The mission of the children of Israel was to recognize and
clarify that there is a spiritual component to everything physical. Every physical thing has spiritual
roots. The physical world exists only
because its spiritual roots provide it with existential sustenance much as a
tree could not exist without its roots which provide it with life-giving
sustenance. Even though the physical
world contains many, many disparate and sundry things, the entire physical
world has a common spiritual denominator.
This means, of course, that the world is not abandoned. Rather, God runs things here.
The Sfas Emes sees an allusion to this concept in Yosef’s first dream, “וְהִנֵּה אֲנַחְנוּ מְאַלְּמִים אֲלֻמִּים
בְּתוֹך הַשָּׂדֶה .../And behold, we are binding sheaves in
the middle of the field …” (Breishis 37:7) A field connotes an abandoned place. We find, for example, that the Torah calls
Eisav a, “אִישׁ שָׂדֶה/man of the field” (Breishis 25:27). Chazal tell us that Eisav lived with
abandonment, killing, having illicit relations and worshipping idols.[1] This world seems to be “abandoned”. Like the field, it appears as if the world
has an autonomous existence; that there is no one running the show.
A defining factor of nature and the material world is
plurality. A defining factor of the
spiritual is unity. Since the spiritual
underlies the physical, the plurality of the physical is an illusion. In reality, there is unity in the physical as
well. Binding the sheaves symbolizes
this unity. This unity is the antithesis
of abandonment. The unity underlying the
physical world points to Divine Providence.
When we acknowledge that events are not happenstance, that
the world is not “abandoned” but rather that there is Divine Providence, we can
understand the Midrash on the next part of the dream, “... וְהִנֵּה קָמָה אֲלֻמָּתִי .../… and behold my
sheaf arose …” (Breishis 37:7)
The word for sheaf – אֲלֻמָּתִי – has the same root as the word for mute –
אִלֵם. The Midrash[2] says that this is an allusion
to Yosef’s mother Rachel who refused to speak up when
Ya’akov sent gifts for her, and her father Lavan gave
them to her sister Leah. Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel said, “My entire
life I was raised among the sages and I haven’t found a better thing for the
body than silence.” Why was Rachel silent? Why did she not stand up for herself? Rachel was silent, the Sfas Emes
explains, because she was aware of the limits of her intelligence and abilities
in the face of Divine Providence. She
was quiet because she knew that there was nothing she could possibly do to
change the Providence that decreed that Leah be married to Ya’akov. One can only imagine how difficult a test
this must have been for her, but she succeeded in subordinating her own desire
to Divine Providence.
If events constantly occur that are opposed to our
desires. If our desires are constantly
being thwarted, then it’s time to entertain the possibility that God is sending
us a message. Since our intelligence and
desires are of no value against Providence, and if they are aligned with Divine
Providence, we cannot help but succeed, it is in our best interest to align our
will with God’s.
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