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Have you ever noticed just how much of Genesis deals with Yosef? Fourteen out of fifty chapters, I make it. I'm approaching the end of the book, and I feel like I've been writing about Yosef forever.
It wouldn't matter so much, except that I find Yosef truly, truly objectionable, in so very many ways. Granted most of our ancestors had their bad sides, but Yosef's really awful. So why does he get so much space?
A psychologist friend of mine teaches the Yosef story in conjunction with the concept of individuation. She shows that if you take various concepts of a mature individual, Yosef hardly matches up to any of them. He stays pretty much immature and insubstantial right through to the end of the story, although he does grow up a bit towards the end.
I've been teaching my Purim bat mitzvah student an article by R' Aaron Lichtenstein, dealing with Vashti and Esther and discussing which was the stronger character. He doesn't like the notion that Vashti was the strong character because she asserted herself, and he demonstrates at length that Esther was the stronger character, with more power and more freedom, because she was able to define herself and set her own boundaries and expectations, whereas Vashti didn't have any self-worth and defined herself only by how other people saw her.
Well, whatever you think of that particular application, the concept is interesting - that true strength and true freedom come from inside.
The Yosef story comes right at the end of Genesis, right before the children of Israel get into being rescued from slavery by God. In the beginning of Exodus, the children of Israel get enslaved by Pharoah, who expects silk purses from sows' ears (more or less). They have a rotten time, and eventually God wangles their escape from Egypt. All jolly good.
We often say that the exodus from Egypt represents Israel's maturation from slavery into a free
people. In a status sense, yes. They weren't slaves any more. But still, every time God takes his attention away from the Israelites for a second, they start straying and going haywire. The Yosef story, and in particular its placement right at the end of Genesis before the Exodus, is making me think that the Exodus represents physical liberation, but the Yosef story represents emotional liberation. Yosef wasn't free inside, and his story is terribly unsatisfactory. Perhaps Israel's story is so unsatisfactory because they weren't free inside either.
We remember how God freed us from Egypt several times a day - even in grace after meals. It's an
integral part of being a praying Jew, and also rather a confusing one, since what exactly was so great about the Exodus that we need to remember it all day, every day, and more on festivals? Perhaps one could take it as a reminder that one of the main functions of religion is to guide people towards being healthy functioning adults in healthy functioning societies, and that we all have some work to do on that.
It wouldn't matter so much, except that I find Yosef truly, truly objectionable, in so very many ways. Granted most of our ancestors had their bad sides, but Yosef's really awful. So why does he get so much space?
A psychologist friend of mine teaches the Yosef story in conjunction with the concept of individuation. She shows that if you take various concepts of a mature individual, Yosef hardly matches up to any of them. He stays pretty much immature and insubstantial right through to the end of the story, although he does grow up a bit towards the end.
I've been teaching my Purim bat mitzvah student an article by R' Aaron Lichtenstein, dealing with Vashti and Esther and discussing which was the stronger character. He doesn't like the notion that Vashti was the strong character because she asserted herself, and he demonstrates at length that Esther was the stronger character, with more power and more freedom, because she was able to define herself and set her own boundaries and expectations, whereas Vashti didn't have any self-worth and defined herself only by how other people saw her.
Well, whatever you think of that particular application, the concept is interesting - that true strength and true freedom come from inside.
The Yosef story comes right at the end of Genesis, right before the children of Israel get into being rescued from slavery by God. In the beginning of Exodus, the children of Israel get enslaved by Pharoah, who expects silk purses from sows' ears (more or less). They have a rotten time, and eventually God wangles their escape from Egypt. All jolly good.
We often say that the exodus from Egypt represents Israel's maturation from slavery into a free
people. In a status sense, yes. They weren't slaves any more. But still, every time God takes his attention away from the Israelites for a second, they start straying and going haywire. The Yosef story, and in particular its placement right at the end of Genesis before the Exodus, is making me think that the Exodus represents physical liberation, but the Yosef story represents emotional liberation. Yosef wasn't free inside, and his story is terribly unsatisfactory. Perhaps Israel's story is so unsatisfactory because they weren't free inside either.
We remember how God freed us from Egypt several times a day - even in grace after meals. It's an
integral part of being a praying Jew, and also rather a confusing one, since what exactly was so great about the Exodus that we need to remember it all day, every day, and more on festivals? Perhaps one could take it as a reminder that one of the main functions of religion is to guide people towards being healthy functioning adults in healthy functioning societies, and that we all have some work to do on that.
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