Balanced Perspective

Parshas Vayigash

Posted on December 6, 2021 (5782) By Rabbi Shlomo Jarcaig | Series: Kol HaKollel | Level: Beginner

Soon after our forefather Yaakov (Jacob) descended to Egypt to commence the first Jewish national exile, he met the Pharaoh. “And Pharaoh said to Yaakov, ‘How many are the days of the years of your life?’ And Yaakov said to Pharaoh, ‘The days of the years of my sojourns have been one hundred and thirty years; few and bad have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not reached the days of the years of the lives of my forefathers in the days of their sojourns.'” (Beraishis/Genesis 47:8-9)

 

The Kli Yakar (1) explains that Pharaoh inquired about Yaakov’s age because he had heard that when Yaakov came to the Nile River the waters rose to his feet. Pharaoh hoped that Yaakov’s presence could bring an end to the famine they were experiencing. When he saw how old Yaakov appeared he was concerned that Yaakov was nearing the end of his days. Indeed, his appearance was not an accurate indication of his age, since he aged prematurely because of the unusual amount of suffering he had endured.

 

Despite the legitimacy of Yaakov’s point – his life was genuinely difficult – the Midrash says that someone who had forged such an intense relationship with the Divine as had Yaakov should have appreciated the Divine loving kindness demonstrated when G-d saved Yaakov from Esav and Lavan and reunited him with Joseph. For one of Yaakov’s righteousness and spiritual stature, complaining was inappropriate. Therefore, concludes the Midrash, he was punished by losing a year of life for each word of their conversation. What is perplexing about this Midrash is its statement that Yaakov was punished for Pharaoh’s words. Even if Yaakov was expected not to complain, why should he be punished for being asked a question?

 

Rabbi Chaim Shmulevitz (2) explains that Yaakov looked older because he allowed his sorrows in life to affect him. True contentment is not in the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much you already have. Had Yaakov focused to the best of his ability on the great benevolence shown by G-d, despite his travails, he would not have appeared as aged as he did. This fault led to Pharaoh’s inquiry and for this he was punished.

 

A parable is told of a man who discovered that he had won the lottery. As he celebrated he accidentally knocked over and broke a vase. His concern over the broken vase was not so great for he realized he had something much more valuable. We all have gifts from G-d – vision, hearing, health, loved ones. When we stop and appreciate the value of what we have, we maintain the proper perspective to deal with the difficulties we endure.

 

Have a Good Shabbos!

Forever Youthful

Parshas Vayigash

Posted on December 30, 2022 (5783) By Rabbi Label Lam | Series: Dvar Torah | Level: Beginner

How can I go up to my father if the (Naar) boy is not with me?… (Breishis 44:34)

Sometimes a verse in the Torah can be learned as a freestanding statement abstract from the context of the narrative. Here Yehuda is desperately pleading to rescue his youngest brother Benyamin and he utters a few words that have deep significance to each and every one of us, “How can I go up to my father and the NAAR- the youth is not with me!?”

 

We are all children of HASHEM, literally, as the verse explicitly states, “Banim Atem L’HASHEM Elocheichem” – You are children of HASHEM your G-d!” (Devarim 14:1) We are gifted with an inherent and unbreakable bond with HASHEM. A parent -child relationship is forever. The love is unconditional. It can be developed and enhanced but it is not an artificially crafted or abstract construct. It’s natural! We come into this world installed with this program. It’s part of our spiritual DNA. We have this natural attraction and yearning to come close to HASHEM, like a child’s desire to be near his father, or like a smaller magnet is drawn to a larger magnet.

 

With all this, it is still possible for barriers to be erected that weaken that magnetic pull. It is relatively easy to put a child’s picture or a test on the fridge with a magnet. Only a slim piece of paper stands between the magnet and the metal but if layers and layers of papers are added, it becomes increasingly difficult and even impossible for the magnet and the fridge to detect the attraction. Certainly, if one attempts to place the entire Sunday Times on the fridge, no magnetism can be felt through that thick impediment. The attraction is still there. It always was, and always will be, but there is a blockage.

 

More than once I have had people tell me, “Rabbi, please talk to my niece. She’s an atheist!” My answer is always the same. “Tell your niece there’s a guy named Label Lam who does not believe that she is really an atheist!” When I do meet a person who feels this way, it is usually based on some deep emotional component, and they feel anger towards G-d! It’s not that they don’t believe. They are busy being angry at a G-d they claim does not exist.

 

If just some layers of antagonism can be melted, healed or peeled away then a powerful pull will immediately be felt again.

 

Now let’s go back to Yehuda’s expression, “How can I go up to my father and the youth is not with me?!” Although Shakespeare had said it, “You can’t take it with you”, and Lord knows the Pharaoh’s tried with all their might but were unsuccessful, there is something that we can and we must take with us. How can we go up to our Father in Heaven without that sweet, innocent, playful, and wholesome child!? How did we allow that essential part of our being to become buried in negativity and cynicism!?

What is the nature of this “youth”? The Baal Shem Tov said that we can learn three important things from little children. Number one, that they are constantly curious; their heads are always turning; they’re exploring, and they’re testing the limits of everything, including their parent’s patience. Number two, they’re happy with the smallest things. We think they need sophisticated toys, but they’re often content to play with the box or the wrapper the toy came in, or to paint the highchair, and their little brother with chocolate yogurt. And number three, when they want something badly enough, they cry out to their father.

 

And so even we, in our advanced age, we can learn to be curious about the mysteries of HASHEM’s universe and His Torah; to be content, and excited, and appreciate even the smallest things; and when we want something badly enough, to cry out to our Father is Heaven, Avinu Sh’B’Shemayim.

 

Yehuda’s rhetorical question reverberates through the cosmos even still. How can we go up to our father and the youth is not with us?! Curiosity and idealism are the signs of youthfulness along with a child’s natural love for his father. It’s something that carries us happily through life and we take it with us when we go up to our Father in Heaven. King Dovid wrote, “NAAR Hayisi Gam Zakanti” – “I was youthful – I am also old”. It’s not a contradiction at all. It may be required, even while old, to be forever youthful.

 

 

According to His Plan

Parshas Miketz

Posted on December 21, 2022 (5783) By Rabbi Berel Wein | Series: Rabbi Wein | Level: Beginner

The entire narrative of the story of Joseph and his brothers, as he sent off the Jewish people to Egyptian society, slavery and ultimate redemption, is meant to illustrate to us the guiding hand of Providence in human affairs.

 

There is no question that all of the participants in this dramatic narrative acted according to their own wishes and wisdom. Yet the confluence of all of these conflicting personalities and ambitions leads to the desired end of the fulfillment of the prophecy and promise of G-d to Abraham about the future fate of the Jewish people.

 

This principle, that man proposes but G-d disposes is one of the basic beliefs of Judaism and is vindicated, for good or for better, throughout the history of the Jewish people and humankind generally. All of the twists and turns of daily and national life, the seemingly random and inexplicable events that assault us on a regular basis, somehow have a purpose and a goal.

 

They help us arrive at the situation and circumstance that G-d’s destiny has provided for us.

 

The difficulty in all of this is that very rarely is this pattern revealed or are we aware of it. The Lord told Moses that ‘you will see my back, not my face.’ We see things much more clearly in retrospect than in the ability to judge present events and somehow predict the future.

 

All of the dreams of Joseph will be fulfilled but no one could have imagined at the onset of the story how they could have been fulfilled and under what circumstances, of both tragedy and triumph, they would come to be the reality of the narrative of the story of Joseph and his brothers.

 

Of all of the brothers, Joseph seems to be the one that is most aware that he and they are merely instruments in G-d’s plan. The rabbis teach us that Joseph was distinguished by the fact that the name of G-d never left his lips and that he always attributed events to divine providence and G-d’s will.

 

That is why Joseph is seen as the main antagonist to Eisav, for Eisav always attributed events to random chance and to human action and power. We will see later that this was also the main contest between Pharaoh and Moshe. Pharaoh continually maintained that the troubles of the Egyptians were coincidence and that all of the blows that he sustained were due to circumstance and nature. Even when his wise men stated that the finger of G-d was pointing at him, he refused to admit that it was the divine presence that was driving Egypt to destruction.

We also live in a world where many see the events that surround us as being mere happenstance, random events engendered by human beings. However, Judaism knows better and teaches better and we are therefore confident that all of the processes ordained for us millennia ago will yet be completely fulfilled. There is a divine hand that guides the affairs of mankind.

 

Shabbat shalom, 
Rabbi Berel Wein

 

Twists and Turns

Parshas Miketz

Posted on December 18, 2020 (5781) By Rabbi Berel Wein | Series: Rabbi Wein | Level: Beginner

The dreams of Joseph are actualized in this week’s Torah reading. Miracles, though hidden, are somewhat natural events, and in this instance occur to facilitate this realization of the dreams of Joseph.

 

We all dream, but not all dreams are miraculous per se. The great Pharaoh of Egypt also had dreams. The fact that he dreamt of fat cows and lean cows is also understandable, for that was the nature of the society that he governed at that time. It was, in the main, a purely agricultural society, dependent upon animal power to produce food and sustenance. It is also not surprising that he dreamt of sheaves of grain, both full and empty.

 

But Pharaoh is disturbed by the fact that these dreams repeat themselves, and as Midrash teaches us, these dreams have an unusual and perplexing conclusion to them. In effect, the little destroyed the big, the weak destroy the mighty and the few triumph over the many. These conclusions were in direct opposition to the beliefs and experiences of Pharaoh. When he awoke in the morning and remembered his dreams. he was sorely troubled that they did not conform to any of his previous experiences.

 

It is this part of the story, the fact that the dreams were the opposite of what they had experienced previously, that sets the stage for the miraculous deliverance of Joseph and his unbelievable rise to power and fame. Thus, we see how miracles are formed by seemingly natural events, with just a little twist to those events that facilitate and hasten the arrival of the miracle.

 

One of the more amazing insights into this dramatic turn of events is that it seems that Joseph is not at all surprised by his being taken out of the dungeon and placed upon one of the thrones of the ancient Egyptian Empire. Simply being released from prison after having the aristocracy of Egypt against him, one would think this would have been a sufficient miracle for this lonely, defenseless Jew accused of a serious crime, Yet, from the way that Joseph immediately gets to work to store food before the famine, it seems that he knew that he was destined to be part of history. It was as if he almost expected to be appointed as the ruler of Egypt, second only to the Pharaoh.

 

In the house of Jacob, as in the houses of Isaac and Abraham, miracles were part of everyday life. They were expected to happen because our ancestors lived in a world of the spirit, where the presence of Heaven always felt real. Joseph had no doubt that he would be saved, and that his dreams of greatness and accomplishment were not made of imaginary straw. He only did not know how this would come about and how the dreams would be actualized. He had intended to be helped by the butler of Pharaoh, but that was not the track that the Lord had ordained for Joseph. In this week’s Torah reading, the real story unfolds with all the necessary twists and turns that make up human life.

 

Shabbat shalom

Rabbi Berel Wein

 

 

Hashem Peeking From Behind the Curtain

Parshas Vayeishev

Posted on December 13, 2022 (5783) By Rabbi Naftali Reich | Series: Legacy | Level: Beginner

 

 

What a stirring saga! Yosef is betrayed and conspired against by his brothers and then thrown into a dark pit where he is doomed to die. At the last moment, the brothers pull him out.

 

Broken in body and spirit, he endures the additional humiliation of being sold as a common slave to a passing trading caravan. What could possibly be more devastating? How utterly hopeless Yosef’s plight appears to be!

 

In the midst of this hellish scene, the Torah tells us, G-d lightened Yosef’s suffering by arranging for his journey down to Egypt to be in a fragrant, scented environment. The caravan of traders that had purchased him were carrying fine perfumes and spices. A pleasant fragrance wafted through the air around him as he made his way down to Egypt.

 

What are we to make of this information? Here Yosef is being sold into slavery with no prospects of ever being freed. Betrayed by his brothers, he is at the mercy of lawless people who could abuse and exploit him at will. At such a harrowing time, would he be likely to notice the scent around him? And if he did, what difference would it make to him in his pain and misery?

 

Yet, we must bear in mind that the Torah informs us about the spices in the caravan for a reason. Embedded in this dire and painful event was a secret note from Hashem to Yosef: ‘Don’t worry Yosef, I love you and I will spare you whatever suffering I can. Look, even here, in your miserable and wretched condition I will show you that I am peaking out from behind the curtain by sending you this little ray of positive encouragement. If only you can decipher my message of caring and love!”

 

Our lives are a long chain of challenges and difficulties. Although these hardships may be divinely ordained to tone up our spiritual muscles and help us grow, it is often difficult to recognize them as such.’

 

Yet, if we are attuned, we can pinpoint moments in our lives when Hashem demonstrates that he is watching from behind the curtain. All of us can be grateful for the seemingly small but infinitely valuable daily gifts and special messages with which Hashem lets us know that He is taking care of us.

 

Be it with the blessings of good health, our precious children, beloved family and friends or the innumerable other gifts we enjoy, we are constantly graced with Hashem’s loving beneficence.

 

By training our emotions to always operate in thankful mode, we can weather life’s disappointments. However, if we allow ourselves to fall into the mode of “entitlement,” as if we are owed life’s blessings and luxuries, we will inevitably suffer a spiritual and emotional setback.

 

 

— Rabbi Naftali Reich

Text Copyright © 2013 by Rabbi Naftali Reich and Torah.org.

Rabbi Reich is on the faculty of the Ohr Somayach Tanenbaum Education Center.

 

Facing the Challenge

Parshas Vayeishev

Posted on December 13, 2022 (5783) By Rabbi Pinchas Avruch | Series: Kol HaKollel | Level: Beginner

“Yaakov (Jacob) settled in the land of his father’s sojourns, in the land of Canaan.” (Beraishis/ Genesis 37:1) As the term “settled” is inconsistent with the Torah’s usual verbiage, Rashi notes, “Yaakov sought to dwell in tranquility, but then the ordeal of Yosef (Joseph) was thrust upon him. The righteous seek to dwell in tranquility: the Holy One Blessed is He said, ‘Do the righteous not consider that which is prepared for them in the World to Come to be enough for them that they seek to dwell in tranquility in this world as well?'” G-d decided that despite Yaakov’s righteousness he should suffer the twenty-two year ordeal of believing Yosef was dead. This suffering was not a punishment for misdeeds; why did G-d want to afflict Yaakov in such a way?

 

The Talmud (Brachos 5a) teaches: If a person suffers, he should check his deeds to find what he may be doing wrong. If he finds nothing wrong, he should assume he wasted Torah study time (i.e. perhaps he is not proactively doing the right things he should). If he finds that he is wasting no such time, then his afflictions are afflictions of Divine love. In what way is causing people to suffer an expression of G-d’s love?

 

Malbim (1) explains that through one’s trials he becomes an improved person. It is only by facing life’s challenges that he can actualize his potential. Furthermore, by overcoming this test he can serve as a role model and is in a better position to help and guide others in their time of need. While we can never completely understand why G-d runs the world the way He does, we can gain some invaluable insights. Our Sages teach us that this world is comparable to a corridor leading to the next world (Avos 4:21). Our life’s objective is to realize our potential in this world to achieve the true spiritual rewards for our good deeds in the world to come. We think we would love to be able to do so without suffering, but in truth, we understand that an extra push is often needed to encourage our growth and to help others do the same.

 

Have a Good Shabbos!

(1) acronym for (Rabbi) Meir Leibush ben Yechiel Michel; 1809-1879; Rabbi in Germany, Romania and Russia, he was one of the preeminent modern Bible commentators, often demonstrating how the Oral Tradition is implicit in the Torah’s text.

 

 

Lets End The Blame Game

Parshas Vayishlach

Posted on November 17, 2021 (5782) By Rabbi Naftali Reich | Series: Legacy | Level: Beginner

Yaakov has overcome the tremendous trials of living for over twenty years in an alien environment and being subjected to severe challenges and injustices. It was under these trying circumstances that Yaakov married and raised the ‘shivtei kah;’ the founding pillars of the Jewish people. After fleeing Lavan’s home, he encountered Eisav and succeeded in subjugating his brother’s angels, and was finally ready to make a triumphant return to his parents’ home.

 

Yet his ordeals were far from over. Just when he looked forward to a period of respite, the tragic story of Dina’s abduction and violation at the hands of Shechem ben Chamor, befell him, followed by his sons’ devastating strike against Shechem in retaliation for the outrage.

 

How did this tragic chain of events come about? How could Providence have permitted Dina to be subjected to such a humiliating assault?

 

Our tradition teaches that many factors contributed to this disaster. The Torah tells us that Dina went out to associate with the ‘daughters of the land’; the local girls. It seems her objective was simply to examine their culture and lifestyle. She was taken to task for this choice, as the verse says: ‘kol kevuda bas melech pnima’; a princess’ place is in the home. In mingling with the gentile population, she compromised her modesty and so she, in turn, was compromised.

 

In another place, our sages indicate that her behavior was influenced by her mother, Leah, who, our sages call a “yatzanis;” one who tends to put herself forward even when not wholly appropriate. Leah went out to the field to greet Yaakov, informing him of her desire to be with him that evening. Dina’s desire to go forth “among the daughters of the land” is seen as an outgrowth of her mother’s tendency to act in an immoderately forward manner.

 

Our sages also view Yaakov as carrying an element of responsibility for the tragedy that befell Dina as well. Rashi tells us (chapter 32; verse 22) that before his encounter with Eisav, Yaakov placed Dina in a chest so that Eisav should not gaze upon her and desire her as a wife. For this, he was punished by having her fall into the hands of Shechem. Had Eisav married Dina, Rashi says, she may have influenced him so profoundly, he would have repented.

 

Dina’s experience of being locked away from the world in a chest likely piqued her curiosity, sharpening her desire to investigate her surroundings. After all, when we excessively restrict our children from engaging the outside world, the temptation to taste the forbidden fruits and wander off the reservation is so much more acute.

 

Lastly, our sages tell us that Yaakov deserved to have his daughter abducted for tarrying excessively before returning home to his parents, who surely missed him and longed to see him. (Rashi Chapter 35;verse 1).

 

The sad and sorry saga that unfolded in Shechem was precipitated by a complex interplay of factors, as we have seen. From the perspective of our sages, we gain access to an even deeper dimension. Through these bizarre events, Hashem was planting the seeds and orchestrating events for later generations.

 

Our sages tell us that the union of Dina and Shechem gave birth to Osnas, who later became the wife of Yosef, the forbears of two of the twelve tribes, Ephraim and Menashe. For the Divine plan to be brought to fruition, it was necessary that Yosef marry one who was born of the union between polar opposites; the profane and the sacred. Dina’s daughter, Osnas, chose to connect to her mother’s spiritual legacy of sanctity.

 

This fascinating story is but one example of the multidimensional underpinnings of events that appear deceptively simple on the surface. The Divine plan that drives human events is so sublime and unfathomable, we are only afforded a tiny glimpse from time to time of its breathtaking sweep.

 

In our own lives, we can learn from the events in this portion how to view our own lapses of judgment. We tend to blame ourselves, and often find fault with our upbringing. We examine our parents’ disposition and deflect the blame for our own poor choices onto our forbearers. But all of this is an exercise in futility and misses the point.

 

This week’s portion teaches us that our job is to embrace the circumstances of our life even if they seem to be the product of our own faulty judgments. Instead of turning to recrimination, our task is to view Divine providence, in the context of history and our own personal lives, as the supreme guiding force. In the end, all will be understood and revealed as being part of a Divine plan designed for our own personal benefit and the benefit of the world at large.

 

Wishing you a wonderful Shabbos,

Rabbi Naftali Reich

 

Making Peace with the Past

Parshas Vayishlach

Posted on December 2, 2020 (5781) By Rabbi Berel Wein | Series: Rabbi Wein | Level: Beginner

 

One of the more perplexing questions that is raised in this week’s Torah reading is why Yaakov sends agents and messengers to Eisav to inform his brother of his return to the land of Israel.

 

King Solomon in Proverbs had already advised to let sleeping dogs lie, so to speak. So why should Yaakov place himself in a situation of anticipated danger and difficulty when it could have been avoided.

 

There are many insights and comments that have been expressed over the ages regarding this problem. I will take the liberty of adding my ideas to possibly explain this quandary. We all are aware that deep within each of us there is a psychological impetus to attempt to correct what we may deem to be a past error of judgment or behavior. In fact, the entire Jewish concept of repentance is built on this and can be mobilized for good and positive purposes. This impulse is usually directed when current events constantly impinge upon our lives.

 

We are busy making a living, raising a family, engaging in a profession or business, studying or teaching, and we have little time to think and recall all our past misdeeds and errors. In fact, we become so involved in our lives, that we almost forget our past behavior and less than noble life patterns. But, as is often the case, the past gnaws upon us, and eventually gives us no rest until and unless we attempt to somehow correct what we feel was wrong and even shameful.

 

Yaakov is aware that he obtained both the birthright and the blessings from his brother by questionable means. This matter has been discussed for millennia, and we have alluded to the many insights, interpretations, comments, and explanations for the behavior of Yaakov.

 

Nevertheless, the issue remains basically unresolved, for the verses in the Torah remain explicit, unchangeable, and eternal. It is, perfectly understandable that our father Yaakov should try somehow to make amends to his brother for the past times that Eisav, wrongly or rightly, felt that he was taken advantage of and deprived of what was really his.

 

Considering this, it is perfectly understandable why Yaakov behaves in the way he did and bestows upon Eisav such exaggerated gifts. It may be his attempt to square things and to defuse the bitterness of the past. It is not so much that Eisav should be mollified, but, rather, that Yaakov should become refreshed and more at peace with himself regarding his eternal mission of building the Jewish people – a mission which requires that he possess the birthright and the blessings of his father Yitzchak.

 

Only people who are at peace with themselves can really be constructive and positive in life, for them and others. It is this realization that impels Yaakov to seek out his brother before establishing himself in the land of Israel and beginning to fulfill the mission and the blessings that were rightly given to him.

 

Shabbat shalom
Rabbi Berel Wein

 

 

Body and Soul

Parshas Vayeitzei

Posted on November 8, 2021 (5782) By Rabbi Naftali Reich | Series: Legacy | Level: Beginner

The dream was more vivid than real life could ever be. As Jacob slept atop Mount Moriah, a fugitive from his own home, he saw a vast ladder reaching into the very heavens and angels ascending and descending upon it. As he watched, awestruck and transfixed, Jacob heard the voice of Hashem promising that the land upon which he lay would become an everlasting heritage for his descendants.

 

What was the purpose of this spectacular vision? Why did this crucial prophecy have to be transmitted in this particular setting? What timeless message was implicit in the symbolism of the dream?

 

Let us reflect for a moment on the nature of mankind. Our Sages tell us that a human being is a hybrid creature, a miraculous fusion of two polar opposites, the soul and the body, a living contradiction. The soul is a soaring spark of pure immortal spirit ever striving for fusion with its divine Source. The body is altogether mortal, self-indulgent, formed from the dust of the earth, always seeking new forms of physical gratification, always hungry, never fulfilled.

 

When the Creator formed man he breathed the soul into the body, and miraculously, these two totally dissimilar entities were united into one composite. Ever since, human beings have struggled with the inherent conflict between these two antithetical aspects. The soul, trapped in a material cage, unable to fly freely into the highest celestial spheres, yearns to transcend its physical shackles, to elevate and spiritualize its existence. The body resists fiercely, seeking instead to indulge its corporeal impulses even when they result in the degradation of the soul.

 

How is a person to deal with this internal war? Should he choose a life of rigid asceticism, mortifying his flesh and completely negating his body? Should he withdraw from the mundane world and seek a state of pure spirituality?

 

Not at all, say the commentators. Hashem wants a person to function in the physical world, to find a harmonious balance between his spiritual and material sides. The human spirit triumphs only when it conquers the material, not when it flees from it.

 

This is the message for posterity implicit in the ladder of Jacob’s dream. Our mission in life is to create a channel of communication between the dust of the earth and the highest heavens, an inner harmony of body and soul. How can this be accomplished? Only step by step, like climbing the rungs of a ladder, building new achievements on the foundations of earlier ones.

The Talmud relates the following parable:

 

A king was leaving on a journey, and he did not want to entrust his beautiful vineyard to his watchmen, fearing they would steal its succulent grapes. After much thought, he decided to appoint two watchmen, one lame and the other blind. The lame one would spy intruders and warn the blind one to intercept them. They themselves, however, would be incapable of climbing up and stealing the grapes.

 

As soon as the king left, the lame man called to his blind companion, “Come to the sound of my voice. I will climb up onto your shoulders and together we will feast on the king’s grapes.”

When the king returned and found a substantial number of grapes missing, he called his watchmen to task.

 

“Your majesty,” said the lame man. “Look at me! I cannot even walk one step. Do you think I climbed up to take the grapes?”

 

“Your majesty,” said the blind man. “Look at me! I cannot see a thing. Do you think I climbed up to take the grapes?”

 

The king shook his head in disgust. He placed the lame man on the shoulders of the blind man and judged them both together.

 

The soul and the body, the Talmud concludes, could conceivably make similar arguments in their defense. “Look at me,” the soul could say after death. “I am like a bird flying through the air, a creature of pure spirit and light.” “Look at me,” the body could say, “lying there like an inert piece of clay.” Therefore, Hashem brings the body and soul together and judges them as one. In other words, we are a new entity, a composite of body and soul, not one to the exclusion of the other. In this hybrid state, we are completely responsible for our actions.

 

In our own lives, we must temper our search for spiritualism with a healthy respect and appreciation for the material world. Instead of denying the material side, we can seek to harness it for spiritual purposes, for instance, by enjoying fine foods and wines in celebration of the Sabbath and the festivals. If we acknowledge our material origins yet keep a clear sight of our spiritual goals, we can climb Jacob’s ladder, rung by rung, and achieve an internal harmony which will reward us with the deepest satisfaction and fulfillment.

 

 Text Copyright © 2007 by Rabbi Naftali Reich and Torah.org.

Rabbi Reich is on the faculty of the Ohr Somayach Tanebaum Education Center.

 

The Great Dreamer

Parshas Vayeitzei

Posted on November 11, 2021 (5782) By Rabbi Berel Wein | Series: Rabbi Wein | Level: Beginner

In a few weeks, we will read in the Torah that the brothers of Joseph referred to him almost cynically as being the master of dreams. Yet we see in this week’s reading that it is our father Jacob who is really the master of dreams.

 

Two of Yaakov’s major dreams are recorded for us, and it is obvious from the story of his life that Yaakov is constantly guided and influenced by the dreams that he dreamt when he left the home of his parents and journeyed to an alien society.

 

Dreams are one of the most provocative and mysterious events that occur to human beings. They come to us on almost a daily or nightly basis. Early psychiatry held that dreams would be key to understanding human personality and reflect the emotional and mental stresses that exist in human life. The correct interpretation of dreams, according to this theory, help solve mental health disorders or, at the very least, help to diagnose them, so that perhaps they might be treated.

 

The Talmud teaches us that those dreams have the quality of being a minor type of prophecy. There is an entire chapter in the Talmud devoted to explanations and interpretations of dreams. The Torah itself teaches us that prophecy itself, except for the prophecy of Moshe, was always communicated through the medium of the subconscious and dreams.

 

Appreciating all of this will help us understand the story of Jacob and his survival in the house of Lavan. What is the secret of the strengths that Yaakov exhibits in being able to resist the culture of Aram and the influence of the house of Lavan? Jacob never forgets the dream of the ladder stretching from earth to heaven, of the angels, and of the message of G-d himself reassuring him of his protection and survival.

 

Dreams often become reality to the dreamer. And when they do, a great new force of self-confidence is given to the dreamer. There are dreams that we immediately forget upon awakening in the morning, and there are some dreams that remain with us, but they also usually are of limited influence, and after a length of time, they also disappear. It is only a great dream, perhaps even one that has frightening aspects to it, that remains embedded in our memory and consciousness. And it is this type of the dream that influences our behavior and drives us forward in our lives. This dream encompasses our ambitions, our energy, our creativity, and our direction in life. It becomes the source of our hopes, and the source of our disappointments, as well as our achievements and our shortcomings.

 

Our father Jacob is really the great dreamer of the family, who keeps the tradition of the Jewish people. He never seeks to escape his dream, but rather, devotes his entire life and being toward its realization and actualization.

 

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Berel Wein