Vayeishev: In Earth and in Heaven

The Torah relates Yosef’s two dreams shortly after the beginning of Parshas Vayeishev. Both dreams foretell that Yosef would be granted dominion over his brothers and they would bow down to him. (The second dream has only one addition: Not only would the eleven stars, Yosef’s brothers, bow to him, but also “the sun and the moon” – Yaakov and Bilhah.)2

Later, in Parshas Mikeitz, the Torah relates that Pharaoh also had two dreams. In that instance as well, both dreams had the same meaning. With regard to Pharaoh’s dreams, however, the Torah tells us why they were repeated – to show that the events alluded to were imminent.3

The Torah does not give an explanation regarding the repetition of Yosef’s dreams. The second dream’s addition, that Yaakov and Bilhah would also bow down to Yosef, is not significant enough to warrant the dream’s repetition – indeed, these additional details could have been alluded to in the first dream. As such, the implication is that the two dreams, although sharing the same general meaning, reflect two different concepts.

We must thus endeavor to understand the significance of these two dreams, and the lesson they hold for us, for “The deeds of the Patriarchs are a sign to their descendants.”4Although Yosef is not considered one of the Patriarchs, the events that occurred to him relate to us all because his Divine service was a direct extension of Yaakov’s. As implied by the verse,5 “These are the offspring of Yaakov: Yosef...,” it is Yosef who drew down Yaakov’s spiritual influence into the worlds of Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah, and into our material world.

The difference between Yosef’s two dreams can be explained as follows: The first concerned material objects; he and his brothers were binding sheaves in the field.6 The second dream involved objects in the heavenly sphere – the sun, moon, and stars.7

Pharaoh’s dreams, by contrast, both concerned worldly matters. One focused on cows (the animal kingdom) and the other on ears of grain (plants). Pharaoh did not dream of the heavenly realm at all. Moreover, even with regard to worldly matters, his dreams followed a downward trend:8 first, he dreamt about the cows, and afterwards about the ears of grain.9 Yosef, by contrast, followed the pattern, “Always ascend higher with regard to holy matters.”10 Thus, he first dreamt about material matters, then about heavenly matters, the sun, moon, and stars.

This indicates a broader difference between Jews and non-Jews. Even while a Jew is involved with material concerns, he lives on two planes simultaneously. Not only is he involved with this physical world, but he shares a connection to the spiritual truth of the World to Come.

My revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, once expressed this concept as follows: When he was arrested in 5687 (1927), one of the Russian interrogators threatened him with a revolver. The Rebbe responded: “Only those who have many gods and one world are frightened by such an item. A person who has one G‑d and two worlds has nothing whatsoever to be afraid of.”11

The Rebbe was not speaking of living first in this world and then in the World to Come. Instead, he meant that even while living in this material world, a Jew shares a connection with a loftier, spiritual realm.

This connection follows a pattern of ascent, as alluded to in the verse,12 “A ladder was erected on the earth and its top reached into the heavens.” The “ladder” of a Jew’s Divine service has its base in lowly, material concerns, yet it reaches “into the heavens,” to the highest spiritual planes.

The Torah’s narratives are all precise in detail, each providing us with a directive in our Divine service.13 Accordingly, the fact that Yosef had two dreams (one concerning material matters and another concerning heavenly matters) bearing the same message serves as a lesson for every Jew, teaching him to fuse both his worlds – the material and the spiritual – into a single entity. Not only should a Jew’s material concerns not hinder his Divine service, they should complement it until, ultimately, the material world becomes one with the spiritual.14

Although the Zohar states,15 “The strength of the body is the weakness of the soul,” this does not contradict the above. The Zohar is referring, not to the body’s physical health, but to the strength of its desires and the fervor of its longing for material things. By contrast, preserving the body’s physical health is a necessity, as Rambam writes,16“Maintaining a healthy and sound body is among the paths of G‑d,” enabling one to know and to serve G‑d.

To explain: This concept that all material concerns – eating, drinking, and our other activities – should be carried out for a spiritual purpose, to serve G‑d, is inherent to the makeup of every Jew, even simple people, as reflected in the following well-known story.17

When they were young children, the Rebbe Rashab and his brother Reb Zalman Aharon were arguing about the difference between Jews and non-Jews. To provide an answer, their father, the Rebbe Maharash summoned his attendant, Ben Tzion, a simple Jew with little Torah scholarship.

“Ben Tzion, did you eat today?” the Rebbe asked him.

“Yes.”

“Did you eat well?”

“What do you mean ‘well?’ Thank G‑d, I’m satisfied.”

“Why did you eat?”

“In order to live.”

“And why do you live?”

“To be a Jew, and to do what G‑d wants,” the attendant answered, sighing slightly.

Afterwards, the Rebbe Maharash told his children: “Do you see? A Jew’s nature is to eat in order to live. And he lives in order to be a Jew and do what G‑d wants. He even sighs because he feels that he has yet to live by these values according to a truly objective standard.”

Moreover, since a Jew desires and intends that all his material concerns be connected with the spiritual, they are indeed considered as such. As the Baal Shem Tov would say,18 “Wherever a person’s desire is, there he himself is to be found.”

The above applies to the general concept conveyed by Yosef’s dreams. Moreover, the particular details of the individual dreams also convey lessons. The first dream begins with Yosef and his brothers binding sheaves of grain in the field.

Yosef’s dreams immediately began with work, in contrast to the dreams of Pharaoh, which did not involve any effort on his part. This reflects one of the fundamental differences between the realm of holiness and the realm of kelipah, evil. G‑dly influence can be granted to kelipah without Divine service being required. Thus, on the phrase,19 “which we ate in Egypt without charge,” our Sages comment,20 “without mitzvos.” In Egypt, in the realm of kelipah, food and overall material well-being is granted without Divine service and without mitzvos. In the realm of holiness, by contrast, nothing is unearned; this would be considered “bread of shame.”21 All Divine influence is earned by effort.

This lesson, the importance of work, is relevant to a Jew as he progresses up the ladder of Divine service. As in Yosef’s first dream, he must begin to work with worldly matters, for the ladder is “erected on the earth,” but he must proceed to include the spiritual, “reaching the heavens,” as in Yosef’s second dream.

What constitutes a Jew’s work? Binding together sheaves. Every stalk of grain is a separate entity, growing in its own place. Man’s service involves uniting these distinct entities into larger composites, sheaves.22

Where is this activity carried out? “In the field,” an analogy for our material world.

Herein lies a lesson: A Jew’s soul descends into this world, the field, which is characterized by separation.23 It is the realm of kelipah, as reflected by the description of Esav24 as “a man of the field.”

As a soul descends into this world, it becomes enclothed in the body and the animal soul. The latter are characterized by an awareness of self, and of one’s distinction from others. The soul’s task “in the field” is to nullify this sense of self and separation engendered by the body and the animal soul, and “to bind together sheaves” by joining all the potentials of the body and animal soul in the service of G‑d.

After this task is accomplished, a different phase of Divine service is necessary: “Your sheaves… bowed down to my sheaf;” the sheaves of the brothers must nullify themselves before the sheaf of Yosef HaTzaddik.

To explain: The entire Jewish people constitute a single body, one organism.25 In the human body, there are three organs – the brain, the heart, and the liver – which control the functioning of the entire body,26 and to which all the other organs intrinsically submit themselves. This particularly applies to the brain. Only when the body is controlled by these three organs, especially the brain, is it healthy.

Similar concepts apply to the body of the Jewish people. It is not sufficient for a person to carry out the service of “binding together sheaves in the field,” nullifying the natural tendencies of the faculties of the body and the animal soul and uniting them in the service of G‑d. Even after a person himself becomes “a sheaf” (i.e., as a result of this service, he becomes a unified entity), a product of Divine service, he must negate himself before the “sheaf” of Yosef HaTzaddik – the Rebbe, the leader of the generation, the head of the Jewish people.27The leader directs the entire Jewish people and controls their functioning, as a head directs the function of all the body’s limbs and organs.28

Indeed, from an inward perspective, the mission of “binding together sheaves” must be preceded by “bowing down to Yosef’s sheaf,” becoming batel to the tzaddik of the generation. The logic is that a Jew’s ability to carry out his mission in “the field,” our material world, stems from the inner bittul of his soul to Yosef HaTzaddik.29In practice, however, a Jew’s Divine service must ascend step by step. Thus he must first carry out the lower task of “binding together sheaves,” and afterwards he negates his sheaf, (i.e., his spiritual identity) to the leader of the generation, bowing down to Yosef’s sheaf.”

Even after carrying out all these stages of Divine service, one is nevertheless “in the field,” i.e., within the context of material existence, at the base of “the ladder erected on the earth,” (i.e., in the frame of reference described in the first of Yosef’s dreams). The ultimate intent, however, is to entirely transcend the limits of the body and the animal soul. This is the true meaning of the concept of spending “all of one’s days in teshuvah,”30as explained in Likkutei Torah.31

The inner dimension of teshuvah isfor “the soul to return to G‑d, Who granted it,”32i.e., establishing the same level of connection as the soul experienced before being enclothed in a body. This does not mean – G‑d forbid, actual death – leaving the body and the animal soul, but rather that the body, while remaining alive and a part of the material world, will no longer veil G‑dliness. This is the purpose of the soul’s descent to this material plane, that while enclothed in the body, it will unite with G‑d, “Who granted it,” bonded with Him to the same degree as before its descent.

This is alluded to by Yosef’s second dream, which speaks only of heavenly matters. The person has already left the field; he has completed his entire Divine service amidst material concerns. Therefore, in the second dream, there is no mention of the task of binding sheaves, establishing unity among discrete entities, for this work has already been accomplished. On this level, the task involves only spiritual service, enabling “the soul to return to G‑d, Who granted it.”

Nevertheless, even on this advanced level, the task of negating one’s spiritual self-image to the leader of the generation is still relevant and therefore repeated in the second dream. The eleven stars (i.e., one who has reached the level of “stars”) must bow down to Yosef. This emphasizes that the inner bittul to Yosef is not only required “in the field.” One might think since that realm is characterized by separation, such a commitment is necessary to prevent nurture being sapped by the forces of kelipah,33 but that there is no need for such bittul when one is involved only with spiritual matters. Herein lies the lesson of the second dream – that the eleven stars bowed in utter self-nullification to Yosef HaTzaddik. Even when one has reached the highest levels – “his head reaches the heavens” – such bittul is necessary.

We can summarize the lessons taught by Yosef’s dreams as follows. First and foremost, work is necessary. Effort and labor are the rungs of the ladder by which a Jew can ascend and establish his connection with G‑d. Although all Jews are “sons of kings,”34 and, indeed (as stated in other sources), “kings”35 themselves, this does not mean they need not expend effort. On the contrary, as explained above, all influence received in the realm of holiness comes through work. Nevertheless, since we are speaking about “kings,” every small effort is considered as if it were strenuous labor. In return, G‑d will grant them “the feasts of Shlomoh at the height of his reign,”36 and even more. But still, effort is required.

We are promised, “If you labor, you will find,”37 i.e., you will attain accomplishments that you could not have expected previously, just as a discovered object is not anticipated. Indeed, the attainments will be far out of proportion to one’s efforts, lifting one to the highest spiritual rungs, “his head reaching the heavens.”

The second directive is that, regardless of one’s level of Divine service, all of one’s efforts should be accompanied by a commitment of self-nullification to the head and leader of the generation.

And when a person “nullifies his own will,” G‑d “will nullify the wills of others before your will.”38The term “others” is plural, referring to the concealment of G‑d in this material world, which allows for the mistaken conception that there is more than one source of influence, Heaven forbid. In that vein, our Sages state39 with regard to the plural form used in the statement,40 “Let us make man,” “Let one who desires to err, err.”

When a person rises above this frame of reference and nullifies his will, he becomes a fit vessel to receive all the forms of influence imparted by Yosef, the tzaddik who is the foundation of the world.41

Likkutei Sichos, Volume 3, p. 805ff. (Adapted from a sichah delivered on Shabbos Parshas Vayeishev, 5720 [1959])