Post by alon on Dec 22, 2019 8:25:38 GMT -8
I am putting this up early because I just referenced it in a post to rakovsky. May give time for some discussion as well:
Name of Par’shah- Miketz, At the End
Par’shah- Gen 41:1 – 44:17
Haftara- 1 Kings 3:15-4:1
D’rash: Again no commandments. However there are some important ideas here. I’d like to focus on one.
Genesis 41: (ESV) And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”
El-Roiy, The God Who Sees Me (Gen16:13) will not forget us. But we, like Yoseph should always remember and give the glory to our God.
Genesis 41:38-40, 51-52 (ESV) And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God [of the gods]?” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.” … Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house.” The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
Pharaoh was a pagan, so he gave glory to his gods. However none but Aibishter, the Most High (Yiddish) could elevate a foreign man from prison to the second highest position in the most powerful country of that day.
Genesis 41:22a (ESV) I also saw in my dream
Pharaoh was afraid of what he saw in his dreams, and well he should be. But Yoseph listened, first to the dreams, but most importantly he listened to his God.
Genesis 41:25 (ESV) Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.
And so, going past the visual image the dreams conjured up Yoseph was able to tell Pharaoh what they meant. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, former Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth (UK) had some interesting things to say about how Ha’Elyon, the Most High (Deu 32:8) looks at the visual vs. hearing issue. Speaking of Numbers 13-15, the story of the spies and the law of tzitzit:
“The verbal connection is usually missed in translation, since “to spy” and “to be led astray” are (in English) two quite different things. In Hebrew, however, the echo is unmistakable- veyaturu in the case of the spies, velo taturu in the case of tzitzit. Bear in mind that the
was originally written to be read aloud in public. It still is. It is an auditory phenomenon. Listening to the text, one cannot but hear the echo of the narrative of the spies in the law of fringes, and this is not accidental but essential.”
“The law was designed precisely to avoid the error that occurred in the case of the spies. The fringes on the corner of the garments are there so that in the future, people will not do what the spies did.”
“There is a second verbal connection. The word ure’itim, “and you shall see,” appears only three times in the, two of them in this parashah. The first occurs in Moses briefing of the spies; “And you shall see the land, what it is” (Num. 13:18). The second is the command of the tzitzit: “And you shall see it and remember all of God’s commands” (15:39).”
“There is a third connection. the verb z-n-h, meaning “to commit fornication,” “to prostitute oneself.” This appears both in God’s description of the people after the report of the spies and in the reasoning behind the tzitzit. The King James Version preserves this better than modern versions that take refuge in circumlocution. About the generation of the spies, God says” “But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.” (Num. 14:32-33).”
“About the tzitzit, God says: “And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them ; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring” (Num. 15:39)”
“Knowing, in Judaism, is not modeled on the metaphor of sight but rather sound. The supreme act of faith is Shema, meaning “to listen,” “to hear.” This is what the wishes us to understand about the mission of the spies. It was fraught with danger because it was about seeing. The is consistently skeptical about knowledge based on appearances.”
So tzitzit are not there just as a fringe to set us apart, or as a reminder we belong to HaShem. They are to remind us to hear and do, to obey. They are also a reminder El-Shaddai, Almighty God (Gen 17:1) is bigger than our giants. He is bigger than the problems we see. And they remind us if YHVH-Ra’ah God My Sy shepherd (Ps 23:1) takes us there He will not abandon us. He will lift us up and bless our work. We may not save nations, but we will prosper for and in His kingdom.
Yoseph, like most of us had his eyes on his circumstances. That is true. But his ear was always attuned towards heaven, and that is what was most important to him. May we learn to be more like Yoseph.
1 Kings 3:28 (ESV) And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.
Melech Shlomo in our haftarah could have tried to see which woman the child looked most like. However he listened with his heart, and he had asked and was granted wisdom of El’Emet, the God of Truth (Pslm 31:5). And so he came to a more sure method of determining the child’s mother. The eyes can deceive, but the heart of a mother is true. May we also obtain the wisdom of Solomon through Ruach Shel Chochmah v’Binah, The Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding (Is 11:2).
That one idea: listen! Don’t just look at your giants. Listen to the God who is much bigger than they are. And don’t just read, read it aloud or hear it read, in its original language, if possible. And listen to that still, small voice, the voice of HaShem!
Baruch HaShem!
Name of Par’shah- Miketz, At the End
Par’shah- Gen 41:1 – 44:17
Haftara- 1 Kings 3:15-4:1
D’rash: Again no commandments. However there are some important ideas here. I’d like to focus on one.
Genesis 41: (ESV) And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”
El-Roiy, The God Who Sees Me (Gen16:13) will not forget us. But we, like Yoseph should always remember and give the glory to our God.
Genesis 41:38-40, 51-52 (ESV) And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God [of the gods]?” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.” … Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house.” The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
Pharaoh was a pagan, so he gave glory to his gods. However none but Aibishter, the Most High (Yiddish) could elevate a foreign man from prison to the second highest position in the most powerful country of that day.
Genesis 41:22a (ESV) I also saw in my dream
Pharaoh was afraid of what he saw in his dreams, and well he should be. But Yoseph listened, first to the dreams, but most importantly he listened to his God.
Genesis 41:25 (ESV) Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.
And so, going past the visual image the dreams conjured up Yoseph was able to tell Pharaoh what they meant. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, former Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth (UK) had some interesting things to say about how Ha’Elyon, the Most High (Deu 32:8) looks at the visual vs. hearing issue. Speaking of Numbers 13-15, the story of the spies and the law of tzitzit:
“The verbal connection is usually missed in translation, since “to spy” and “to be led astray” are (in English) two quite different things. In Hebrew, however, the echo is unmistakable- veyaturu in the case of the spies, velo taturu in the case of tzitzit. Bear in mind that the
was originally written to be read aloud in public. It still is. It is an auditory phenomenon. Listening to the text, one cannot but hear the echo of the narrative of the spies in the law of fringes, and this is not accidental but essential.”“The law was designed precisely to avoid the error that occurred in the case of the spies. The fringes on the corner of the garments are there so that in the future, people will not do what the spies did.”
“There is a second verbal connection. The word ure’itim, “and you shall see,” appears only three times in the
, two of them in this parashah. The first occurs in Moses briefing of the spies; “And you shall see the land, what it is” (Num. 13:18). The second is the command of the tzitzit: “And you shall see it and remember all of God’s commands” (15:39).”“There is a third connection. the verb z-n-h, meaning “to commit fornication,” “to prostitute oneself.” This appears both in God’s description of the people after the report of the spies and in the reasoning behind the tzitzit. The King James Version preserves this better than modern versions that take refuge in circumlocution. About the generation of the spies, God says” “But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.” (Num. 14:32-33).”
“About the tzitzit, God says: “And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them ; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring” (Num. 15:39)”
“Knowing, in Judaism, is not modeled on the metaphor of sight but rather sound. The supreme act of faith is Shema, meaning “to listen,” “to hear.” This is what the
wishes us to understand about the mission of the spies. It was fraught with danger because it was about seeing. The is consistently skeptical about knowledge based on appearances.”So tzitzit are not there just as a fringe to set us apart, or as a reminder we belong to HaShem. They are to remind us to hear
and do, to obey. They are also a reminder El-Shaddai, Almighty God (Gen 17:1) is bigger than our giants. He is bigger than the problems we see. And they remind us if YHVH-Ra’ah God My Sy shepherd (Ps 23:1) takes us there He will not abandon us. He will lift us up and bless our work. We may not save nations, but we will prosper for and in His kingdom. Yoseph, like most of us had his eyes on his circumstances. That is true. But his ear was always attuned towards heaven, and that is what was most important to him. May we learn to be more like Yoseph.
1 Kings 3:28 (ESV) And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.
Melech Shlomo in our haftarah could have tried to see which woman the child looked most like. However he listened with his heart, and he had asked and was granted wisdom of El’Emet, the God of Truth (Pslm 31:5). And so he came to a more sure method of determining the child’s mother. The eyes can deceive, but the heart of a mother is true. May we also obtain the wisdom of Solomon through Ruach Shel Chochmah v’Binah, The Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding (Is 11:2).
That one idea: listen! Don’t just look at your giants. Listen to the God who is much bigger than they are. And don’t just read
, read it aloud or hear it read, in its original language, if possible. And listen to that still, small voice, the voice of HaShem!Baruch HaShem!
