 | What if the random nondescript person actually held the missing piece of our puzzle? What if the bad driver who cut us off on the highway actually put us in the right place at the right time? What if we lived into the possibility that our lives are full of pointers hidden amidst the mundane? What if they've been there all along? |
By Rabbi David Evan Markus
Vayeishev 5785 (2024)
Click here for last year's post on this Torah portion, "Mind Your Matters"
The poet Robert Frost put his perhaps most famous life wisdom this way:
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Lean into life's decision points, Frost taught. Heed forks in the road. Something – a subtle impulse, an unexpected guest – is bound to point your way.
Frost was no Biblicist, but he might have been talking about Joseph.
This week's Torah portion introduces Joseph – beloved tenth son of Israel (renamed from Jacob) and the teenaged bane of his brothers tired of Joseph's technicolor coat and dreams of grandeur. Even Israel tired of Joseph's hubris, but at least he could trust Joseph. Israel sent Joseph on a seemingly routine mission that would make all the difference (Gen. 37:13-20):
Vayeishev 5785 (2024)
Click here for last year's post on this Torah portion, "Mind Your Matters"
The poet Robert Frost put his perhaps most famous life wisdom this way:
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Lean into life's decision points, Frost taught. Heed forks in the road. Something – a subtle impulse, an unexpected guest – is bound to point your way.
Frost was no Biblicist, but he might have been talking about Joseph.
This week's Torah portion introduces Joseph – beloved tenth son of Israel (renamed from Jacob) and the teenaged bane of his brothers tired of Joseph's technicolor coat and dreams of grandeur. Even Israel tired of Joseph's hubris, but at least he could trust Joseph. Israel sent Joseph on a seemingly routine mission that would make all the difference (Gen. 37:13-20):
| וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל אֶל־יוֹסֵ֗ף הֲל֤וֹא אַחֶ֨יךָ֙ רֹעִ֣ים בִּשְׁכֶ֔ם לְכָ֖ה וְאֶשְׁלָחֲךָ֣ אֲלֵיהֶ֑ם וַיֹּ֥אמֶר ל֖וֹ הִנֵּנִי: וַיֹּ֣אמֶר ל֗וֹ לֶךְ־נָ֨א רְאֵ֜ה אֶת־שְׁל֤וֹם אַחֶ֨יךָ֙ וְאֶת־שְׁל֣וֹם הַצֹּ֔אן וַהֲשִׁבֵ֖נִי דָּבָ֑ר וַיִּשְׁלָחֵ֨הוּ֙ מֵעֵ֣מֶק חֶבְר֔וֹן וַיָּבֹ֖א שְׁכֶמָה: וַיִּמְצָאֵ֣הוּ אִ֔ישׁ וְהִנֵּ֥ה תֹעֶ֖ה בַּשָּׂדֶ֑ה וַיִּשְׁאָלֵ֧הוּ הָאִ֛ישׁ לֵאמֹ֖ר מַה־תְבַקֵּשׁ: וַיֹּ֕אמֶר אֶת־אַחַ֖י אָנֹכִ֣י מְבַקֵּ֑שׁ הַגִּידָה־נָּ֣א לִ֔י אֵיפֹ֖ה הֵ֥ם רֹעִים: וַיֹּ֤אמֶר הָאִישׁ֙ נָסְע֣וּ מִזֶּ֔ה כִּ֤י שָׁמַ֨עְתִי֙ אֹמְרִ֔ים נֵלְכָ֖ה דֹּתָ֑יְנָה וַיֵּ֤לֶךְ יוֹסֵף֙ אַחַ֣ר אֶחָ֔יו וַיִּמְצָאֵ֖ם בְּדֹתָן: וַיִּרְא֥וּ אֹת֖וֹ מֵרָחֹ֑ק וּבְטֶ֨רֶם֙ יִקְרַ֣ב אֲלֵיהֶ֔ם וַיִּתְנַכְּל֥וּ אֹת֖וֹ לַהֲמִיתוֹ: וַיֹּאמְר֖וּ אִ֣ישׁ אֶל־אָחִ֑יו הִנֵּ֗ה בַּ֛עַל הַחֲלֹמ֥וֹת הַלָּזֶ֖ה בָּא: וְעַתָ֣ה לְכ֣וּ וְנַהַרְגֵ֗הוּ וְנַשְׁלִכֵ֨הוּ֙ בְּאַחַ֣ד הַבֹּר֔וֹת וְאָמַ֕רְנוּ חַיָּ֥ה רָעָ֖ה אֲכָלָ֑תְהוּ וְנִרְאֶ֕ה מַה־יִּהְי֖וּ חֲלֹמֹתָיו: | Israel said to Joseph, "Aren't your brothers feeding the flock in Shekhem? Come, and I will send you to them." He said to him, "Here am I." He said to him, "Please see after your brothers' welfare and that of the flocks, and bring me word." So he sent him from the Hevron valley and he came to Shekhem. A man found him wandering in the field and asked him, "What do you seek?" He said, "I seek my brothers. Please tell me where they're pasturing." The man said, "They left: I heard them say, 'Let's go to Dothan.'" Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan. They saw him from afar; even before he approached them, they conspired against him to kill him. They said to one another, "Here comes the dreamer. Now let's go murder him, toss him into one of the pits and say that a wild beast ate him – and we'll see what becomes of his dreams." |
Instead, the brothers sold Joseph into slavery. He entered service of Potiphar, whose wife hit on him then falsely accused him of rape. Joseph was jailed, and pastored to cellmates' dreams. By portion's end, Joseph rots in an Egyptian prison, lost to his family and all hope.
But as future portions will show, it all had to happen.
It had to happen so Joseph could save Pharaoh from famine, become Vizier of Egypt, re-encounter his starving brothers years later, reconcile and bring them to Egypt. It had to happen so a new Pharaoh could arise who knew not Joseph and enslaved the Israelites, so a Moses could lead them to liberation. It had to happen so spiritual ancestry could become spiritual ancestry at a mount called Sinai. The rest, literally, is History.
Each of us lives our own history and also contributes to History with a capital-H. Ours is just one part of a great symphony, even if we don't know in real time how our part fits.
Look carefully at Torah again. A young Joseph was "wandering in the field," unable to find his brothers. Had Joseph not found his brothers, history couldn't unfold: there'd be no Jewish history. Only because of an unidentified "man" did Joseph find his way and make History.
Who was this masked man – nondescript, unnamed, seemingly irrelevant? Unsurprisingly, tradition calls him an angel, come to point the way. Sometimes the masked, nondescript, unnamed and seemingly irrelevant is the point – the pointer, our ticket to our road less traveled that made all the difference.
Except we rarely think so in real time. We narrowcast our focus on miss that some random person might hold our key? We don't imagine that the bad driver who causes us to miss our turn actually puts us in the right time and place. What would life be like if we lived that way, and treated everyone accordingly?
With 20/20 hindsight, we might see those moments in our own lives – the inflection point when going left instead of right made the difference, when we didn't plan to be at the party where we met them, where illness or loss pushed us off one path and onto another.
Pointers along the way. They might well be there, hiding in plain sight.
But as future portions will show, it all had to happen.
It had to happen so Joseph could save Pharaoh from famine, become Vizier of Egypt, re-encounter his starving brothers years later, reconcile and bring them to Egypt. It had to happen so a new Pharaoh could arise who knew not Joseph and enslaved the Israelites, so a Moses could lead them to liberation. It had to happen so spiritual ancestry could become spiritual ancestry at a mount called Sinai. The rest, literally, is History.
Each of us lives our own history and also contributes to History with a capital-H. Ours is just one part of a great symphony, even if we don't know in real time how our part fits.
Look carefully at Torah again. A young Joseph was "wandering in the field," unable to find his brothers. Had Joseph not found his brothers, history couldn't unfold: there'd be no Jewish history. Only because of an unidentified "man" did Joseph find his way and make History.
Who was this masked man – nondescript, unnamed, seemingly irrelevant? Unsurprisingly, tradition calls him an angel, come to point the way. Sometimes the masked, nondescript, unnamed and seemingly irrelevant is the point – the pointer, our ticket to our road less traveled that made all the difference.
Except we rarely think so in real time. We narrowcast our focus on miss that some random person might hold our key? We don't imagine that the bad driver who causes us to miss our turn actually puts us in the right time and place. What would life be like if we lived that way, and treated everyone accordingly?
With 20/20 hindsight, we might see those moments in our own lives – the inflection point when going left instead of right made the difference, when we didn't plan to be at the party where we met them, where illness or loss pushed us off one path and onto another.
Pointers along the way. They might well be there, hiding in plain sight.
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