Genesis - Cycle One - 4101-4417 - MiKetz

Torah seems to tell us that while the body stops short, the spirit goes long. While existence stops short God goes long. So then, in thinking of the eternal, what can be seen as an end? First, where are we in this divine saga? Well, we’re getting ready for the holidays, for family and friends, for the snowstorm tomorrow. We’ve read about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We’re now with Joseph, performing alchemy, turning conflict into balance into love.

How great! Now to expand, to apply this alchemy and merge with the radiant light! But wait, God seems to be saying, not quite yet. The light (that light) is sensitive, delicate, mystical, beautiful, easily corrupted. We can’t just charge through family sagas into decades, into centuries, beyond time, beyond our diffused reflections into God’s welcoming lap. No, we have to sink into each level, know it, become it, live it.

So then, how would Joseph know his story? The story of being sold to slavery? We’ve all been sold at one point in our lives. I was sold once. At least it felt that way. It happened when I was learning how to drive.

My parents didn’t want to teach me themselves. So, after some discussion they finally hired the Chief of Police in our small town of Harrison New York. He was safe, respected and expensive. By the third lesson, I was smooth and could start parallel parking. The Chief wasn’t quite smooth enough. When he placed his hand between my legs, I threw him off and crashed my Dad’s Caddy. The dent was about as big as a pizza pie.

To make a long story short, the event was hushed. My parents liked the police. They protected our big house and expensive things. I didn’t get a new driving teacher. The perk was that (it seemed) I didn’t have to pay for the repairs.

It could have been worse. I wasn’t sold to the Egyptians. However, this event, like that of Joseph, did ripple out. Therefore, they are similar. Knowing or unknowingly, humans tend to compromise their souls and those of the people they love. How do we bring balance? First, we need to create our own edge, our own end. MiKetz begins…At the end of two years… The Zohar says these words imply the end of forgetfulness and the beginning of remembrance (of the divine). Joseph’s suffering has come to the darkest edge. A beginning is imminent. This goes beyond life and death. This is about discernment of an end. And this discernment enables us to act.

Next, we need to look at the earthly plane, at the body. Joseph does not seek revenge. As second in command to the Pharoah, he has the power to destroy his brothers. Instead, he is gentle. He accuses them of being spies, sends them back to get Benjamin, holds Simeon under arrest, gives them food and even their money back. In the case of Simeon’s arrest, it is before the eyes of the brothers. Therefore, when the brothers leave, Simeon is given food and drink (Rashi). In short, Joseph confuses them. They fight, blaming each other for having sold him. Joseph overhears this and weeps. So, even in the white space, Joseph does not yearn to hurt the people who hurt him. There aren’t any bad guys here. At least, that is not our concern. We (and Joseph) are merely acting on the earthly level to create balance above.

Let’s look above. In line 41:22 Joseph says that once we dream something twice it is set into motion and God is waiting to act on it. Dreams, though, what are they? Don’t they go beyond sleeping? MiKetz begins with the Pharoah’s perspective of his dream thereby equating the two. Once we perceive something twice (therefore) it is set in motion and God is waiting to act on it. With this in mind, let’s look at how Joseph acts towards his brothers. He makes them travel twice from Canaan to Egypt. He can see them approaching him twice, know it, visualize it. They are the earthly. Joseph is the divine. What we are witnessing is the flow of light from the earthly to the divine realms. In the last parasha, when Joseph is sold, the flow was turned in the other direction. Now, balance is close to being recreated. It has been set in motion and God is waiting to act on it.

One thing we learn from Joseph is how both levels are happening concurrently. There’s a give and take, a back and forth. When we act, therefore, it’s important to move beyond ego and self, beyond stasis in one place.

After I crashed my Dad’s car I was more hurt than angry. I didn’t seek revenge. I did nothing; a similar action given the resulting lack of balance. What happened twenty two years later is another story. Maybe it takes that long to begin to learn how to experience the end and begin new, how to bring balance and love to conflict, how to stand in two places at once.

Meanwhile, may we realize that every vision has many manifestations. May we understand the power of our visions. May we see how a family conflict can span decades and centuries this moment. May we see the end as the edge of pain and a new beginning. May we stand in the earthly and the divine with open eyes and open hearts. May we turn conflict into balance into love. May we be like Joseph and help to bring the divine light to earth. May we live in God’s embrace.