Parshat Vayeshev
I must apologize for the extremely short and unrefined nature of this week's devar Torah; we were on a three day tiyul and my parents are coming this Shabbas.
Two questions this week:
1. "He had another dream and told it to his brothers. 'I just had another dream,' he said. 'The sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me'" (Genesis 37:9). Rachel already died so who was the moon? (For a refreshingly original approach to this question, see The Riddle of the Bowing Moon by Rav Moshe Eisenmann)
2. "Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, but our hand shall not be upon him, for he is our brother, our flesh." And his brothers heard. Then Midianite men, merchants, passed by, and they pulled and lifted Joseph from the pit, and they sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty silver [pieces], and they brought Joseph to Egypt" (Genesis 37:27-28). Who sold Joseph into slavery? (Yes, this is not a trick question.) (This question is not simple in any way, shape, or form.)
Dreams and Inspiration
Wherever Joseph is found, be in under his father, in Potifar's house, in the dungeon, or in Pharaoh's palace, wherever we find Joseph, we find him in a leadership position. While obviously G-d desired that this be but from Joseph's perspective, why was this the case (that Joseph was a leader)?
Perhaps it was because Joseph dreamed of himself in such a role (see Genesis 37:7 and 9).
An important technique in motivation (my books on motivation are at home in Maryland and alas, I cannot quote them) and in mussar is to visualize oneself as an achiever, at a higher level than the present.
Rebbi Heshy Kleinman quotes Rabbi Zelig Pliskin who writes "During the Vietnam War, an American prisoner of war spent several years in solitary confinement. In order to preserve his sanity, he spent four hours of every day visualizing himself mastering his game of golf, with every swing of the club pictured in minute detail. After his release, he eventually returned to the golf course and found his score greatly improved. All those years of visualization had actually succeeded in improving his game" (Praying with Fire, by Rabbi Heshy Kleinman, page 220).
Rabbi Kleinman takes this concept and applies it to davening with kavanah:
1. "Visualize possible obstacles to kavannah that you may encounter during davening. Then imagine yourself as having the necessary conviction and persistence to meet the challenge" (Ibid)
2. "Most people find it difficult to summon the self-discipline needed to stick with a productive routine. Distractions and temptations inevitably throw them off track. If a person practices visualizing himself arriving at shul on time, avoiding extraneous conversation, preparing before prayer, and looking inside the siddur while praying, these behaviors will gradually become a part of his routine" (p 221).
This can be applied to any area where we need growth; interpersonal relations, focus on Torah study, getting up in the morning, etc. By constantly visualizing ourselves at the next level, we will find reaching that level much easier.
Have a good Shabbas and a wonderful Chanukah,
Mordechai
I must apologize for the extremely short and unrefined nature of this week's devar Torah; we were on a three day tiyul and my parents are coming this Shabbas.
Two questions this week:
1. "He had another dream and told it to his brothers. 'I just had another dream,' he said. 'The sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me'" (Genesis 37:9). Rachel already died so who was the moon? (For a refreshingly original approach to this question, see The Riddle of the Bowing Moon by Rav Moshe Eisenmann)
2. "Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, but our hand shall not be upon him, for he is our brother, our flesh." And his brothers heard. Then Midianite men, merchants, passed by, and they pulled and lifted Joseph from the pit, and they sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty silver [pieces], and they brought Joseph to Egypt" (Genesis 37:27-28). Who sold Joseph into slavery? (Yes, this is not a trick question.) (This question is not simple in any way, shape, or form.)
Dreams and Inspiration
Wherever Joseph is found, be in under his father, in Potifar's house, in the dungeon, or in Pharaoh's palace, wherever we find Joseph, we find him in a leadership position. While obviously G-d desired that this be but from Joseph's perspective, why was this the case (that Joseph was a leader)?
Perhaps it was because Joseph dreamed of himself in such a role (see Genesis 37:7 and 9).
An important technique in motivation (my books on motivation are at home in Maryland and alas, I cannot quote them) and in mussar is to visualize oneself as an achiever, at a higher level than the present.
Rebbi Heshy Kleinman quotes Rabbi Zelig Pliskin who writes "During the Vietnam War, an American prisoner of war spent several years in solitary confinement. In order to preserve his sanity, he spent four hours of every day visualizing himself mastering his game of golf, with every swing of the club pictured in minute detail. After his release, he eventually returned to the golf course and found his score greatly improved. All those years of visualization had actually succeeded in improving his game" (Praying with Fire, by Rabbi Heshy Kleinman, page 220).
Rabbi Kleinman takes this concept and applies it to davening with kavanah:
1. "Visualize possible obstacles to kavannah that you may encounter during davening. Then imagine yourself as having the necessary conviction and persistence to meet the challenge" (Ibid)
2. "Most people find it difficult to summon the self-discipline needed to stick with a productive routine. Distractions and temptations inevitably throw them off track. If a person practices visualizing himself arriving at shul on time, avoiding extraneous conversation, preparing before prayer, and looking inside the siddur while praying, these behaviors will gradually become a part of his routine" (p 221).
This can be applied to any area where we need growth; interpersonal relations, focus on Torah study, getting up in the morning, etc. By constantly visualizing ourselves at the next level, we will find reaching that level much easier.
Have a good Shabbas and a wonderful Chanukah,
Mordechai
posted by Mordechai18 at 12:41 PM
1 Comments:
What do you think, please, of Obadiah Shoher's interpretation of the story? (here: samsonblinded.org/blog/genesis-37.htm ) He takes the text literally to prove that the brothers played a practical joke on Yosef rather than intended to murder him or sell him into slavery. His argument seems fairly strong to me, but I'd like to hear other opinions.
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