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Orchard of Delights Vayishlach
Three relates to the three inner, intellectual sefirot, the channels an eighth who rules along with his wife. No mention is made of their
of Divine influx present at all levels of creation, while seven relates deaths.
to the lower, more external sefirot, associated with emotional The Kabbalah explains that the first seven kings who rule and die
and behavioral traits. The intellect operates primarily within the represent the primordial World of Chaos, where the initial immature
individual, inside his or her private realm, while the behavioral vessels shattered when they could not hold the primordial light of
characteristics are primarily directed outwards. Therefore, Joseph creation. The results of this cataclysmic “breaking of the vessels,”
explained that in the dreams the number three signified an interval which form the basis of our present world, are symbolically repaired
of three days, after which the butler and the baker’s private fates by the eighth king who is married, representing a rectifying balance
would be determined; and he explained that the number seven in the world needs to reach redemption.
Pharaoh’s dreams signified seven year periods, during and after
which certain public events would transpire. While this passage discussing Esau’s regal descendants has deep
mystical meaning, the difference between Esau and Jacob is still
The Hebrew root of the word meaning “year” (shanah) also means alluded to in it. The Hebrew word for “kings” (melachim) is spelled
change. Thus, Joseph intuited that the seven lean cows consuming almost identically to the Hebrew word for the “messengers” or
the seven fat cows signified a process that would occur over a “angels” (malachim) that Jacob sent at the beginning of this portion.
considerable length of time. Joseph’s ability to interpret Pharaoh’s The latter word has an additional letter, an alef, whose numerical
dreams correctly was also due to his awareness of the mystical insight equivalent is one. Once again the Torah hints that Jacob was
found in the Midrash that kings dream not just about themselves, operating on a slightly higher level than Esau: on the eighth level, just
but about the future of the world (Bereishit Rabbah 89:4). (Many of one above the natural world ruled by the stars and mortal kings.
the insights contained in this segment first appeared in The Mystical
Meaning of Dreams, pp. 65-67.)
£Crossing the Yabbok Stream£Crossing the Yabbok StreamCrossing the Yabbok Stream
£
£Joseph the TzaddikJoseph the TzaddikJoseph the TzaddikJoseph the TzaddikJoseph the TzaddikJoseph the Tzaddik
££££
Preparing for his confrontation with Esau, Jacob took his wives and
children to safety on the other side of the Yabbok stream. As we will
The biblical character who most embodies the ability to not see in the next section, Jacob’s decision to cross back over the stream
just conquer the yetzer hara, the evil inclination, but to guide the later that night by himself is somewhat surprising. Be that as it may,
imaginative faculties that fuel this drive in a positive direction was his crossing over a stream named Yabbok, ingeniously hints to the
Joseph. His ability to fend off Potiphar’s wife’s constant sexual inner struggle he undergoes when he encounters a “man” there and
advances earned him the appellation “Joseph the Tzaddik” – Joseph wrestles with him. This inner struggle, which was discussed in the
the Righteous. Long before modern psychology the Torah recognized previous section, is beautifully alluded to by the similarity of the
the sex drive as one of the most powerful and primal forces infusing Hebrew letters in the four Hebrew words that tie the story together:
all levels of human consciousness. From the snake in the Garden of Jacob (בקעי); Yabbok (קבי); “and he [Jacob] wrestled” (קבאי); and
Eden to the story of Joseph, from the tale of David and Bathsheba to “he [‘the man’] struck [him]” (עקת). Briefly put, the Torah uses four
Samson and Delilah, their exist in Jewish tradition scores of passages
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