Parshah Summary – P’shat
Judah approaches (Vayigash) Joseph to plead for the release of Benjamin, offering himself as a slave to the Egyptian ruler in Benjamin’s stead. Upon witnessing his brothers’ loyalty to one another, Joseph breaks down and reveals his identity to them. “I am Joseph,” he declares. “Is my father still alive?” The brothers are overcome by shame and remorse, but Joseph comforts them. “It was not you who sent me here,” he says to them, “it was all part of the Divine plan, to save us from famine.” The brothers rush back to Canaan with the news. Jacob comes to Egypt with his sons and their families—seventy souls in all—and is reunited with his beloved son after 22 years. On his way to Egypt he receives the Divine promise: “Fear not to go down to Egypt; for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down with you into Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again.” Joseph gathers the wealth of Egypt by selling food and seed during the famine. Pharaoh gives Jacob’s family the fertile region of Goshen to settle, and the children of Israel prosper in their Egyptian exile…
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יוֹסֵ֧ף אֶל־אֶחָ֛יו גְּשׁוּ־נָ֥א אֵלַ֖י וַיִּגָּ֑שׁוּ וַיֹּ֗אמֶר אֲנִי֙ יוֹסֵ֣ף אֲחִיכֶ֔ם אֲשֶׁר־מְכַרְתֶּ֥ם אֹתִ֖י מִצְרָֽיְמָה׃ Joseph said to his brothers, “Please approach me.” And when they approached, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, he whom you sold into Egypt.” - Bereisheet (Genesis) 45:4, Parshat Vayigash
Rabbi Yehoshua Heschel of Apt said, “A person should be like a vessel that willingly receives whatever its owner pours into it, whether it be wine or vinegar.”
What does this teaching mean? At this time of year, I once saw a production of the Nutcracker – the dancers were wonderful, especially the many little children; but, I was most impressed by the sets. One moment the entire enormous stage looked like the inside of a fancy mansion, and the next moment the mansion set lifted into the air and was replaced by a winter wonderland. This happened several more times; one set flew away and another completely different scene manifested. It was hard to believe that all those different sets could fit somewhere above the stage, out of sight. Each one looked so substantial; the change from one set to another in a few seconds was truly magical. And so it is with our experiences as well. The winter sky is often cloudy – our perception of the dampened sunlight and the cold, moist December air can reflect as a somewhat muted emotional tone within; the outside is reflected on the inside. And when, at some point, the clouds part and the sunlight breaks through, our inner world is instantly changed as well – light on the outside, light on the inside. And so it is with all experience; the changing of the “weather” is happening on all levels, all the time. Of course, we are not merely passive. The “weather patterns” of experience are not merely happening to us; there are many ways we can and must regulate our experience. We certainly can choose to “drink” the “wine,” while pouring the “vinegar” down the sink. And yet, in this moment, a certain experience is already manifest. We can steer the experience in certain ways as we move into the future, but for now, this is what we must be with; the “wine” or “vinegar” has already been “poured.” If we do not willingly receive this moment as it is, we create resistance, stress, dis-ease. But if we do open to this moment as it is without judgment (even as we may intelligently steer into the future with judgment), then there is a deeper magic that can manifest: we can come to know ourselves as the vessel – this is meditation. After all, what is a vessel? It is just an open space. The point is that on the deepest level of our being, we are simple openness; we are the “stage” upon which an infinite number of different “sets” are assembled and disassembled, sometimes instantaneously. You are not the clouds or the sunlight penetrating the clouds; you are the openness of this moment, within which everything is unfolding. And, as it turns out, when we are open to both the wine and the vinegar, there is a deeper “wine” that can reveal itself; a deeper “sunlight” that shines from within. גְּשׁוּ־נָ֥א אֵלַ֖י –“Please approach me…” To “approach” is the opposite of resisting. And just as Joseph reveals his true identity to his brothers when they approach, so too when we “approach” this moment with openness, we can come to see that this experience is also our “brother” – whatever quality is present, be it “vinegar” or “wine,” is arising within the field of consciousness that we are. In fact, every experience is only a form – a “disguise” – of our own consciousness. Come to this moment and see – all experiences are forms of consciousness, and consciousness is nothing but the Divine, alive and awake within you, as you. וַיִּגַּ֨שׁ אֵלָ֜יו יְהוּדָ֗ה – And Judah approached… It is the name of Joseph’s brother Judah, Yehudah, from which we derive one of our names: Jew – hinting that, at the core of what it means to be a Jew and to practice Judaism, is the way we approach the moment. וַיִּגַּשׁ Vayigash is composed of ו vav, י yud, ג gimel and ש shin. Vav ו means “and” – saying “yes and” to whatever is present; this is acceptance, non-resistance. Yud י is the smallest of the letters, and it is the shape made by the pen as it begins to draw any of the letters; in this sense, it is like a “seed” that “grows” into all the many spiritual qualities represented by the other otiyot. Like a point having no dimension, it is simplicity and, most importantly, trust – trusting that this moment, however problematic, contains within it the “seeds” of positive transformation – just as Joseph affirmed that his brothers’ crimes toward him and his resulting suffering was all so that he might later save them from starvation. Gimel ג begins the word גָדוֹל gadol, “great” – indicating the quality of Completeness or Wholeness, of having fully arrived into the present. This is the fruit of meditation. Finally, Shin ש represents “fire,” counterbalancing the Gimel ג. Even as we arrive into the Fullness of the Present and feel the Wholeness of our essential being as formless awareness, we still must remain alert; the moment is ever in an state of change. Like a cat watching a mouse hole, there can be full stillness and attention together with readiness – with wakefulness to whatever is about to unfold, so that the inner Wholeness we are can express itself in responsibility – consciousness in action – this is the practice of Judaism. In this way, we can fully receive the truth of our situation – that we are both the awareness of what arises, the stage upon which the action unfolds, be it “wine” or “vinegar,” and also an actor upon the stage, with the power to choose “wine” over “vinegar.” This is both the gift of being human, and the meaning of being a Jew, a spiritual descendent of יְהוּדָה Yehudah – which comes from אוֹדֶ֣ה אֶת־יְהֹ–וָה odeh et Hashem – “I will thank God.”
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