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By: Rabbi Fred Morgan, Emeritus Rabbi,
Temple Beth Israel
, Melbourne / Professorial Fellow,
Australian Catholic University
A man came upon him wandering in the fields. The man asked him, “What are you seeking?”
He said, “I am seeking my brothers….”
The story of Joseph is one of the most unsettling in Torah. It opens with the seventeen-year old Joseph tending the flocks with his brothers. But everything quickly goes wrong: Joseph brings bad reports of his brothers to their father, Jacob; Jacob inflames the situation by favouring Joseph and displays his special love for Joseph by giving him a cloak of unusual quality; Joseph dreams of his own ascendency over his brothers and then over his entire family, and he shares these dreams with his brothers. At each stage reference is made to the brothers’ anger; they hate Joseph, their hatred increases and they become intensely jealous of him.
The story of Joseph is one of the most unsettling in Torah. It opens with the seventeen-year old Joseph tending the flocks with his brothers. But everything quickly goes wrong: Joseph brings bad reports of his brothers to their father, Jacob; Jacob inflames the situation by favouring Joseph and displays his special love for Joseph by giving him a cloak of unusual quality; Joseph dreams of his own ascendency over his brothers and then over his entire family, and he shares these dreams with his brothers. At each stage reference is made to the brothers’ anger; they hate Joseph, their hatred increases and they become intensely jealous of him.
At this point in the story Jacob sends Joseph to check up on his brothers who are tending the flocks in
Shechem
. Joseph replies
Hineini
, Here I am. This is always a portentous expression in Torah. It marks a moment of fateful transition. Joseph arrives at
Shechem
but his brothers are nowhere to be seen. The Torah narrative continues: A
man (Hebrew: ‘ish) came upon him wandering in the fields. The man asked him, “What are you seeking?” He said, “I am seeking my brothers….”
(Genesis 37:15-16a).
At this point in the story Jacob sends Joseph to check up on his brothers who are tending the flocks in
Shechem
. Joseph replies
Hineini
, Here I am. This is always a portentous expression in Torah. It marks a moment of fateful transition. Joseph arrives at
Shechem
but his brothers are nowhere to be seen. The Torah narrative continues: A
man (Hebrew: ‘ish) came upon him wandering in the fields. The man asked him, “What are you seeking?” He said, “I am seeking my brothers….”
(Genesis 37:15-16a).
The
p’shat
(plain sense) of the passage is clear: Joseph is confused. His father has sent him to find his brothers in Shechem but they are not there. He is uncertain what to do. A man who happens to be passing by (that is Abraham Ibn Ezra’s interpretation of the Hebrew word
‘ish
) asks if he can be of help, and Joseph explains why he is there: I am looking for my brothers. The man goes on to tell Joseph that his brothers have moved the flocks to Dotan, and Joseph follows them there.
The
p’shat
(plain sense) of the passage is clear: Joseph is confused. His father has sent him to find his brothers in Shechem but they are not there. He is uncertain what to do. A man who happens to be passing by (that is Abraham Ibn Ezra’s interpretation of the Hebrew word
‘ish
) asks if he can be of help, and Joseph explains why he is there: I am looking for my brothers. The man goes on to tell Joseph that his brothers have moved the flocks to Dotan, and Joseph follows them there.
The
d’rash
(expansive sense) of the passage is that, even though Joseph may be at a loss to know what to do, God’s will must prevail. God sends a messenger to guide Joseph to meet his destiny (this is the interpretation of Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak [
Rashi
];
Rashi
identifies the
‘ish
with the angel Gabriel). So it is with all human endeavour. At times we feel lost and uncertain which way to go. But there is a rhythm to life, and Jewish tradition teaches us that God will restore us and lead us on the proper path. The path we follow may not be easy or straightforward. Joseph’s path is neither easy nor straight, as we know from reading ahead in Torah. He must descend into the pit, then into Potiphar’s service and finally into Pharaoh’s dungeon before his life-trajectory is reversed and he is able to fulfil his ultimate destiny as Egyptian Viceroy. As Joseph himself later acknowledges, it is all part of God’s grand design. God works in strange ways; man proposes and God disposes. This is a lesson not only for Joseph but for all of us. That is the
d’rash
of the passage.
The
d’rash
(expansive sense) of the passage is that, even though Joseph may be at a loss to know what to do, God’s will must prevail. God sends a messenger to guide Joseph to meet his destiny (this is the interpretation of Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak [
Rashi
];
Rashi
identifies the
‘ish
with the angel Gabriel). So it is with all human endeavour. At times we feel lost and uncertain which way to go. But there is a rhythm to life, and Jewish tradition teaches us that God will restore us and lead us on the proper path. The path we follow may not be easy or straightforward. Joseph’s path is neither easy nor straight, as we know from reading ahead in Torah. He must descend into the pit, then into Potiphar’s service and finally into Pharaoh’s dungeon before his life-trajectory is reversed and he is able to fulfil his ultimate destiny as Egyptian Viceroy. As Joseph himself later acknowledges, it is all part of God’s grand design. God works in strange ways; man proposes and God disposes. This is a lesson not only for Joseph but for all of us. That is the
d’rash
of the passage.
This is not the end of the matter, however. According to the traditional rabbinic scheme of interpretation know by the acronym
PaRDeS
, there are two more levels of reading the text. The third is the level of
remez
, or allusion. The passage alludes to Joseph’s inner state, his spiritual core. Joseph is on a quest. His quest is to become reconciled with his brothers. Everything thus far in his story has conspired to drive a wedge between Joseph and his brothers. The brothers have come to hate him, to envy his success and position in the family, to the extent that they wish to kill him or at the very least to see him disappear from their lives. It is precisely this situation that determines Joseph’s quest.
This is not the end of the matter, however. According to the traditional rabbinic scheme of interpretation know by the acronym
PaRDeS
, there are two more levels of reading the text. The third is the level of
remez
, or allusion. The passage alludes to Joseph’s inner state, his spiritual core. Joseph is on a quest. His quest is to become reconciled with his brothers. Everything thus far in his story has conspired to drive a wedge between Joseph and his brothers. The brothers have come to hate him, to envy his success and position in the family, to the extent that they wish to kill him or at the very least to see him disappear from their lives. It is precisely this situation that determines Joseph’s quest.
Joseph may not be fully aware of it, but his personal challenge in life is bound up intimately with his brothers. It is his brothers that he seeks; that is, he is lost until he finds reconciliation and peace with his brothers. The strange man whom he encounters in Shechem does not ask him, “Whom do you seek?” but rather, “
What (Hebrew: mah) do you seek
?” According to this pattern of allusive understanding, it is a re-conceived relationship with his brothers that Joseph seeks. It will come only after the death of their father, near the end of Joseph’s story. This reconciliation is what is alluded to here, when Joseph utters the words, “I am seeking my brothers.”
Joseph may not be fully aware of it, but his personal challenge in life is bound up intimately with his brothers. It is his brothers that he seeks; that is, he is lost until he finds reconciliation and peace with his brothers. The strange man whom he encounters in Shechem does not ask him, “Whom do you seek?” but rather, “
What (Hebrew: mah) do you seek
?” According to this pattern of allusive understanding, it is a re-conceived relationship with his brothers that Joseph seeks. It will come only after the death of their father, near the end of Joseph’s story. This reconciliation is what is alluded to here, when Joseph utters the words, “I am seeking my brothers.”
The fourth level of interpretation is the level of mystery, or sod. At this level we see that the impulse to reconciliation and peace is at the very heart of all human endeavour, it is the purpose of human existence. It is what enables
tikkun olam
, the repair of the world, to occur. Our premier challenge as human beings is to make our enemy into our friend (
Avot d’Rabbi Natan
23). We are bound up in a symbiotic relationship with those who stand opposed to us. Like Joseph, we too are seeking our brothers.
The fourth level of interpretation is the level of mystery, or sod. At this level we see that the impulse to reconciliation and peace is at the very heart of all human endeavour, it is the purpose of human existence. It is what enables
tikkun olam
, the repair of the world, to occur. Our premier challenge as human beings is to make our enemy into our friend (
Avot d’Rabbi Natan
23). We are bound up in a symbiotic relationship with those who stand opposed to us. Like Joseph, we too are seeking our brothers.
Too often we are alienated from our brothers due to emotional, social and political factors. We are isolated from the very people who hold the key to our redemption and peace of mind. In many instances these are the people whose closeness to us causes them to hate us and be jealous of us. We cannot find peace simply by avoiding or ignoring them. In this case the “status quo” represents détente, not redemption, and détente can easily collapse into conflict and violence as we have seen time and again. Redemption can come only when we transform feelings of hatred and jealousy into amity, respect and partnership in redeeming the world. Distrust and fear are our Abrahamic trial. Only by facing them sincerely and wholeheartedly can we move closer to restoring to wholeness the shattered shards of life.
Too often we are alienated from our brothers due to emotional, social and political factors. We are isolated from the very people who hold the key to our redemption and peace of mind. In many instances these are the people whose closeness to us causes them to hate us and be jealous of us. We cannot find peace simply by avoiding or ignoring them. In this case the “status quo” represents détente, not redemption, and détente can easily collapse into conflict and violence as we have seen time and again. Redemption can come only when we transform feelings of hatred and jealousy into amity, respect and partnership in redeeming the world. Distrust and fear are our Abrahamic trial. Only by facing them sincerely and wholeheartedly can we move closer to restoring to wholeness the shattered shards of life.
It may be that we can never achieve the wholeness and peace we seek; that is perhaps what makes this level of interpretation sod, a mystery. But, as
Avot
teaches us, neither are we free to desist from the task (Rabbi Tarfon in
Pirkei Avot
2:21), as profoundly difficult as it may appear. After all, Joseph never gave up seeking his brothers.
It may be that we can never achieve the wholeness and peace we seek; that is perhaps what makes this level of interpretation sod, a mystery. But, as
Avot
teaches us, neither are we free to desist from the task (Rabbi Tarfon in
Pirkei Avot
2:21), as profoundly difficult as it may appear. After all, Joseph never gave up seeking his brothers.
As it was with Joseph, so may it be with us.