Joseph Looks in the Mirror
Tech Tribe Dispatch #227
💡 Think:
This week the Torah relates the Joseph’s encounter in Egypt with the wife of master Potiphar. In an attempt to seduce him, “she caught him by his garment, saying ‘Lie with me.’”
Grappling with the enormity of the test he faced, the Talmud1 relates, Joseph looked out the window and saw the likeness of his father Jacob reflected back to him. Calling out to him, the image of his father asked, “Joseph, the names of your brothers are destined to be written on the gems of the priestly garments … and you are to be included among them.”
Did he, Jacob asked his son, wish to be included?
The Talmud also relates that the visage of Jacob was like that of Adam. Thus, in essence, when Joseph saw his father, he really saw his entire ancestry - his legacy stretching back to the beginning of time - and his place in it. That immensity of who he was called out to him, asking ‘You see yourself in us. Are you part of that continuity?’
At that moment it crystalized with Joseph: his test, his experience, was not an individual act. Rather, by seeing his father, Joseph centered himself, his moment in time, and the power of his actions, in the totality of Creation. He engaged in the generational dialogue and answered its call.
🔥 Chanukah Thought:
The small jar of oil found by the Maccabees in the Chanukah story has a powerful lesson for each and every one of us. We may feel that the trajectory of our life has defiled us - has made us numb and inured us to the crassness of this world.
But know, that within each and every one of us there is a pure cruse of oil. There is a point of absolute purity that no forces in the world can destroy. When we dig down, when we find that part of us, then we unleash a power of light that transcends all nature and illuminates the darkest of nights.
🏃 DO:
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📚 Read:
🧠 The Signature Element of Chabad Psychology that Few Understand
📊 One Rabbi Saw a Gap in the Market for Giant Menorahs. 35 Years Later, He's Gone From Selling 20 a Year to Thousands.
🌎 Fifty Years of Illuminating the World: Chanukah Campaign Hits Milestone
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