Would you Appoint a Poet as CEO? Would you Appoint a Poet as CEO? A Philosopher as President? Just because Joseph was a genius dream interpreter, why would that qualify him to be the chief executive of the world’s superpower? Why would Pharaoh select Joseph to gather grain for the entire country and prepare for the seven years of famine instead of choosing an experienced administrator? The genius of Joseph was not that he interpreted Pharaoh's dream, predicting that there would be seven years of famine following the seven plentiful years. Joseph's radical insight was that the human being has the ability to interfere with the course of nature, to go up against the seeming inevitability of destiny, and to overcome his fate. The pagan Egyptian society believed in the absolute power of the forces of nature. If the gods of nature would choose to bring famine and destruction to Egypt, no human activity would be able to change that. No Egyptian would be successful in gathering grain because no Egyptian believed that it could be done. When Joseph interpreted the dream he told Pharaoh: It is this matter that I have spoken to Pharaoh; what Elokim (God) is about to do He has shown Pharaoh. (Genesis 41:28) Jewish philosophy explains that the name of G-d which Joseph employed, Elokim, has the numerical value of the Hebrew word for nature, and refers to G-d as expressed within the laws of nature. Joseph told Pharaoh that the dream is an expression of the name Elokim, but the human being can dig deeper, and reach the name Hashem, which is the name that transcends nature, which can change the course of history. Indeed, Pharaoh's dreams were in multiples of seven: seven fat cows and seven emaciated cows, seven healthy ears of grain and seven beaten ears. The number seven, like the seven days of the week, represents the cycle of nature, which seems to be unstoppable and unchangeable. Yet, the holiday of Chanukah, which, interestingly, always occurs during this Torah portion, highlights not the number seven but the transcending number eight; the ability to express unconditional, supra-rational commitment to goodness and holiness, to challenge the undefeated army of the superpower of the time, and to prevail. The lights of Chanukah remind us that we are not defined by the statistics and algorithms of natural order. The candles teach us that we can transcend the natural darkness and lead the world to a place of light, hope, and healing. Adapted from the Chasam Sofer
Blog - Torah Insights
Would you Appoint a Poet as CEO? - מקץ
Did You Ever Wrestle With An Angel? - וישלח
Did You Ever Wrestle With An Angel? Did you ever wrestle with an angel? Did you ever overpower an angel? The Jewish people received their collective name, Israel, because of the episode in this week's Torah portion, where our father Jacob had an all-night wrestling match with a mysterious person who turned out to be an angel. In the morning, Jacob would not let the angel go until the angel agreed to bless him and said: So he said to him, "What is your name?" and he said, "Jacob." And he said, "No more will your name said to be 'Jacob', but rather 'Israel'; as you have become ruler with the divine and with men and you have prevailed" (32:28-29) There are many interpretations of the meaning of the struggle and the blessing; the Rebbe offered an interpretation that makes this story relevant to each of us, descendants of Jacob, members of the people of Israel. The Rebbe taught that yes, each of us does indeed struggle with an angel, and each of us, by virtue of being a descendant of Israel, possesses the ability to overcome and overpower the angel. What angel are we referring to? The Talmud teaches that before a child is born, an angel declares the destiny of that child: As Rabbi Ḥanina bar Pappa interpreted that verse in the following manner: That angel that is appointed over conception is called: Night. And that angel takes the drop of semen from which a person will be formed and presents it before the Holy One, Blessed be He, and says before Him: Master of the Universe, what will be of this drop? Will the person fashioned from it be mighty or weak? Will he be clever or stupid? Will he be wealthy or poor? The conventional understanding is that the angel's declaration determines our destiny and that we cannot become wiser or more successful than the declaration of the angel, which then becomes embedded within our nature. Yet the truth is that the very name of our people, Israel, represents the ability to" become ruler" and "prevail" over the angel of G-d. Embedded within the Jew is the ability to overcome the restrictions imposed by the natural self and transcend the inborn limitations. A Jew may feel that he or she has reached their capacity, that they reached the point beyond which they cannot cross. The angel in our portion tells us otherwise. Yes, there are limitations imposed by the natural world and even the spiritual DNA conveyed to us by the angels. Yet, the children of Israel are undaunted by the limitations of our nature. We are not afraid to wrestle with the angel; until, ultimately, we overcome both man and angel. Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Shabbat Yitro 5744
Why We Fall In Love With Rachel - ןיצא
Why We Fall In Love With Rachel Rachel was beautiful. Rachel was Beloved. Rachel’s children, Joseph and Benjamin, represent inner serenity, spirituality and righteousness. Jacob loved Rachel, he worked seven years, and then, after he was tricked into marrying her sister Leah, another seven years, for the right to marry her. Leah, by contrast, was not as beautiful. [“Leah's eyes were tender”; Rashi explains: “Tender. Because she expected to fall into Esau’s lot, and she wept”.] Leah was not as beloved. [“and he {Jacob} also loved Rachel more than Leah”. Leah’s children were less than perfect. [They kidnapped their brother Joseph and sold him as a slave. Their father described Simon and Levi as “Cursed be their wrath for it is mighty, and their anger because it is harsh”.] But, surprisingly perhaps, it was Leah who gave birth to the most children and established six of the twelve tribes of Israel. It was Leah who merited to be buried with Jacob in the family plot, in the cave of Machpelah in Hebron; as opposed to Rachel who was buried on the side of the road, on the way to Beit Lechem. Like Jacob, we too fall in love with Rachel. We want peace, serenity, and a tension free life. Like Jacob, we too experience both the beauty of “Rachel” as well as the challenges of “Leah”. Like Jacob, we learn that growth and greatness comes not from perfection but from growing from the challenges. Not from innocence but from correcting mistakes. Like Jacob we learn that what G-d values more than righteousness is the effort and growth that emerges from overcoming the darkness of challenges and ultimately transforming them to light.
It was Leah’s children who became the leaders of the Jewish people, the monarchy from Judah, and the priesthood from Levi.