Yosef: A Light in the Darkness
Parashat Vayeshev takes us deep into the pain and alienation of being human, of yearning from a low place of darkness and suffering. And yet the narrative also conveys the power of hope鈥攁 longing for God and redemption, for spiritual and moral healing in our human relationships.
This week鈥檚 parashah crystallizes the dysfunctional family dynamics that are evident throughout the book of Genesis鈥攖he fraught father-son relationships, the painful intergenerational wounds of favoritism, the anger and resentment between siblings, and, deep down, the simple desire to be loved. Although we may cringe at the violence of the brothers toward Yosef, the narrative of Vayeshev also opens our hearts to the pain these sons felt at their father鈥檚 rejection鈥攈is greatest love reserved for Yosef: 讜职讬执砖讉职专指讗值诇 讗指讛址讘 讗侄转 讬讜止住值祝 诪执讻旨指诇 讘旨指谞指讬讜 (鈥淵israel [i.e., Ya鈥檃kov] loved Yosef most of all his sons鈥�) (Gen. 37:3).
The wound of this rejection, the longing to be loved, is further represented by the motif of the garment, the beged, in its various forms鈥攎ost powerfully perhaps in the ketonet pasim, the coat of colors that Yosef wears. That is the site of the brothers鈥� grief-inducing dissimulation as they present their favored brother鈥檚 blood-stained cloak to their father, tricking him into the conclusion that his son has been killed and devoured by a wild animal: 讜址讬旨止讗诪侄专 讻旨职转止谞侄转 讘旨职谞执讬 讞址讬旨指讛 专指注指讛 讗植讻指诇指转职讛讜旨 讟指专止祝 讟止专址祝 讬讜止住值祝 (鈥淗e [Ya鈥檃kov] said: 鈥業t is my son鈥檚 cloak; a wild animal has eaten him! Yosef has been torn apart!鈥欌��) (37:33). The garment is the instrument of deception (begidah) elsewhere in the parashah as well鈥攊n the veil of Tamar (which she uses to disguise herself in seducing Yehudah, 38:14鈥�19), in the clothing of Yosef in the lying hands of Potiphar鈥檚 wife, left behind in his flight from her advances (39:11鈥�18). Beged and begidah, garment and deception.
In symmetry, the garments of both Ya鈥檃kov and Reuven are highlighted in the dramatic expression of grief, the tearing of clothing as a gesture of mourning. In the case of Reuven, we may also observe the portrayal of compassion鈥攈e returns to the pit, planning to rescue his brother who, alas, has already been sold by the others into slavery: 讜址讬旨指砖讈指讘 专职讗讜旨讘值谉 讗侄诇 讛址讘旨讜止专 讜职讛执谞旨值讛 讗值讬谉 讬讜止住值祝 讘旨址讘旨讜止专 讜址讬旨执拽职专址注 讗侄转 讘旨职讙指讚指讬讜 (鈥淩euven returned to the pit, and behold Yosef was not in the pit, and he ripped his garments鈥�) (Gen. 37:29). Reuven鈥檚 return, 讜址讬旨指砖讈指讘 专职讗讜旨讘值谉, communicates the ideal of compassion; metaphorically, we may read it as the need to enter the place of the empty pit in the world, to lift up those among us who may have fallen into the dark places of suffering and hopelessness.
Yosef鈥檚 absence both underscores Reuven鈥檚 despair at his failed attempt to save his brother, and, at a more figurative level of meaning, may be said to symbolize the parched and empty sense of spiritual alienation鈥攖he thirst felt in the absence of the living waters of Divinity. Yosef鈥檚 name is thus read creatively as an allusion to the overflow of divine abundance (hosafah/Yosef); the surplus of Divine Presence and vitality is the 鈥淵osef-dimension鈥� of existence, whereas the pit empty of water represents a state of being in which the life-giving energies of God are absent鈥攍eaving the human being in a disoriented condition of extreme spiritual thirst. As it was said a few verses earlier, when Yosef was first cast into the pit: 讜职讛址讘旨讜止专 专值拽 讗值讬谉 讘旨讜止 诪指讬执诐 (鈥淭he pit was empty, it contained no water鈥�) (v. 24).
If Vayeshev teaches us profound lessons about the fragility of love, about family, deception, and vulnerability, it also may be read (as it has been by generations of spiritual masters) as wisdom about the soul鈥檚 yearning for Divine Presence, about the intersecting threads of hardship, struggle, and the devotional quest. The figure of Yosef may be understood as a paradigm for the cry of prayer, the wail from the depths of suffering, of being lost in the world; Yosef represents the struggle to rise from the sunken place of despair, the dark place of Mitzrayim (Egypt)鈥�both as a struggle through adversity, but also as the life-process of redeeming hidden divine light from even the most coarse and constraining elements of materiality and mundane existence. The pit into which Yosef is cast by his jealous brothers is akin in this reading to the painful and narrow place of Egypt, the metzarim of Mitzrayim. 讜址讬旨址注植诇值谞执讬 诪执讘旨讜止专 砖讈指讗讜止谉 (鈥淗e lifted me out of the miry pit鈥�), sings the Psalmist (Ps. 40:3). It is that same hope expressed in this Psalm (‘拽址讜旨止讛 拽执讜旨执讬转执讬 讛 [鈥淚 put my hope in YHVH鈥�] [v. 2]) that is embodied in the figure of Yosef.
According to Rabbi Menahem Nahum of Chernobyl, a late eighteenth-century Hasidic master, this was the reason the Torah speaks about Yosef鈥檚 descent into Egypt. It is to teach us that in creating the world, God placed a luminous divine spark鈥攁 portion of the transcendent Divine essence, 讞诇拽 讗-诇讜讛讬 诪诪注诇, into the darkness of matter, into the seemingly profane realms of ordinary existence. Here too we observe a play on the name of Yosef: an extra abundance of light is drawn from the darkness of materiality, and the figure of Yosef represents an addition, tosefet (Yosef/hosafah/tosefet)鈥攁n extra measure of divine light that may bring the promise of redemption, illuminating the eyes and opening the heart to God. The primordial light was hidden within the darkness so that we too might find our way back to Divinity even when we feel we are in the darkest of places. Like the traces of a pathway out of the woods, the fragments of divine light may lead us from the forest of darkness鈥攖hat we are lost, and yet may be found once again.
Thus are the lessons of Vayeshev and Hanukkah intertwined: in these, the darkest hours of the year, the flames are lit to remind us of the wonder and beauty that is still possible, the hope that may warm us even on the coldest and most bleak of winter nights鈥攐f the divine 谞住讬诐 讜谞驻诇讗讜转, the miracles and wonders that may yet lie hidden. It is a time of 讛转讞讚砖讜转, of renewal, of not letting our spiritual vitality become stale and uninspired. Let us instead strive to be always like Yosef, the youth (谞注专), which the late nineteenth-century Sefat Emet reads as representing the energy of 讛转注讜专专讜转, awakening鈥攁n interpretive play on the similar sounds of these two Hebrew words.
In all the passing moments that have the potential to fall into the pit of routine, boredom, and superficiality, may we be blessed with the sparkle of childhood wonder, with an awareness of Creation renewed. Spirit of the world, open our hearts to hope and to gratitude for our many blessings; fill us with the passion to be ever-awake to the sacred mystery and sublime gift of this all-too-fleeting human life.
The publication and distribution of the 91快播 Commentary are made possible by a generous grant from Rita Dee (锄鈥漧) and Harold Hassenfeld (锄鈥漧).
