Parshah Summary – P’shat
Joseph’s imprisonment finally ends when Pharaoh dreams of seven fat cows that are swallowed up by seven lean cows, and then of seven fat ears of grain swallowed by seven lean ears. Joseph interprets the dreams to mean that seven years of plenty will be followed by seven years of hunger, and advises Pharaoh to store grain during the plentiful years. Pharaoh is pleased with Joseph’s advice and appoints him governor of Egypt. Joseph marries Asnat, daughter of Potiphar, and they have two sons, Menasheh and Ephraim.
In time, as the famine spreads throughout the region, food can be obtained only in Egypt. Ten of Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt to purchase grain; the youngest, Benjamin, stays home, for Jacob fears for his safety. Joseph recognizes his brothers, but they do not recognize him; he accuses them of being spies, insists that they bring Benjamin to prove that they are who they say they are, and imprisons Shimon as a hostage. Later, they discover that the money they paid for their provisions has been mysteriously returned to them. Jacob agrees to send Benjamin only after Judah assumes personal responsibility for him. This time Joseph receives them kindly, releases Shimon, and invites them to dinner at his home. But then he plants his special silver goblet in Benjamin’s sack. When the brothers set out for home the next morning, they are pursued, searched, and arrested when the goblet is discovered. Joseph offers to set them free and retain only Benjamin as his slave.
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
וַיַּ֨עַן יוֹסֵ֧ף אֶת־פַּרְעֹ֛ה לֵאמֹ֖ר בִּלְעָדָ֑י אֱלֹהִ֕ים יַעֲנֶ֖ה אֶת־שְׁל֥וֹם פַּרְעֹֽה׃ Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is beyond me! God will give Pharaoh peace with an answer.” - Bereisheet (Genesis) 41:16, Parshat Mikeitz
There’s a story of Rabbi Moshe of Sasov, that once during Hanukkah he came into the beit midrash to find some of his students playing checkers. When they saw their rebbe, they were embarrassed and started putting the game away. “No, keep on playing!” said Reb Moshe. “You know, you can learn three important things from the game of checkers: first, you can only make one move at a time. Second, you can only go forward and not backward. And lastly, when you get to the last row, you can move in any direction you want.”
While it’s true that life is complex and there are many steps to accomplishing things, it is also true that, in any given moment, you can only do the step you’re on. This is obvious, and yet because we have the power to envision our next steps, the mind tends to dwell in the imagination of the future. The present is often approached merely as a stepping stone toward something else, and this creates a feeling of separation from this moment, a disconnect from Reality. This in turn can produce a feeling of incompleteness, and a belief that fulfillment lies somewhere in the future. The remedy for this feeling of incompleteness is to remember: “You can only make one move at a time.” Bringing your attention to simply see the “move” you are now making liberates your consciousness from its imprisonment in the world of thought and its imagined future. You can try this right now; simply see; feel how this moment is. But what if, while we are simply seeing and feeling, thoughts of regret arise about the past, pulling us into a painful dwelling on what could have been? Then we must also see this simple truth: “You can only go forward and not backward.” Accepting the past and moving on doesn’t mean you have to somehow push away feelings of regret; that would just be more resistance to the present! Instead, simply see that they are there, feel the feelings; accept whatever thoughts and feelings are arising, and let them dissolve of their own accord. Everything that arises is part of the complete texture of the present – don’t resist. And in this act of simply seeing this moment without resistance, there can be the realization that, in fact, you have arrived – there is nowhere else to go, because you’re always Right Here! At that point, you can “move in any direction you want” – meaning, you can think about the future or the past and not get caught by them, because they all arise in the open space of the Present – the Eternal Now has come to the foreground, as the Presence that permeates all things – this is meditation. This quality of inner freedom is embodied by Yosef. Pharaoh asks him to interpret his disturbing dream, but Yosef says,“Biladai, Elohim Ya-aneh – It is beyond me, but God will answer!” This short phrase is a code for this teaching: Biladai – It is beyond me: Meaning, the future is beyond me; there is only this moment – whatever will be will be. Elohim, God refers to the fact that we cannot go back and change the past; whatever has been is the “Divine Will” – which is another way of saying, it already is. The only right relationship we can have with the past is total surrender; there’s nothing you can do to change it. Finally, ya-aneh – (God) will answer. In other words, see that this, now, is “God’s speech.” This is the ultimate fruit of meditation – the recognition of Divinity everywhere. When we rest in seeing the miracle of this moment, there need not be any strained effort in “trying to be present” or in “letting go of the past” because the movements of the mind are no longer charged, no longer motivated by grabbing after fulfillment. Rather, we become the seeing; or more precisely, we know ourselves as God’s seeing through our eyes. This aspect of meditation, the middah of perception as Divinity, is represented by the letter ayin.
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