A thought on Parshas Vayechi
"...Yosef..alei ayin...""...Yosef is beyond the eye..." (49:22)
One understanding of Yakov's vision of Yosef here is that he blessed him with the capacity to be impervious to "the eye." In very simplified terms, this means that Yosef and his descendants would always be beneath the caring "eyes" of HaShem (see for example Tehillim 33:18) and not affected by the envious or malevolent eyes of other people.
The Recanati uses this to further our understanding of a profound and difficult concept. The Torah and our prophets seem to speak freely about Heavenly qualities as if they had a physical form. Anthropomorphisms (arguably one of the more sophisticated terms used by many yeshiva educated scholars) are those phrases or words which seem to depict Divine qualities as if they had something like a physical or mortal form. Thus, we may read about the eyes, the ears, the hands, the fingers of HaShem, and we know that these are useful metaphors for understanding concepts which are definitely spiritual and metaphysical, not corporeal or mortal.
However, the Recanati offers to change our thinking about this. It is not that the use of an expression such as "the hand of G-d" is a metaphor. Rather, it is the human hand, the human eye, and ear, and other features which are the metaphors for a higher reality. We think that our hands, for example, are hands, and that is why we assume that "hand of G-d" is a metaphor which utilizes our real concept of real hands, as if a force Above can be compared to the forces which we have in our hands.
Not so, asserts the Recanati. The real "hand" is a Divine reality. It is a Divinely willed force which is utilized in bringing HaShem's will to earthly manifestation. Our hand is a metaphor. It is a tangible imitation of a Higher reality. It is a "metaform" (there I go again assuming that I have coined another word). We can use our hand, our eye, our human features to try approximating what Higher forces and realities exist Above. As we grasp more about Higher forces, Higher reality, we see that our own bodies are a metaphor for that fuller reality.
Just as our bodies have both features which serve an obvious function, and other features about which we know little, or about which we can only conjecture in that they are hidden deep with the body, so too are there two forms of Divine processes. There are acts and forces which we think we can understand and fathom, and there are hidden and mysterious forces descending from Above about which we understand little, or may be unaware of.
Each person is given the challenge to focus and direct his purest energies into identifying his or her "parts" and utilizing them exclusively for pure and Divinely willed purposes. If a person succeeds in purifying a part of himself, then that limb or organ or feature becomes a this-worldly "throne" for that corresponding force Above. The dedication of one's hand, for example, for sacred acts can result in that person's hand activating the connection between this world and the Higher realm which involves the manifestation of that "hand energy" which conducts its form of Divine will. That person has succeeded in making his hand an active replica or metaphor in reflecting a form of the greater reality Above.
With this clarification, adds the Recanati, we can better grasp the well known adage of Chazal that "Ha'Avos hen hen HaMerkava" - the Patriarchs were the Chariot: our holy forefathers were able to dedicate their entire selves to becoming conduits for manifesting Divine will throughout the world. By being pure in action, thought, speech and interaction, they facilitated a clearer sense of the Divine Presence through myriad worldly representations of Divine will.
An eye for an Eye. Good Shabbos. D Fox
One understanding of Yakov's vision of Yosef here is that he blessed him with the capacity to be impervious to "the eye." In very simplified terms, this means that Yosef and his descendants would always be beneath the caring "eyes" of HaShem (see for example Tehillim 33:18) and not affected by the envious or malevolent eyes of other people.
The Recanati uses this to further our understanding of a profound and difficult concept. The Torah and our prophets seem to speak freely about Heavenly qualities as if they had a physical form. Anthropomorphisms (arguably one of the more sophisticated terms used by many yeshiva educated scholars) are those phrases or words which seem to depict Divine qualities as if they had something like a physical or mortal form. Thus, we may read about the eyes, the ears, the hands, the fingers of HaShem, and we know that these are useful metaphors for understanding concepts which are definitely spiritual and metaphysical, not corporeal or mortal.
However, the Recanati offers to change our thinking about this. It is not that the use of an expression such as "the hand of G-d" is a metaphor. Rather, it is the human hand, the human eye, and ear, and other features which are the metaphors for a higher reality. We think that our hands, for example, are hands, and that is why we assume that "hand of G-d" is a metaphor which utilizes our real concept of real hands, as if a force Above can be compared to the forces which we have in our hands.
Not so, asserts the Recanati. The real "hand" is a Divine reality. It is a Divinely willed force which is utilized in bringing HaShem's will to earthly manifestation. Our hand is a metaphor. It is a tangible imitation of a Higher reality. It is a "metaform" (there I go again assuming that I have coined another word). We can use our hand, our eye, our human features to try approximating what Higher forces and realities exist Above. As we grasp more about Higher forces, Higher reality, we see that our own bodies are a metaphor for that fuller reality.
Just as our bodies have both features which serve an obvious function, and other features about which we know little, or about which we can only conjecture in that they are hidden deep with the body, so too are there two forms of Divine processes. There are acts and forces which we think we can understand and fathom, and there are hidden and mysterious forces descending from Above about which we understand little, or may be unaware of.
Each person is given the challenge to focus and direct his purest energies into identifying his or her "parts" and utilizing them exclusively for pure and Divinely willed purposes. If a person succeeds in purifying a part of himself, then that limb or organ or feature becomes a this-worldly "throne" for that corresponding force Above. The dedication of one's hand, for example, for sacred acts can result in that person's hand activating the connection between this world and the Higher realm which involves the manifestation of that "hand energy" which conducts its form of Divine will. That person has succeeded in making his hand an active replica or metaphor in reflecting a form of the greater reality Above.
With this clarification, adds the Recanati, we can better grasp the well known adage of Chazal that "Ha'Avos hen hen HaMerkava" - the Patriarchs were the Chariot: our holy forefathers were able to dedicate their entire selves to becoming conduits for manifesting Divine will throughout the world. By being pure in action, thought, speech and interaction, they facilitated a clearer sense of the Divine Presence through myriad worldly representations of Divine will.
An eye for an Eye. Good Shabbos. D Fox
posted by Rabbi Dr. Fox at 11:18 PM
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