is the moral for us? We become what we experience. Take supreme care to experience building experiences, and not those that drag us down. Take care to hang around people who mention Hashem and His providence.
Becasue you are what you hear and expeience: you are your thoughts.
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What Yosef Means To Us
When Yaakov and Yosef met, Yaakov said the Sh’ma (Rashi). Why did he choose this moment for saying Sh’ma?
Yosef was special to Yaakov. Rashi tells that when Yosef was born Yaakov felt confident to face Essav. A mere baby, Yosef possessed the powers that destroy Essav. What was it all about?
Yaakov dreamed of building Klal Yisrael. He chose to marry Rachel, for he recognized that the child born of that union was the prototype he sought. That child was actualized in Yosef. Yosef was the ideal. The Rishonim say that Yosef possessed every good value, and mirrored Yaakov. Centuries later, when Moshe Rabbenu blessed the Jews, he referred to the tribe of Yosef as ‘the holiest of his brothers’. Yosef was Bechor, taking the place of Reuven.
Yosef’s dreams of kingship were meaningful to the genesis of our nation. They meant that he would be the leader and shaper of Klal Yisrael. The loss of Yosef was not only the loss of one of the shvatim, rather it was the loss of our nation’s kingpin. The Klal Yisrael that was to be, could no longer be.
Yosef’s return meant that Klal Yisrael could again now happen. Sh’ma, says the Ramchal, represents Hashem’s absolute rule in this world, dependent upon His personal involvement with Klal Yisrael. His absolute rule is related to our existence. Isn’t Shma apropos to our return into being?
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Fresh Out Of Snakes?
Wry comment of the Sefer Charedim;
The pasuk says ‘the pit [Yosef was thrown into] was empty; there was no water there’. The verse is redundant; if the pit is empty, obviously there is no water there. Why repeat ‘there was no water’? Chazal answer; because the pit was empty ONLY of water. It did have snakes and scorpions in it!
The Sefer Charedim sees this as a metaphor; water represents Torah. People believe one can be empty of Torah yet be a good person. The message is that a pit empty of water – Torah – is surely full of snakes and scorpions – bad character.
Certainly one can learn Torah and still have negative issues. However without Torah to keep one on the beam, it’s practically certain that one will have issues!
Everyone has a religion. We, as humans, make sense of the world around us and build ourselves a system of values. It’s either Torah values or our own made-up ones. Thats why this rule is true; if the person has no Torah, there will be wickedness…
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Are You Sure? Really Sure?
Yosef’s dreams alarmed his brothers. They contemplated killing him, and sold him instead. However the eventual embodiment of the dream – Yosef being king – was not at all like they envisioned. They were sure he would abuse his position to subjugate and lord over them. As they said ‘Are you to rule over us, be our boss?’
It turned out that instead Yosef became viceroy of Egypt, and Egypt became the food center of a famine-ravaged world. It sold food to the shvatim, leading to their coming and bowing before him, not as their ruler, but as the man in control of the food supply. On the contrary, Yosef used his authority to uplift his brothers. The dream came true, but completely unlike they imagined it would.
Yes, Yosef had dreamt. But No, it did not necessarily mean that he was gunning for mastery over them. It mean other things (in fact hinted to in the dreams themselves; the shvatim did not personally bow to Yosef in the first dream – they stood tall and straight while their wheat sheaves bowed to Yosef!! Their subjugation was indirect, as a result of their wheat shares) and perhaps they ought to have taken what he said l’kaf z’chus.
We would do well to also consider alternative meanings to events, and take nothing at more than their face value. We make altogether too many assumptions.
As the baalei mussar say ‘They saw him from afar and conspired to kill him’ – when you distance yourself from the other guy – you make him seem far, then he is malignant and malevolent. Up close he is trying hard to do good, its from far that he’s the bad guy.
Feel close to the other person before judging…
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Tit For Tat
The term ‘Haker Na’ is found twice in the Parshah; once it was used to confront Yaakov with Yosef’s bloody coat, and then used by Tamar to challenge Yehudah to recognize his ring, stick and strings. (- Baal HaTurim)
The simple meta-meaning is that Yehudah was confronted with the evidence as a punishment for the way he treated his father.
Perhaps there is more to it. The way this world is set up is ‘As a person acts, so is he dealt’. This is not a punishment at all; rather it means that each person was given the prerogative of setting the treatment he will be treated with. How? His own treatment of others sets how he will be treated. What power!
That’s what happened with Yehudah. He chose the method, and he received identical treatment. Maybe we should think twice when treating our fellow.
After all, we are determining our own treatment!
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Trouble = ‘Fun Ahead’
‘Vayeshev Yaakov’…’Eila toldos Yaakov’ etc. Rashi comments on the juxtaposition: ‘Yaakov wanted to settle in peace and quiet. Hashem said “The Olam Habah they are getting isn’t enough? Tzadikkim want Olam Hazaeh too?? So He sprang the saga of Yosef upon Yaakov’.
Is seeking quiet criminal? Does a tzaddik NEED a hard time in Olam Hazeh?
Rashi’s language implies that its greedy to want Olam Hazeh plus Olam Habah. Perhaps its like this: someone anticipating great goodies can disregard the present discomfort. Hashem signals a tzaddik the immensity of reward awaiting him by ….. giving him a hard time in Olam Hazeh! He is giving him this message; ‘You don’t need Olam Hazeh; You’d be satisfied with anything in this world because of what awaits you’. Rather than a punishment, it’s a sign that the tzaddik has made it.
How does the tzaddik know WHY he is getting trouble? Is it a sign of great Olam Haba, or is it punishment for sin?
The nature and pattern of the difficulty holds the clue: a punishment for sin scrapes and hurts more than just hard times. Perhaps it is unremitting pain, without a breather here and there. Or it is degrading. I suggest that the pattern contains identifying characteristics, which give away the purpose or reason for the trouble.
(As the gemarah in Berachos teaches, one can recognize ‘yisurim shel ahava’ by profiling; the pain of yesurim shel ahava do not cause one to miss learning or davvening, while other pain does.)
So pain hurts. But what does it signify? Perhaps a message of hope!
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The Mystery Pit
‘The pit was empty: it held no water’
What was the pit there for? Who dug it?
The answer is simple: it was a well/cistern that filled in the rainy season, but was dry during other times. There were many of these dug throughout the desert, some holding water longer than others. It was intended for water.
Thats why the Midianite merchants stopped by there and found Yosef – they were looking for water…
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kollel parshah | Tiferet Ramot 83-21, Jerusalem, Israel, 97290
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