Vayeishev – Yosef and ציון

In a few hours we will soon be singing a very famous set of verses.

שיר המעלות

בשוב יהוה את שיבת ציון היינו כחולמים: אז ימלא שחוק פינו ולשוננו רנה אז יאמרו בגיום הגדיל יהוה לעשות אם אלה: הגדיל יקוק לעשות עמנו היינו שמחים:

שובה יהוה את שביתנו כאפיקים בנגב: הזרעים בדמעה ברנה יקצורו: הלוך ילך ובכה נשא משך הזרע בא יבוא ברנה נשא אלמתיו

This is a fascinating kapitel of Tehillim, and one that has many ties to the stories in these פרשיות.

The מדרש makes a parallel between Yosef and ציון (which is ירושלים, and specifically where the בית המקדש stood) and quotes many Pesukim showing that whatever happened to Yosef also happened to ציון. Yosef was beautiful, ציון was beautiful. Yosef was hated, ציון was hated. Yosef was sold, ציון was sold, and many more examples. In fact, both Yosef and ציון are numerically valued at 156, which further shows their connection. The מהר”ל says that ציון is to the world what the neck is to the human body. It is the connection between the “Head” and body of the world, between Hashem and His earth. It’s interesting to note that the neck is where the most concentrated amount of blood flows in the body, and the בית המקדש is where the blood of קרבנות flowed. Yosef wanted to be that connection for his brothers, for him to be the leader that would have the capacity to connect to each of them and to Hashem. He would be the vehicle that developed each of their relationships with Hashem.

This kapitel of שיר המעלות is the song of a people longing to go back to their ציון, to their connection to Hashem. I think it is divided into two parts. The first part is a longing for the future and the second part is a תפילה for the part of each of us that is lost and in need of a connection right now. In the first part: בשוב יקוק את שיבת ציון, we are talking about the great return that we are all longing for. אז then, and only then ימלא שחוק פינו ולשוננו רנה our mouths will be full of laughter and joy.

And in the second part: שובה יהוה את שביתנו we are asking for Hashem to bring back our lost, those who are currently lost. If we look into the wording and concepts in this tefilla, I think we will see the connection to Yosef and his family, as well as how it relates to our everyday lives.

כאפיקים בנגב – like springs [of water] in the desert. To understand this, you have to put yourself in the brothers’ shoes when they are in Mitzrayim talking to Yosef, who they only see as the Egyptian Prime Minister. They have been dealing with a stone cold, accusatory, and condescending individual who has no emotions. He has been threatening to keep one of their brothers as a hostage, and all after an impassioned speech from Yehuda, while they are discussing things amongst themselves, he yells for everyone to leave, and suddenly, the water works begin. Where there had only been a dry and cruel front, suddenly there were two streams of water pouring from his eyes. Just like springs popping out in a dry desert.

הזרעים בדמעה ברנה יקצורו – one who plants with tears, will reap harvest with joy. When do we plant with tears? When do we put something in the ground while crying? That’s at a funeral. When we bury someone that we love, we are planting their body for a harvest that will happen many years in the future, for תחיית המתים. יעקב אבינו didn’t physically plant Yosef’s body in the ground because he didn’t have a body to bury, but the Torah tells us that he still felt that pain. That pain never went away for Yakov.

הלוך ילך ובכה נשא משך הזרע– there is [a man] walking around and crying, he is carrying a משך of seeds. The word משך is an interesting one, it is translated as a measurement or a pouch, but it is a word that doesn’t appear often and is hard to find an exact translation for. It seems to be an adjective version of the verb למשוך to pull. So, this man who is walking around crying is carrying the “pulled” seeds, the “pulled” offspring. Who is the pulled child? The Torah says וימשכו ויעלו את יוסף מן הבור and they pulled Yosef out of the pit, only to sell him as a slave.

בא יבוא ברנה נשא אלמתיו – he will come back in joy, carrying his bundles of wheat. That word אלמתיו, that symbol that Yosef saw as a representation of his family in his dream. The man who was wandering around carrying his pulled child, will come back in joy, carrying his bundles of wheat. That majestic representation that he had heard about in his son’s dream.

I think these hints all point to one person, to Yakov. The Torah tells us that he was inconsolable, that he refused to be comforted, no matter how much his family tried. Why was he inconsolable? Because he was still holding onto and carrying his son that was pulled. Yakov had one child who had been pulled, but instead of being pulled close he had been pulled only to be sent off. And this was the child that Yakov was mourning. Crying uncontrollably for 22 years over this lost child. And it was because of that perpetual state of mourning that he kept the connection alive with his son and he was able to reunite with him.

How does this all relate to our everyday lives? What is the connection between the stories of selling Yosef to Mitzrayim and us in December 2017?

• We all sometimes feel like we are in a desert, dry, unemotional, dark, alone. Yosef was a desert as far as the brothers were concerned. But when they were able to admit and come to the self-realization that they had committed a wrong against their own flesh and blood, the desert disappeared, and there was flowing water in its place. The power to be vulnerable and see that we have done something wrong is what brings water to a desert.
• We all know someone who has been “thrown in a pit” and then been pulled out only to be sold off. And I think we all internally have parts of ourselves and parts of our lives that would fit into this description. Ideas, missions, goals, and confidences that get thrown down into dangerous pits and even sold off for a cheap price. And we let them go. We don’t walk around holding on to those “offspring”. We give up on them, and write them off as dead. But Yakov felt the joy of seeing and touching Yosef again because he never gave up on him. He never stopped crying for him. He believed in Yosef’s dream that he had the power to be that bundle of wheat that would support the brothers, and he didn’t let go of that vision forever. We all have visions and dreams of grandeur, but we let them slip away from us. There is something immensely powerful to holding on to a dream.