RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:DREAM INTERPRETATION
Jewish Spiritual Renewal:Shabbat 12/20/08;Hebrew College,MA,Talmud:Torah:TaNaK
Shalom Talmidim v' Chaverim:
Shavuah Tov!!
As Chanukah approaches at sundown on Sunday ,December 21st, let us not think of it, as many do, as another holiday of ''they tried to kill us, we won, let's eat.'' Instead let us use the Holy Eight Days for what our sages in the Talmud asked us to use it for. It is a time to rededicate ourselves to God, Torah and Judaism via what we call today, Jewish Spiritual Renewal. As we light the candles, one on the first night, two on the second, etc, we are to grow in our spirituality and not decrease.[Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 21a- Rabbi Hillel]
Remember too of how absolute power corrupts. The wonderful heroic Maccabees, within two generations, became the horrid Hasmoneans, fighting brother versus brother, pitting rabbi versus priest in bloody battles, and in 63 BCE invited the Romans to Judea to help them rule.
Any pusuk in this coming Shabbat's parasha can lend itself to an entire class and certainly any paragraph or two could be the basis for a book.
Re-read Freud's interpretation of dreams after reading about Joseph and his interpretations.
From the Torah: Gen: 40:7-8: 7 And he asked Pharaoh's officers that were with him in the ward of his master's house, saying: 'Wherefore look ye so sad today?' :8 And they said unto him: 'We have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it.' And Joseph said unto them: 'Do not interpretations belong to God? tell it me, I pray you.'
From the TaNaK: Ec: 5:3 : As a dream comes when there are many worries, so too the speech of a fool when there are many words.
From the Talmud Bavli 55a-57b: The Talmud tells us of Roman emperor who commented on the Jewish people: "You say that you are exceedingly wise; tell me, what will I see in my dream tonight?" The Rabbi replied: "You will see that the Persians will press you into service of their king, and they will seize you and force you to pasture pigs with a staff of gold." The Roman emperor worried about his demise for entire day, and at night actually dreamed of it.
The power of suggestion is fierce.
The rabbis in these above 3 dafs, or six pages, view dreams as foretelling the future.The Talmud gives meaning to a well, river, bird, pot, reed, gourd, various animals or famous people etc., seen in one's dreams. Cigars and tunnels are not mentioned.
Other rabbis say that dreams are ''a letter than has not yet been read.'' It is how we interpret our dreams that tell about us and not the dream itself. The Talmud says: "All dreams follow the mouth." For one, a cigar is just a cigar. For another person, a cigar opens up a whole cigar box.
To other rabbis, the power of interpretation may be valuable, as one sage described how he took his dream to 24 different dream interpreters in Jerusalem. Each offered a different explanation, yet all the interpretations were realized and each prediction was accurate! Thus after a foreboding dream, one sage would recite the biblical verse: Dreams speak lies (Zechariah 10:2). That same sage, after a positive dream, would recite the same verse, albeit with a different intonation: "But do dreams speak lies?! Isn't it written In a dream I will speak to him (Numbers 12:6)."
"One who sees a dream and his soul is distressed should go and have it remedied in the presence of three people." The Talmud continues, detailing the texts and prayers to be said as part of the remedy ritual. The Talmud also tells us that no dream is ever entirely real: Each dream has some truth, mixed with fantasy. "Just as it is impossible to have wheat without chaff, thus it is impossible to have a dream without some senseless things." Dreams cannot be foretellers of the future: "A positive dream will not be fulfilled in its entirety nor will a negative dream be fulfilled in its entirety."
The Talmud explains in this 6 pages that even Joseph's dream in which the sun and the moon and 11 stars bowed down to him is wrong. ( Gen: 37:9). The sun and the moon represented Joseph's parents, while the 11 stars signified his brothers. But Rachel, who was Joseph's mother was dead at the time of this dream. So the idea of the entire family bowing down to him was impossible the sages state.
The sages, millennia before Freud, write that dreams merely provide a peek into the subconscious and have nothing to do with the telling the future. "A person is shown nothing but the product of his own thoughts." One rabbi points out scenes that are beyond reality, are not in dreams: "Know that a person is never shown a palm tree of gold nor an elephant entering the eye of a needle." Such impressions cannot be contemplated while awake and hence will not appear in dreams.
If anyone wishes to comment on dreams they had that came true, or recurrent dreams that have been with them for a long time, please share.
Allow me one more triad:
From the Torah: Gen: 37:2 ... And Joseph brought back a bad report about them (his brothers) to their father.
From the TaNaK: Ps: 34:13-15:" Who is the man that desires life (chofetz chaim); who loves days, that he may see goodness during them? Guard your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit; turn from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it."
From the Talmud: Talmud Bavli Tractate Arachin 15b: Rabbi Yossi said " I never made a statement for which I would have to turn around and check whether the person I was speaking about was present. God and a gossip can not live in the same world. There are three sins for which retribution is exacted from a person in this world and, for which he is nonetheless, denied a portion in the world to come: idol worship, forbidden sexual relations, and murder and lashon ha ra (the evil tongue) is equivalent to all of them. Lashon Ha ra kills three persons: He who tells it, he who hears it and the person about whom it is told."
Did Joseph cause his own problems with his mouth and ego? Can you share any examples where you have hurt anyone or yourself with your tongue, and/or your ego?
Have a great week and Shavuah Tov.
Rabbi Arthur Segal
Hebrew College, Newton Centre, MA, USA
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Hilton Head Island, SC;Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"
Rabbi Arthur Segal
Hebrew College, Newton Centre, MA, USA
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Hilton Head Island, SC;Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
In this fascinating portion, filled with so many events, we read of Joseph's brothers' jealousy and their willingness to kill him (Gen. 37:20). We also read of Reuben's compromise with his brothers' plan to just throw Joseph into the empty pit, as he wished to return later to save his younger brother (Gen. 37:22). We also read of Judah's further compromise with his brothers to sell Joseph into slavery rather than kill him (Gen. 37:27). Judah tried to convince their father Jacob that Joseph was torn apart by wild beasts by bringing Jacob his son's wonderful woolen tunic covered in goat blood (Gen. 37:31).
Traditionally, Reuben and Judah are spoken of as heroes for orchestrating this compromise. And traditionally the brothers are considered to be acting as God's agents to get Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt to set into motion the events that would eventually send Jacob and his family into Egypt, causing the Hebrews to become slaves to Pharaoh. This would lead to our Exodus spearheaded by Moses and our receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai and our eventual conquering of the Promised Land.
Jews need to ask, as we are in the beginning of the third millennium, is compromise when life is at stake a good heroic attribute?
We are taught that the Torah was already known to our patriarchs, and that Jacob and his sons were already in Eretz Israel. Why did we need to leave our land, be made into slaves, be given the Torah which we already had, to return to a land in which we were already living?
We have seen all too clearly in our recent history that compromise, when lives are at stake, leads to eventual disaster. We do not need to be reminded of Chamberlain's well- received compromise of this past century, or of the Missouri compromise of the last century. We do not read of Reuben or Judah arguing for Joseph's freedom. Reuben was the eldest of the brothers. He had the most to lose by Joseph being his father's favorite. If he argued for Joseph's release, could he not have lowered the tension and jealousy? If Judah jumped into the discussion, with two out of the ten brothers (Benjamin was not there) pleading for Joseph's mercy, would not have more bothers leaned toward acquittal? If only three more brothers were convinced, there would be no majority to convict.
As modern Jews who take pride in having the freedom of choice vis a`vis ritual mitzvoth, we have so much more time than our traditional co-religionists. What do we do with the time each day that we are not in shul dovening (praying), or reading labels looking for U's and Ks, or making sure we don't mix up the cutlery in our kitchens? Are we still resigned to walk like Jacob with a limp, as a bird with a broken wing flies, in never- ending circles? Or will we stand upright, uncompromised, like the recovered stronger Israel, who wrestled with the angel when he was Jacob. Will we perform the social action mitzvoth and live the ethics from which our modern Judaic creed did NOT release us?
Each month at Rosh Kodesh we look at the moon's phases and remember David's reign as our people's zenith, symbolized by the full moon. We traditionally pray for the scion of David to come and restore our people's glory. Each of us needs to be uncompromising in performing the mitzvoth of chesed (doing deeds of loving kindness to help others and make a difference in their lives) and continuing to do zaddakah (justice, sometimes translated as charity). We need to be uncompromising in making a stronger effort in our own country and around the globe to do tikun olam (repair of the world) as junior partners with God. We would then find that each of us is a part of that traditionally awaited savior from the Davidic line. And all of these parts of ours, acting as a whole, could really help make a difference in this world and would bring much joy and spirituality to our own lives.
Amos, in this Haftarah, says that God will forgive the Jews of the three cardinal sins of adultery, idolatry, and murder, but He will not forgive them for their greed and perversions of justice, which resulted in their ignoring the poor, the sick and the helpless.
Let us dedicate ourselves to helping keep the moon always full and help rescue the Josephs of this world who are ill, hungry, grieving, and homeless from their empty pit of despair. Let us help give hope to our matriarch Rachel who still "weeps for her children." Amen!
Shabbat Shalom. Happy Hanukah!
Rabbi Arthur Segal
Hebrew College, Newton Centre, MA, USA
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Hilton Head Island, SC;Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
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