Parashat Miketz | Light Unto Darkness
- ziva139
- 3 בדצמ׳ 2021
- זמן קריאה 4 דקות
The Pharaoh has a dream, “from the Nile seven cows came up, fine-looking and fat; and they grazed in the marsh grass. Then behold, seven other cows came up after them from the Nile, ugly and thin, and they stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. Then the ugly and thin cows ate the seven fine-looking and fat cows.[1]” As if this is not enough, he falls asleep again and has another dream, “and behold, seven ears of grain came up on a single stalk, plump and good. Then behold, seven ears, thin and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up after them. And the thin ears swallowed the seven plump and full ears.[2]” It is no wonder then that when he wakes up, he is troubled to understand what these dreams were all about and calls upon the soothsayer priests and the wise men of Egypt. He “told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them for Pharaoh.[3]”
Now that probably worried the king of Egypt considerably as it was not common occurrence. That is why he has them there in the first place. Bialik and Ravnitski in Sefer HaAgadah where the collected and published interpretations, explanations, and tales, discuss this case where no resolution of what the dreams of the Pharaoh meant and provide an explanation from Bereshit Rabah. “Rabbi Joshua Desachnin in the name of rabbi Levi: they solve then, but he was unable to hear what they were saying: ‘seven fine-looking and fat cows’ – you shall have seven daughters, ‘ugly and thin cows’ – you shall burry seven daughters; and they said: ‘seven ears of grain came up on a single stalk, plump and good’ – you shall conquer seven kingdoms, ‘seven ears, thin and scorched by the east wind’ – seven nations shall rebel against you. And why did this happen? So that Joseph would come in last and reap greatness. The Holly One said: if Joseph would come first and solve the dream, it will not be appreciated; the soothsayer priests could tell the Pharaoh: had you asked us first we would have told you what it meant; therefore, he waited until they were exhausted, and he was impatient – and the Joseph came and revived him.[4]”
We can imagine that this was a distressful situation in the kingdom. It is therefore that we read again in Sefer HaAgadah, “Rabbi Heya bar Abba quoted rabbi Yohanan: When Pharoah said to Joseph: ‘without your permission no one shall raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.[5]’ his astrologers told him: a salve that his master bought from twenty pieces of silver – you will make him rule upon us? He told them: I see in him royalty. So they responded: If so, then he should have command of seventy languages. The he told them: I shall check that tomorrow. At night the angel Gabriel came and taught Joseph seventy different language. In the morning, regardless of which tongue Pharoah spoke to Joseph he was able to respond to him. Finally, Joseph started speaking in the Holly Language (Hebrew) – Pharoah had no comprehension of what he was speaking about. Said Pharoah: teach me (this language). He taught him but he was unable to learn. The Pharaoh demand that he swears to never say that this was the case. And he swore before him.[6]”
There are two important lessons here. First, not everyone who seems to be wise and of control is so. And second, sometimes those who come from the low levels of society may be the one who has the most knowledge and comprehension of a situation, certainly not those who declare themselves as the wise men of Egypt. It is quite said that we have met a bunch of those in the past few days in the town of Shoham. A collection of extremists published lies and defaming notices regarding the Reform Movement in general, and about our fledgling congregation in that town. They identified themselves in a pamphlet as “citizens of Shoham who care about the dangers approaching us!” They wrote, “It is now our turn to stand fast. This time we are the majority. Together we shall not let history repat itself!” They argue, “The Reform Movement over decades has been conspiring its entrance and action in the land having huge budgets and enormous funding from anti-Jewish organizations such as: J-street, The New Israel Fund – a fund that funds extreme and dangerous organizations in Israel, Betselem, Women of the Wall, Silence Breakers, and more”. They continue to argue, “Its primary aim is to provoke, confuse, and erase the (orthodox) Judaism and eradicate it.”
They are people who do not hesitate to attack rabbi David Stav, who does not agree with our positions, but who was not willing to join that kind of action which is dangerous and despicable. There is a big difference between having a disagreement, a discourse and even a heated debate, and the contemptable action of these cowards of Shoham who spread lies and hate in the streets of Shoham. It does not take much to demonstrate their lies and odd claims of those who are too afraid to identify themselves by their names. Probably because they well-know that they can be sued for defamation of character when they so do. But even more so, their words and words of hate have nothing to do with Judaism, not even a little. They do have everything to do with a bygone perception that their way of thinking is the ultimate truth and that there is nothing other than it. However, we are celebrating Hanukkah. It is that time of year where it does not matter how much darkness those wicked soothsayer may attempt to through at us, we, together with many others of every walk of life and belief, will scatter and dissolve with a lot of light.
Shabbat Shalom, Chodesh Tov, Happy Hanukkah and wishes for Good Health.
Reuven Marko, 3 December 2021, 30 Kislev, 5782
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