This week's Torah story, Mikeitz, presents a vision and path of expanded spiritual consciousness and the resulting successful sharing of resources between the Hebrew minority and the Egyptian majority. This is truly medicine for our time.
At the beginning of the story, Joseph is still in a prison. What is imprisoning Joseph? The story suggests forgetfulness of our connection to one another is imprisoning him. Pharaoh's cup bearer became distracted by the tasks of life and forgot that he and Joseph are connected in their inner and outer journeys.
When the cup bearer remembers Joseph, Pharaoh pays attention and summons Joseph to interpret Pharaoh's prophetic dreams. Joseph, like Queen Esther, prepares carefully for the encounter with Pharaoh. He shaves and puts on simple clothing to walk humbly before both the Hebrew Creator Elohim and Pharaoh, the representation of God in the Egyptian system.
Joseph is shedding the paradigm and identity of victim and aggressor. He appears as a free man before Pharaoh who recognizes him as אִ֕ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֛ר ר֥וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֖ים, a man in the spirit of Elohim.
The two recognize the common devotion they share to the gods of their people. and a partnership begins to emerge. From the Torah's perspective, Pharaoh is open to divinity and sees the truth in Joseph's interpretation.
Torah treats Pharaoh with great respect, showing how Pharaoh and Joseph see God's hand working in the same way. As Rabbi Misha Shulman of the New Synagogue taught this week, the fundamental kabbalistic text, Zohar, points out how even though Pharaoh is a polytheist, here in Mikeitz, he sees things the same way as Torah.
Joseph crosses the boundaries that separate people, that prevent us from understanding and appreciating each other. He steps into Pharaoh's deepest inner experiencing and shares the vision and truth of Pharaoh's dreams. Joseph now embodies the consciousness of an ivri, a Hebrew, signifying a boundary crosser. Ivri is the identity that transcends limiting identification. Joseph is beyond a limiting identity that imprisons our consciousness in separation.
Torah is presenting a powerful model for individuals and groups to partner and thrive by sharing and valuing each other's gifts and resources.
A few weeks ago Rav Hanan Shleisinger spoke at the JStreet National Conference about the joint Roots/Judur/Shorishim project of religious Jewish settlers and Palestinian villagers in the West Bank . He believes the conflict is a conflict over identity, not religion.
Here, Torah offers us a model of partnering that meets everyone' s needs for security and safety without abandoning respected ancestral traditions.
As we bring more and more light into the world this week of Chanukah, may we increase our vision, hopes and steps toward a world where everyone's needs are met together.
[For more Torah at the Intersection on Mikeitz, see: https://torahattheintersection.com/mikeitz-trauma-informed-torah-2/