As the book of Genesis takes up the story of
Joseph, the narrative meanders through a succession of dreams:
Joseph’s dreams, which incensed his brothers and drove
them to sell him into slavery (Genesis 37:5-11, 19-20);
the dreams of the Pharaoh’s butler and his baker, which
Joseph interpreted in prison (40:5-19); and Pharaoh’s
dreams, which elevated Joseph to the second-highest office
in the most powerful empire on earth (41:1-44).
The result of all this dreaming was the Egyptian galut
(exile)—the first galut experienced by the Jewish
people and the source of all their subsequent galuyot.[1] The Children of Israel settled
in Egypt, where they were later enslaved by the Egyptians,
and where they deteriorated spiritually to the extent that,
in many respects, they came to resemble their enslavers.[2] When G-d came to redeem them, He
had to “take a nation from the innards of a nation,”[3]
entering into the bowels of Egypt to extract His chosen
people from the most depraved society in the history of
mankind.
A dream is perception without the discipline of reason.
Here are all the stimuli and experiences we know from “real”
life—sights and sounds, thoughts and action, exhilaration
and dread. Indeed, everything in a dream is borrowed from
our waking lives, for “a person dreams only of his
daytime thoughts.”[4]
But everything is topsy-turvy, defying all norms of logic
and credulity. In a dream, a tragedy might be a cause for
celebration, a parent might be younger than his child, and
one might witness “an elephant passing through the
eye of a needle.”
Galut was born out of a succession of dreams because
galut is the ultimate dream—a terrible, irrational
fantasy embracing the globe and spanning millennia. A dream
in which crime pays, the good die young, and G-d’s
chosen people are slaughtered with impunity. A dream in
which what is right is seldom “realistic,” and
non-existences such as “evil,” “ignorance”
and “death” are potent forces in our lives.
The surreality of galut pervades our spiritual lives
as well. Only in galut can a person arise in the
morning, purify himself in a mikvah,[5] pray with ecstasy and devotion, study a chapter of Torah, and
then proceed to the office for a business day of connivance,
deceit and manipulation. “Hypocrisy” is not an
adequate description of this phenomenon—in many cases,
his prayer is sincere, and his love and awe of G-d quite
real. But he inhabits the dream-world of galut, where
antitheses coexist and inconsistencies are the norm.
In the real world, such absurdities were impossible. When
the Beit HaMikdash (Holy Temple) stood in Jerusalem
and bathed the world in divine daylight, no man with a residue
of spiritual impurity (tum’ah) could approach
G-d until he had undergone a process of purification. That
G-d is the source of life and that sin (i.e., disconnection
from the divine) is synonymous with death was no mere conceptual
truth, but a fact of life.[6] In the real world that was, and
to which we shall awaken when the dream of galut
shall evaporate, the spiritual laws of reality are as apparent
and as immutable as—indeed more apparent and immutable
than—the physical laws of nature.
But there is also a positive side to our hallucinatory
existence. In the real world, a true relationship with G-d
can come only in the context of a life consistently faithful
to Him; in the dreamworld of galut, the imperfect
man can experience the divine. In the real world, only the
impeccable soul can enter into the Sanctuary of G-d; in
the dreamworld of galut, G-d “resides amongst
them, in the midst of their impurity.”[7]
We daily await the divine dawn that will dispel the nightmare
that, for much of history, has crippled us physically and
spiritually. But in the moments remaining to our dream,
let us avail ourselves of the unique opportunity to be “inconsistent”
and “hypocritical” in the most positive way: by
overreaching our spiritual capacity, by being and doing
more than we are able by any sane assessment of our merit
and potential.
Based on an address by the Rebbe, Kislev 19, 5717 (November
23, 1956)[8]
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[1]. Midrash Rabbah, Bereishit 16:7; Likkutei Torah
(Arizal), Parshat Teitzei.
[2]. Mechilta, Exodus 14:29; Yalkut Reuveni, ibid.,
v. 27; Zohar, part II, 170b; Zohar Chadash, beginning
of Yitro; Nachmanides, Exodus 12:41.
[4]. Talmud, Berachot 55b.
[5]. A ritual pool of water in which pious Jews immerse
each morning to purify themselves for a day in the service
of G-d.
[6]. “In the Scriptures, and in the words of our
sages, we find the concepts of karet (“cut
off”) and mitah bidei shamayim (“death
by the hand of Heaven”)—that if one transgresses
a sin which carries the penalty of karet, one actually
dies before the age of fifty; in the case of [a sin that
carries the penalty of] mitah bidei shamayim, one
actually dies before age sixty... (and in certain cases,
immediately). So why is it that we find, in every generation,
individuals who are guilty of [such sins], who enjoy long
and pleasant years of life?
“The concept of karet is that the ‘cord’
that connects the soul to G-d and through which it receives
its divine vitality is cut off... However, this was when
Israel was on a higher plane, when the divine presence
dwelt among Israel in the Beit HaMikdash. Then
the vitality of the body came only via the divine soul,
from the innermost aspect of the flow of vitality coming
from G-d... But after they had fallen from their station,
and their deeds caused the mystery of galut ha-shechinah
(i.e., the divine presence is in a state of ‘exile’
and concealment)... and the flow of divine vitality passes
through lowly and convoluted processes... also the sinner
and the wicked person can receive life for their body
and their animal soul...” (Tanya, Igeret HaTeshuvah,
chs. 4-6).
[8]. Likkutei Sichot, vol. I, pp. 85-87.
