Genesis Cycle Six Miketz

Miketz in this week’s parsha can be translated at the end of or after. The truth is though if the simple meaning of after was intended here the word acharei would have been much more appropriate. Therefore it is often translated as at the edge.

At the edge of what? 

At the edge of a few days (we read).  Pieces of time suddenly have an edge.  Pieces of time suddenly become as solid as a cliff and we are standing on it.  Miketz therefore is a place that cuts beyond temporal boundaries, a  point beyond linear logic, a delineation between the real and the surreal, between the mundane and the divine. It’s the thin bridge that Rav Nachman talks about as well as the place in between dreams. Therefore it is also the portal to myth and metaphor. It’s the moment when all is darkness and you don’t believe but know.  Miketz is the moment of  dark non-shadow before the very slight hints of a distant dawn. When we are in the place of miketz there isn’t any reassurance. Faith therefore, since it necessitates tiny touches of reassurance, is not  what we think of when we think of miketz. Faith though, as Rabbi Shneur Zalman has said, can solidify to knowledge. Then greater faith can build upon that knowledge and become greater knowledge.  Miketz is the edge of that knowledge foundation.

 

 The best way to understand the place of miketz is this: You have a lover or a partner or a husband or a wife.  You know so well that the lover is there that you don’t need to make sure his dresser is filled with his clothing or he shares the same bed. You don’t need to call him every moment when he is at work to hear his voice. You don’t need to talk about the relationship every day.  You don’t need to pull attention from him or smother him or manipulate. And when he goes away you still know he will be back. 

This is like the relationship of Joseph with God. There isn’t any reason to cheer for God or talk about Him constantly or swing his name around Mitzrayim. Joseph only needs to be Joseph. The knowledge of God makes faith secondary. The knowledge is in his bones. The whole world around him therefore does not need to be the place where he metaphorically begs his divine lover to prove He is there, to prove His presence. The world around him is proof of His presence. Joseph therefore can handle the world in the place of miketz, Beyond-Faith.

One thing he therefore can do is to elicit teshuvah from others. This is how: An action that hurt him in the past can be turned by guiding those who did it through seemingly unrelated behavior. This behavior might not logically (or in a linear way) be aligned with that action.

Simply put, the brothers of Joseph throw him in a pit and almost kill him. They abandon him. However, Joseph does not need to receive deep apologies from his brothers to free them from their guilt. If that’s what he needs, he can certainly demand it. He is after all second only to the Pharoah.  Joseph simply needs to witness the painful approach and re-approach of his brothers as if they are repenting for that one action.  This way, Joseph saves them from public humiliation in a foreign country, a fate as painful as the one he has been dealt.

For example, if  a man (in a place of anger) threatens to kill his brother, a simple apology might not be strong enough to bring peace. The brother (if he can let go of the threat) will one day be in a place in which the man will need something of him. How he elicits an active apology…a behavior of yearning… from the man will determine the possibility of their future connection. The brother’s ability to elicit that behavior will depend on his place in terms of God. 

If he is miketz, he will manifest this reality. This isn't magic. This is Torah and Life in such a place of knowledge that magic, as Rabbi Johannon (of Talmud) has shown, is not even in the conversation.

The important thing to remember here is that in Torah, things and actions merge. Teshuvah is not stuck in one action. It is flexible and flowing if and when we are as well. In Torah therefore humans can free themselves from past mistakes and embarrassments through actions of kindness and humility that seem to have nothing to do with those specific mistakes. 

The other important thing to remember is that the place of miketz is extremely powerful. It’s the place of prophecy and intuition, of feeling and manifestation. It’s when the light of God is there not because it’s Chanukah and we bought the candles and have the matches and expect it. It’s there during this dark time of the year simply because it’s there.  

This knowledge is true joy.

May You Have a Beautiful Chanukah.