Hello from the heart of darkness…
Ok, maybe I am exaggerating, but we are coming into the darkest week of the year, the week of the new moon closest to the winter solstice. And what do the children of Yisrael (Israel) do during the darkest week? They light candles!
Now perhaps I should have saved this intro for the shabbat that falls during the week of Hanukah, but I couldn’t resist using it here. We’ll see how it fits into the parsha (weekly Torah portion) we are reading this week.
What happens in the parsha? I am glad you asked. Action wise, it is not one of the more exciting ones, but it does have a few surprises.
We start out with Yakov (Jacob) settling down in the land and then we hear how none of the other children liked Yoseph (Joseph) because he was his father’s favorite. Yoseph has a few dreams that gets them even more annoyed with him.
One day, Yisrael (Jacob’s higher name) sends Yoseph to see how the others are doing in the pastures. They see him coming and plot to kill him. They change their minds and throw him into a pit before selling him to some Yishma-ellites who take him to Egypt. They then bloody Yoseph’s coat to make Yakov think Yoseph had been killed.
At this point, the Torah interrupts our story with a vignette about Yehuda (Judah), his three sons, and a woman, Tamar. Tamar marries the oldest son who dies. We are now introduced to a strange custom called a Levirite Marriage, which goes like this: If a man dies before his wife conceives and gives birth, she can marry his brother for the sole purpose of producing children in the dead man’s name/honor. This is what Tamar does, but the middle brother pulls out at the last minute and god kills him for this. Yehuda refuses to give his youngest to Tamar, so she meets Yehuda at the infamous cross-roads and she becomes pregnant. When Yehuda finds out she is pregnant, he says she is more righteous then he is. The result of this affair, by the way, produces king David and king Shlomo (Solomon) and will produce the meshiach (messiah).
And back to our regularly scheduled program. Yoseph is bought by Potifar, the minister of Pharaoh’s butchers who, when he sees that Yoseph has the Midas touch, puts him in charge of all he has (except his wife of course). Yoseph we now discover is quite good looking and Potifer’s wife makes many passes at him. The last one, he escapes her clutches by leaving his coat with her. She then tells her husband that he tried to sleep with her and Potifar puts him in jail.
Yoseph still had the Midas touch going. The warden sees this and puts Yoseph in charge of the jail. One day, two ministers of the Pharaoh get thrown into jail with Yoseph: the cup bearer and the head baker. One night they both have dreams and Yoseph comes to explain the dreams which both come true: the cup-bearer (bartender) gets his position back, and the baker gets hung. Yoseph asked the cup-bearer to remember him, for Yoseph felt he was thrown into, “The pit,” unfairly, and of course the cup-bearer, upon his restoration, forgets. This is how the parsha ends.
The first thing that struck me in this week’s parsha, is the theme of free will versus predestination. The parsha does a great job in showing how both can exist at the same time. However, I talked about this last year, and, even though I see a different way to show it, I prefer not to repeat a theme if I can avoid it. For those who want to see what I wrote last year, follow this link. For those who want to hear my new thoughts, email me, and if I get enough queries I will send them out.
Right now, I think I want to focus on the main character of this parsha: Yoseph.
Something he says at the end of the parsha got me thinking. When the head bartender to Pharaoh is taken out of jail, Yoseph asks him to remember Yoseph because he was put into, “The pit,” unfairly. This is the second time in the parsha that Yoseph has gotten thrown into a pit. And it would appear that both times it was done unfairly.
Ok, I can hear my mom saying that life is not fair, but somehow I think there is more going on than just random fairness.
What is a pit?
One thing you can say about a pit is that it is like a well except it doesn’t have any water. And water we know is the source of all life. So, Yoseph is being put into the earth and away from the source of life. However, if we go back to the second creation story in the first parsha (called Breisheit in Hebrew) it says that all the animals came out of the earth, and even the Adam was formed of the earth. So, by being put into the earth, you could say that Yoseph has been put twice into the womb, the place animals and man comes from. It is almost like he is being planted like a seed.
Why do we plant seeds? Because we want the potential of the seed to activate. Before it is planted, the seed is relaxed and sleeping. Once planted, it is forced to grow and become. It needs to struggle and fend for itself.
Why was Yoseph thrown into the earth? I think for the same reason.
It was a wake-up call telling him that he was going to have to start to grow and start reaching towards his potential. What is interesting is that he is then planted a second time.
When I read that, I suddenly started thinking about a song called John Barleycorn. In a nutshell (pun intended), it is about the planting and reaping of barley and it ends by saying that even though it is served in a nut-brown bowl, it is stronger than brandy that is served in a glass.
What I find interesting about the song is that it talks about the barley like it is a person, first as a seed, and then against all odds, spouting and growing into a man, and then being treated barbarously as it is harvested and threshed and ground up before it finally reaches its potential as beer.
“All in all, it is a great song, but what is the connection to Yoseph?” I hear you asking. And I am glad you asked. It is a good question, so let me tell you.
Just as the “individual” John Barleycorn, represents a field of barley, so too does Yoseph represent his family, the sons of Yisrael. The second time he is thrown in the pit is the planting of John Barleycorn, meaning each generation has to go through its own growing pains.
Yoseph, as a unique being, is planted twice Why? Because people are more complicated then barley. To reach our full potential takes steps. First we get planted and grow to the best we can be for a particular phase. Then we need to get replanted from our place of new potential to grow more. It is the same concept as the phrase, “You can’t run before you learn to walk.”
And with haShem’s (god) help, both the barley, and Yoseph prosper in spite of being treated in a seemingly horrible and unfair fashion.
You see, haShem gives each of us exactly what we need to fully grow, and never gives us more than we can handle. The challenge is trusting this idea and not giving up or giving in. Yoseph doesn’t and we will see what rewards, what harvests happen soon.
One last comment I want to make in regards to the song. The song ends saying that John Barleycorn (beer) in a nut-brown bowl proves stronger than brandy in a glass. To me, the beer represents the children of Yisrael who, we will soon see, are just lowly shepherds, proving stronger than Egypt, the strongest nation in its time (the brandy in the glass).
Isn’t it amazing how something like a “pop” song can be used to explain the Torah that we acquired some 3300 years ago?
I wish you all the best in your struggles to reach your potential. Though the light is dim, it has not been extinguished, and is about the start growing again. May we get to the place that we can see the blessings of being thrown into a pit (or two), and where we can bask in the warmth of the light.
If you want to read what I wrote about this parsha last year, click here.
About the Author
Shmuel Shalom Cohen spent 10 years studying Torah in Jerusalem. Six years ago, he started Conscious Torah to help Jews connect to their tradition in ways they didn’t think possible. Shmuel also started, and is the executive directory of Jewish Events Willamette-valley, a non-profit whose mission is to build Jewish community, pride, and learning. In his free time, Shmuel likes walks in nature, playing music, writing poetry, and time with good friends.