Joseph Judah and Bibi Netanyahu

Moshe Kempinski

The conflict between Yosef (Joseph) and what he represents and Yehuda (Judah) and what he is meant to represent runs as a continuum throughout Jewish history. A continuum wherein Yosef becomes the prototype of the sons of Rachel and Yehuda representing the traits of his mother Leah. Throughout history the two sides struggle against each other and at times one side comes out in control and at others the other side becomes the prevalent force. Rachel the beautiful and activist of the two sisters was Yaacov's (Jacob’s) first love and the one that he intended to marry. Leah, the more submissive and quiet one was the one that he married regardless.

Yaacov, being Yaacov, is drawn to the self assured and activist Rachel and therefore becomes very connected to Yosef her son who shares some of her attributes. The sons of Leah have difficulty with the aggressive ego and self assured activism presented by Yosef and throw him into the pit. Two sons of Leah, Reuven and Yehuda try to minimize the crime and fail, leading one of them at least into depression and feeling a need to abandon his whole family. Yet Yosef after experiencing the humbling experience of slavery and his successful passing of the tests laid before him becomes fitting to become the leader of the nascent Israelite nation. He rules them in Egypt just as his dreams prophesied.

Yet it is a descendant of Leah, Moshe (Moses) who takes them out of slavery. Following that a descendant of Rachel, Yehoshua ( Joshua) brings them into the land. The pendulum swings both ways until Saul, a descendant of Rachel becomes the first king. He loses that kingship to King David whose reign seemingly will last forever. Yet it is David's grandson that loses part of his kingdom to Yerovam a descendant of Rachel. The kingdom he establishes is destroyed and is dispersed ,yet the remnant of all twelve tribes gather in Jerusalem and the struggle continues until the reign of David will truly last forever.

What lies in the deeper levels of this struggle. What can we learn from this struggle about lasting leadership. The Lubavitcher Rebbe writes that the struggle represents;" the conflict between growth and self-fulfillment on the one hand, and subservience and commitment on the other. Rachel, "of beautiful form and of beautiful appearance," embodies the drive for self-fulfillment and self-realization, while the humble, submissive Leah represents our capacity for servitude and self-effacement. "

It is clear that both forces are critical for the formation and continuation of this people. Yet the drive of Rachel and Yosef could easily be thwarted into self centered arrogance. The submissive attributes of Leah could lead to inaction and weakness. Yosef needed to go through the experience of Egypt as did all of his family to refine the balance. Yehuda on the other hand had to go through the difficult experience with Tamar to find his own balance.

Tamar his daughter in law gives him back the power to live up to the secret power of his name. When she is taken to be burned she declares "..'By the man, whose these are, am I with child'; and she said: 'Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet, and the cords, and the staff.' " (Breishit/Genesis 38:25) She does not declare whose they are but allows Yehuda acknowledge his responsibility .

In Hebrew he is Modeh/ axcknowledges his part and the word modeh forms the basis of his name Yehuda." And Judah acknowledged them, and said: 'She is more righteous than I; "( ibid 26). It is that strength of character he bequeathes to his descendant David. King Saul would not acknowledge his failings and loses the kingdom;

And Saul said unto Samuel: 'Yea, I have hearkened to the voice of HaShem, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the devoted things, to sacrifice unto HaShem thy God in Gilgal.' ( Shmuel 15: 20-21)) .

Yet David did and with that established his eternal monarchy.

And David said to Nathan: 'I have sinned against HaShem.' And Nathan said to David: HaShem also has put away your sin; you shall not die. ( Shmuel II 12:13)


Binyamin Netanyahu is very far from being a Yosef or a Yehuda but he is poised for leadership. Throughout his political career he has been plagued by one problem. That problem was Binyamin Netanyahu.

He was so filled with drive and a sense of vision that he constantly stumbled over his ego. He was strong willed and sure of himself but he would easily be weakened by pundits and opinion polls. That is the failure and weakness of self centered visionaries, capable of so much but hampered by worrying if it looked good. The disastrous agreement in Hevron was a result of that weakness as well as his failings at Wye.

Yet despite that he is being made ready to lead the people of Israel soon. What Binyamin Netanyahu needs to do is to reach deeper into himself as Yehuda was forced to do. His problem is not about coming on strong but rather about coming across more human and humane. All that he would need to do is to sincerely acknowledge past mistakes. It is something that is hard for him it seems. It may be also something his political advisors warn him against because it might weaken his image.

They are wrong.

That simple change of approach and style would cause a paradigm shift in his own awareness. This is especially true because it would almost instantly endear him to a people looking for real leadership. That acknowledgment is not about groveling and pandering but about the ability to grow from mistakes and move more humbly onto the path of destiny.

It is a path he must consciously decide to embark on.

THE POWER OF DREAMS

Moshe Kempinski

Since the first handshake with the arch terrorist Arafat on the lawn of the White House we have been living in a strange almost surrealistic nightmare. Truthfully the nightmare has been going on for a very long time. It actually began with the destruction of the Temple and the long night of exile. A long night that included pogroms, crusades, forced conversions, expulsions and gas chambers. Yet when an Israeli Prime Minister shook the hand of the devil in Washington, the nightmare became even more intense and frightening. The handshake symbolised the beginning of a time when nothing made sense anymore. The enemy ceased to only lie in waiting outside the ghetto walls or in the other part of the village. The dangers began from within the very body of the Jewish people.

The mystery and power of dreams lies in the fact that all things can coexist in a dream. Emotions that contradict each other can permeate a dream where even the impossible co-exists with the possible. They seem to come out of the deepest parts of our souls and whisper of hopes and hidden desires. Yet at the same time they rage with the passion of the greatest fears along with the most delicate of hopes.

The first exile of the Jews began with dreams. The dreams of Jacob followed by the dreams of Joseph and pharaoh all culminated in the long exile of Egypt.Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi , the Baal haTanya explains that exile was born out of a succession of dreams because exile is the ultimate dream.

It is in this world of spiritual exile wherein white is seen as black and black is seen as white. It is a situation where opposites reign and seven fat cows in Pharaoh’s dream can be eaten by seven lean cows and the lean remain lean. It is a state that, in our days ,allows a politician whose life has become embroiled in petty theft and illegal activity to continue to believe that he retains the right to be a the Prime Minister of this country. Rabbi Yehoshua of Ostrova said that s vain person is worse than a liar. A liar knows he is lying, whereas someone who is absorbed in his self-image of greatness, firmly believes in his delusions.
Spiritual exile is exile from simple unadulterated truth just like a dream. It is a dream that is cluttered with unwarranted exaggeration, muddled and confused metaphors with consistent inconsistency. In essence this dream state describes painfully the state of affairs in the world in general and in Israel in particular. In such a state, the Defense Minister of Israel can call the not responding to daily acts of violence against Israel's citizens as a moral and courageous stance. In such a spiritual environment the Prime minister can decry the actions and jail young people passionately in love with their land calling them a threat to Israel's democracy while releasing blood stained terrorists from jail even though they are a threat to its very existence. A woman running for Prime Minister can arrange for a song “Livni-boy” to be created by her staff and not be mortified that is but a pathetic copy of a successful ploy of Obama's campaign.

Everything is possible in a dream.

Yet as Rav Kook writes everything is possible in a dream, both the negative and the positive. A single dream may contain conflicting messages, since it reflects the conflicting qualities within each soul.Such is true of the collective soul of a people as well. When the wine butler tells Pharaoh about the unusual slave he met in prison called Joseph he says;""Just as he interpreted, so (my dream) came to be" [Gen. 41:13]."

This prompted our sages to declare a fact that has been increasingly adopted by modern psychology; "Dreams are fulfilled according to the interpretation" [Berachot 55b].

The interpreter does not refashion the future but rather he reaches into the positive depths of each conflicted dreamer and empowers the dreamer to live up to those qualities. There are those in this country that will interpret the dream that is our reality with predictions of doom and gloom. There are others , though, who will reach deeper and find the qualities of hope and vision that will lead this people into safe harbor.

In a time of elections where confusion reigns, search out for the dreamers who interpret the strengths of this people and not their weaknesses. Reach out, not to those who tear down and declaim even if their motives are pure, but rather those who have not lost hope. Leaders who may not all be cognizant of the spiritual heart that burns within them , yet nevertheless offer voice to those exact yearnings. Look to the dreamers who may be found in all the vrious political parties and constellations. People like Uri Ariel , Rabbi Hillel Horowitz ,Aryeh Eldad , Benny Begin and Uri Banks are deeply aware that the future is all in the hands of the interpreter of the dream.

A Song of Ascents When HaShem brought back those that returned to Zion, we were as dreamers ( Psalm 126:1)