| Va-Yeshev 5762, Genesis 37:1-40:23
Shabbat Shalom-
The Rebbe is still busy this week making his living so these brief words and
texts to study follow.
Words play an important part in this week’s reading. Words convey not
only their simple meaning, but also layers below, an entire universe of
interpretations and hidden yearnings. After Joseph, the favorite son of
Jacob, dreams a dream, he feels compelled to tell it to his brothers. The
dream of the brother’s sheaves bowing down to his sheaves clearly imply his
sheaf’s supremacy. Was Joseph naive to this meaning? The text says they
began to hate him more. “And they hated him more for his dreams and his
words.” (Gen 37:8). He dreamed again and told his father as well, who
became livid by the implication of him and Rachel prostrating to their then
17-year-old son (37:10), whom the text calls “a lad” (37:2). His
brothers were jealous, but Jacob either kept his opinions to himself or alternately remembered
the dreams (37:11).
Regardless of weather Joseph’s dreams were prophetic omens or merely the subconscious
churnings of an over-nourished ego, the words were just as hated as the dreams
themselves (37:8). Joseph’s speaking the dreams without note of the
effects of his words nearly leads to his death, and only by the slimmest of
margins to his fortune. He might have been a talented and gifted young
man, but “keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking
treachery” (Psalm 34:14) and “He who guards his mouth and his tongue
(from ill-speaking), guards his soul from troubles.” (Proverbs
21:23).
There is a story of a man who was a terrible gossiper. If he wasn’t
asking for gossip, he was giving it. One day, word got out that he had
been charged with stealing in a different town, though it was a false
charge. The man was a business man and his livelihood became threatened.
He went to his rebbe to ask advice. The rebbe said, “Take a pillow, one of
your nice goose-feather pillows, to the center of town, and hack away at it with
a knife”. The man did just that and, though impressed by the beauty
of all the flying feathers, didn’t understand how that would help his
business. He went back to the rebbe to ask what else he could do.
The rebbe said, “Collect all the feathers you have loosed.” That
man was flabbergasted, “That’s impossible; they have flown
everywhere! I cannot possibly collect them all!” The rebbe
smiled, “And so it is with your gossiping. Once you tell your tale,
you cannot take it back.” The man, needless to say, learned his
lesson.
After Joseph tells his brothers his first dream, they reply “and will you
reign, yes, reign over us, or rule, yes, rule over us?” (37:8). Do not read
‘mashal’ as ‘to rule’ but rather ‘to speak parables’. Thus, we must read the
sentence “and will you ultimately reign over us if you tell your
tale?” Words can so consume us that they destroy us and rule us, as
well as others. Do not be a slave to words nor enslave others with yours.
Follows are some relevant quotes:
Mishnah Avot 2:11 Rebbe Yeshoshua says: An evil eye, an evil inclination,
and hatred of fellow creatures remove a man from the world.
Mishnah Avot 3:9 Rebbe Hanina ben Dosa says: All whose fear of sin
precedes his wisdom, his wisdom is established (remains). And all whose wisdom
precedes his fear of sin, his wisdom is not established. He used to say: All
whose deeds are greater than his wisdom, his wisdom is established. And all
whose wisdom is greater than his deeds, his wisdom is not established.
Mishnah Avot 3:13 Rebbe Akiva says: Tradition, a fence to Torah. Tithes, a
fence to wealth. Vows, a fence to licentiousness. A fence to wisdom is silence.
Mishnah Avot 3:17 Rebbe Elazar ben Azaryah says: Without Torah, there is
no occupation. Without occupation, there is no torah. Without wisdom, there is
no fear (of sin). Without fear (of sin), there is no wisdom. Without
understanding, there is no knowledge. Without knowledge, there is no
understanding. Without grain, there is no Torah. Without Torah, there is no
grain. He used to say: All whose wisdom is greater than his deeds, to what is he
similar? To a tree whose branches are many and its roots few, and the wind comes
and uproots it and turns it on its face…. But, all whose deeds are greater
than their his wisdom, to what is he similar? To a tree whose branches are few
and whose roots are many, that even all the windows in the world may come and
blow at it but they do not move it from its place….
Have a caring week!
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