Vayeshev

Reflections on Parsha and Practice

We're in the heart of Kislev as we approach the darkest night of the year this Shabbat. Kislev has been a time of turning inwards, resting, paying attention to our dreams. During this month, 9 of 10 biblical dreams are read aloud from the Torah. This week's parsha, Vayeshev, includes 4 of them and introduces Yoseph, the 'master dreamer.'

Yoseph is Yaakov's favored son, and it's no secret. His belovedness is symbolized by an ornate tunic, gifted by his father. He dreams of his own superiority over his family and has no problem sharing it with them, whether out of arrogance or naivete. His sharing kindles the resentment of his brothers. "Here comes that dreamer!" they say. "Let's see what will become of his dreams!"

Yoseph then makes three descents - he is disrobed from his prized tunic, thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, then banished into a dungeon. The parsha actually has a dreamlike quality, moving through so many extremes as Yoseph's identities and circumstances drastically shift.

What will become of this dreamer and his dreams? It's hard to know. But throughout the story, "the divine is with Yoseph and makes everything he does a success." Despite his changing circumstances, Yoseph never forgets his own belovedness, and continues to trust in the divine. He says, "Surely God is the interpreter of dreams."

We, too, are in a time of descent as our nights become longer, darker and colder. This descent sometimes requires us to remove the ornate tunics of identity and ego with which we walk in the world. And when the dreamlike states of personality and circumstance are stripped away, all we can do is turn within. The darkness underneath our changing circumstances can be frightening, but it can also be deeply restful, a place of stillness and profound potentiality. In the quiet of the dark descent, there is space to tune into the presence of that which remains when all else is stripped away. What is left is the divine - and our own belovedness.

And it's in this place that we can open to receive new visions. But it's not necessarily time to actualize them. It's time to linger in this darkness and appreciate the cyclical nature of the seasons around and within us - to trust in the mystery of our ever-changing journeys, remembering that "God is the interpreter of dreams." Soon, we will kindle new lights for Hannukah and our days will once again begin to lengthen. But let us treasure this moment of having deeply descended into the darkness.