Miketz: Awakening

Dreams dominate parshath Miketz.  Pharaoh's dream calls forth Joseph from prison.  He is identified as the great interpreter of dreams by the royal  wine steward, the beneficiary of Joseph's talent.  Joseph's interpretation of Pharaoh's dream wins him the position of viceroy.  From that vantage, he arranges to fulfill the dreams  of dominance (which turn out to be dreams of providence), that he shared with his family, that led to his enslavement, putting him in the current position. 

It is Chanukah. Psalm 126 begins:  הָ֝יִ֗ינוּ כְּחֹלְמִֽים    we were like dreamers. Those who returned to Zion were like dreamers.  Chanukah celebrates the maintenance of Zion , the defense of the Temple from the onslaught of its attackers.  The dream of restoration takes on physical form in the  improbable victory over the far superior military forces and the oil that, miraculously, lasts eight days.  Dreams come true. 

Some dreams are the fulfillment of wishes and the expression of fears  in a way in which they do no harm, in fantasy. One can  read the dreams in Miketz as communications from the Divine.  I can also  see the interpretation of these dreams as an opportunity for the analyst. 

When Joseph interprets the dreams of the wine steward and the baker in prison, they all know that it is 3 days from the Pharaoh's birthday, when he commonly passes final judgement on his prisoners.  The wine steward can muster some confidence from the dream interpretation that  Joseph delivered . It was foretold that he will be restored to his position,  Imagine how dejected the baker looked standing before Pharaoh, trying to deny his fatal interpretation.  Imaging Pharaoh choosing between them:  the smiling wine steward, the sweating baker.

The interpretation of the dreams of Phaoraoh may , also , have contributed to their fulfillment.  Confronted with an impending famine, the farmer will work the land  as hard as possible, year after year,  until it is depleted of nutrients ( fixed nitrogen, see Haber).  The depleted soil will cause the predicted famine.  The famine makes the people dependent upon the central government, eventually, they become the subjects, serfs of the Pharaoh. ( Is this a  plot shared with Stalin?)

The end of the parsha hints at  this use of dreams as opportunities.  Benjamin is framed for the theft of the vizier's chalice of divination.  Joseph's servant  implies  that it is obvious that a vizier will see the future in his hallucinations prompted by the grape dregs.  I do not think that Joseph took the divination course. The text is telling us that ideas prompted by fantastic visions can lead to great outcomes, depending upon their interpretation  " All dreams follow the mouth" Brochoth 55b

The dream of the Maccabees, for an Israel that that is true to its traditions, required the extraordinary courage that could only come from a dream, a dream that has been shared for thousands of years and comes down to us, in a time when the state of Israel has been re-established.  We are now charged with the interpretation of  that dream, and the interpretation is what  can make the dream come true. 

Vayeshev: Betrayal

Vayeshev: betrayal

Joseph is sold by his brothers.  The text says that  the price was 20 pieces of silver.  The Midrash says that the 10 brothers each used 2 silver pieces to buy shoes with the revenue from  their brother's sale. The allusion to shoes as the commodity that was exchanged for Joseph is picked up in the Yom Kippur poem ( Elah Ezkara, These I will remember),  The cruel king reminds the scholars that Joseph was sold for shoes.  They agree and sentence the perpetrators to death, thus sealing their own fates as the 10 martyrs.

This betrayal for shoes evokes the exhibits at holocaust sites:



The piles of shoes , the record of the victims.

The story evokes the betrayals of desperation.  Jews competing for work permits. the Judenrat, the Jewish Police.  Jews betraying Jews. The guilt for these acts is ambiguous,it is  the true  prisoners dilemma. When my parents talked about the holocaust, or were  silent about their lives then, I presumed that these were the ambivalent  acts  that they were hiding.  I thought: there must have been decisions that my parents  took as self preserving, at the expense of others.


The parsha presents another theme, manifest in my parents' experience: grace,arousing kindness from others.  Joseph is sold to the chief butcher.  Chazal say he was the royal executioner.  The text wants to attach cruelty to this master.  Yet, he sees Joseph with kind eyes .  Even when Joseph is accused of trying to seduce his wife, he does not have Joseph killed, the butcher  does not do what is  easy and expected; rather he sends Joseph to prison, where the warden is charmed by him,

My father, like Joseph, survived on charisma and luck.  The Soviet army officer chose my father for survival and escape from the German POW camp. In the Treblinka death camp, the worst place in the  world, the cruelest of the overseers, the butcher of the camp, chose my father as his pet, and made him the master ( not the kappo) of the laundry (a morally clean job).

Chanukah is the longest holiday of the year. It has a theme,  the oil lasting 8 times longer than expected demonstrates  perseverance. You have no idea how much adversity you can survive. This colors my medical choices.  I try not to  underestimate how sick a person can be, and still survive.  I try not to underestimate how long  and how gravely a person can suffer before death.

Gd grants grace to the downtrodden.  Perhaps it would be better not to descend, but that is not our history

Vayishlach: confidence

When Jacob is blessed with his new name, Israel, he is being encouraged, he is given the medal of the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz.  Prior to the battle that dislocates his hip and denies filet minion to his descendants forever, Jacob express his humble appreciation for all the favor that has befallen him, all the grace that Gd has bestowed upon him.  He says that he is humbled, kataknti.  He means that he has spent his credits, Gd has paid, in full, for any kind ,obedient, and positive thing he may have done.  He deserves no more.  And he is frightened by his empty stores of divine credits.  He must confront his brother, who, when last seen, wanted to kill him, who is accompanied by a 400 man  armed regiment, and he is bankrupt in the Bank of Heaven.  Oy.  Jacob is terrified. 

Called upon to fight for his life, there is no choice, and Jacob prevails.  The Opponent says that his name will no longer be Jacob, but will now be:  "He Who Will Prevail  Over Power" - Yisroel.  He should discard his old name "Heel", a name that implied being stepped on, a name that evoked clinging to the last vestige of his far superior brother,  He would no longer be "Jew", who cowered before the Gentile;  He would now be the  Israeli who could stand up and overcome those who confronted him.  

But it did not stick.  He bowed before Esau, bought him off, and wiggled away from him,  Wining counts. 

When his daughter is raped, he remains silent,  Shimon and Levi, in their adolescent rage, avenge her and get the derision of their father ( for the rest of his life) as one of the spoils.  Jacob  is afraid of the United Nations of Canaan mobilizing against his small group.   He is afraid of the Pogroms.  And the fear is stoked by the guilt .  His sons had, indeed cleansed the area of the tribe of Shechem and Chamor. They could, rightly, expect retribution.  Just as Jacob recognized that there was some justice in Esau's claim  to anger after  being cheated  out of his blessing. 

The intelligent can usually see some just cause in the opposition's position.  The kind will find a way to justify the enemy: respect for other cultures can justify violent mysogyny, a history of  oppression can condone murder, etc.  These ideas are humbling, katanti.  They invalidate  self defense. 

"If the Gentile comes to strike you, bow your head and he may spare your life" I hope those days are over.   Personally, I would still bow  and find some way to defend his point of view.  Oy!

Vayetzeh: Deportee

Jacob is exiled. He must run away from the murderous intentions of his brother.  Brothers have killed before. 

He runs and he finds stones, Lithos in Greek. Lithuania? EStonia?  He come to POland.  A place that is foreign. He has no status, no fortune, no future? 

He comes to the well, covered with a stone.  This is a new economic system.  No one gets water until everyone gets water.  For his kinswoman he removes the stone, uncovers the well, returns the favor of  his mother,Rebecca,  and waters the sheep. 

He resides with Lavan. He works and demonstrates talent.  He wants Rachel for his wife, the woman who was at the well.  Jacob's trick, getting the blessing from Isaac, is visited upon him.  Jacob had switched himself for Esau; Lavan switched Leah for Rachel.  

This is a tricky place. Everyone is making deals, You never know what you are getting.  Trading conjugal rights for fertility treatments.Whose sheep are these now? the spotted and brown ones. 

Jacob leaves with  boundry marker , a pile of rocks.  Deported again. 

 All they will call you will be deportee. 

(try the link) 

Tosafoth

Toledoth: Conflict, Contempt, regret

The parsha is filled with the elements of drama: Conflict, Contempt, Regret,  These are   issues that  have no solution, issues for the emotions.  

The conflict between Jacob and Esau begins in the womb.  It is a  struggle that precedes reason, a primordial competition.  Jacob is given the subservient name, he is named after the ankle of his brother, he is holding on to the  place  reserved for the serpent's attack, he is in danger of having his head crushed. 

Jacob buys the right to be  (called) first born.  He has what Esau wants and needs:food,  He sells the lentils for a brith right, a right which Esau (now)  holds in contempt.  This birthright has no value now, but when Isaac is bestowing the blessing, Esau sees that he sold the precious for a bowl of porridge. He  disregards the sale and announces himself to his father ( who has already bestowed the blessing)  as the first born, a title that he has sold. 

The parsha explains antisemitism as an emanation of envy.  When Esau complains about being cheated , he uses a word that  evokes Jacob:  וַֽיַּעְקְבֵ֙נִ , he equates the Jew and guile.  The Jew has won, that cannot be fair.  

Was wining worth it?  I am not sure that it would have come out better  if Jacob had not won.