The Cup of Joseph: Good Enough

In this week's portion, a famine spreads throughout the region, and food can be obtained only in Egypt. Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt to purchase food, leaving behind the youngest, Benjamin. Jacob is unwilling to risk losing his remaining child from his beloved Rachel, the only real connection to her after her death. Joseph recognizes his brothers, but they do not recognize him; he accuses them of being spies, insists that they bring Benjamin to prove that they are who they say they are, and imprisons Simeon as a hostage.

Jacob agrees to send Benjamin only after Judah assumes personal responsibility for him. This time Joseph receives them kindly, releases Simeon, and invites them to an eventful dinner at his home. But then he plants his silver goblet, purportedly imbued with magic powers, into Benjamin's bag. When the brothers set out for home the next morning, they are pursued, searched, and arrested when the goblet is discovered. Joseph offers to set them free and retain only Benjamin as his slave.

I will let you finish the rest of the story on your own in favor of sharing a short Kabbalistic insight.

The “Cup of Joseph” is a mystical symbol for the “Neshama," the sublime dimension of soul that is implanted, at birth, into our human consciousness. The act of “Liberating the Cup” from its captivity alludes to the sense of alienation that the soul experiences, as if to say, “I don’t belong here, hidden in this darkness; I belong only in the light, ensconced within the saintliness of Joseph the Tzadik.” The raising of the cup, or its discovery, is a paradigmatic framework for fully embracing the rightness of the Cup of Blessing, even as it is implanted into the darkness of the world. Only after being concealed, and fully experiencing the awkwardness of incoherence, of displacement in its own world, does the stage get set for the dynamic of purposeful journeying. This epiphanous discovery is grounded in the radical realization that the light shines brightest only after emerging from the shadowy vertigo of the dark places.

Like the TANYA that we have been studying all week—focused on the questions and difficulties associated with the eternal spiritual struggle— the yearning to feel something of the Divine, like Moses in his plea to G-d “Harayni Na Es Kevodecha, show me even a glimpse of your mysterious splendor” — is explored in all of its dynamics.

The Alter Rebbe, as well, goes to great lengths to point out how the seemingly unnatural alliance between mind and spirit is dramatically adjusted and encompassed—even recognized as being natural, once that naturalness is articulated in the mindfulness language of purpose.

So too, the miracle of Chanukah—and the symbolic “purity” of the oil, is aligned with the symbol of the “Purity” of the “Chalice of Joseph.”

Even when concealed under the layers of exile, persecution, and concealment, and its presence of spirit in this material world questioned, the oil that is discovered to be intact despite being lost under the debris of destruction—dispels the lingering doubts.

The soul of the universe cries out to be heard and recognized, to be reassured that its presence of goodness and holiness, though buried deep in the world that is its antithesis, and symbolically aligned with the interior darkness of the “Bag of Benjamin”— is not stolen, it DOES belong there, in many ways more so than in the palace in proximity to Joseph.

Our world is Benjamin's world, a world characterized by self-doubt.

"Do I belong here, doing what I love, or am I carrying a truth that is too heavy for me?" These doubts intensify when the "Josephs" that deign to stand over us reinforce that doubt by implying that "your dark dustiness disqualifies you; you aren't worthy enough to bear this truth!"

If we take anything from this, it is the following. If we are good enough for the Alter Rebbe to write an entire book focused on our struggle, and if we are good enough to be represented symbolically in this week's Torah portion, and if we are good enough for G-d, and we MUST be since we wouldn't be here otherwise, then we are good enough!