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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]
Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe by Yanki Tauber
[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.
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