“And Judah approached (vayigash) him (Joseph) and said, ‘Please my lord, let now your servant speak something to my lord’s ears, and let not your wrath be kindled against your servant, because you are like Pharaoh.” (Genesis 44:18)… The traits of consciousness (represented by Judah and his brothers) recognize the power of Love (represented by Joseph as the highest human awareness of Divine Love) like the power of ego (represented by Pharaoh), and it is to Love that they appeal to bestow His kindness and blessings, knowing quite well that wrath and other negative qualities are the result of Love’s absence in our life. G-d’s Love is the Truth, and it is through truth that we cleave to Him. In this episode of the Torah’s narrative, it is essential to make the truth prevail in order to clear all negative thoughts, emotions, feelings, passions and instincts.

Joseph, as the epitome of Love’s ways and attributes, can’t allow his brothers to continue bearing cruelty, jealousy and envy in their hearts, therefore he has to make sure that they are totally cleared from the dominion of ego’s negative illusions. Then it is Judah who proves to Joseph that he is willing to give his own life for the sake of his youngest brother, as well as his other brothers for the sake of the unity of Israel: “And now, when I come to your servant, my father, and the boy (Benjamin) is not with us (because) his soul (my father’s) is attached to his (Benjamin’s) soul (…)”, “Because, how will I go up to my father if the boy is not with me? Let me not see the misery that will befall my father (Israel)!” (43:30, 34). This ultimate proof of love among their brothers is indeed the unity that the children of Israel need to forge permanently in order to be able to embrace G-d’s Love, whose louder voice can be heard as the ruler of all, including ego’s domains: “And he (Joseph) wept out loud, so the Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard.” (45:2).

“But now do not be sad, and let it not trouble you that you sold me here, for it was to preserve life that G-d sent me before you.”, “And G-d sent me before you to make for you a remnant in the land, and to preserve life for you for a great deliverance.” (45:5, 7). Joseph’s love is already free from negative traits because it is Divine Love, the Spirit of G-d, who is with him; and this is Love that creates, sustains and preserves life, the One that also will deliver us from ego’s materialistic desires when we cry out loud to Him. This is the great deliverance, the Exodus from Egypt foreseen by Joseph and told to his brothers. Again, Love reaffirms its prevalence over all aspects and dimensions of consciousness, including ego: “And now, you did not send me here, but G-d; and He made me a father to Pharaoh, a lord over all his household, and a ruler over all the land of Egypt.” (45:8). It is G-d’s Love that directs His Creation and all that there is in it.

Though we believe in our Creator and in His Love as our sustainer and Redeemer, we fear the gross materialism of darkness and the mirages, fantasies and illusions in which we are trapped when Love is absent in our consciousness. Consequently, we have to trust G-d’s Love in addition to being faithful to Him. It is indeed easier to have faith in the Creator than to trust Him. We believe that He is our sole Provider, and even though we are fully aware of His constant sustenance for us, we still trust more the power of money than the Divine Providence. Our fear of lacking the material resources to ease our basic needs is more powerful than our trust in His deliverance. “And He said, “I am G-d, the G-d of your father. Do not be afraid of going down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again, and Joseph will place his hand on your eyes.” (46:3-4), because it is Love that opens our eyes to His ways and attributes.

We must be aware that G-d’s Love pervades all His Creation, and with the same Love from which He created us we have to open our eyes to Him. “(…) and they came to Egypt, Jacob and all his descendants with him. (…) and all his descendants he brought with him to Egypt.” (46:6-7). “And Joseph’s sons, who were born to him in Egypt, two souls; all the souls of the house of Jacob who came to Egypt were seventy.” (46:27). Our Sages say that after counting every member of Jacob’s family, the total was sixty nine; and our Father joined them to become seventy. With this fact we learn that the Divine Presence is an integral part of Israel’s identity. Divine Love is part of our Essence in order for us to be and manifest His ways and attributes amid the darkness in the world.

“And Jacob said to Pharaoh: “The days of the years of my sojourning are one hundred thirty years. The days of the years of my life have been few and miserable, and they have not reached the days of the years of the lives of my forefathers in the days of their sojourning.” (47:9). This is the predicament of Israel’s spiritual mission in terms of his relation to the material world: a life of struggle with the limitations of physicality, the rigors and perils of nature, and the material difficulties that we face and must overcome in order to secure our survival and well being, as individuals and as a Nation. This predicament is the limiting “few” in our lifespan, while the “miserable” (lit. “evil“) refers to the negative traits and aspects of human consciousness that we have to confront and battle every moment: ego’s fantasies, negative illusions and lower desires that challenge our free will in every decision we make. Although there is a feeling of sadness and pessimism in Jacob’s answer to Pharaoh, it is so when we have to confront ego’s illusions for the sake of revealing the Truth, the Light, G-d’s Love concealed in the darkness of those illusions.

“And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt in the land of Goshen, and they acquired property in it, and they were prolific and multiplied greatly.” (47:27). The Divine prophecy is fulfilled, and Israel develops and expands the horizon of his consciousness taking advantage of the positive potential that ego can reach amid the perils and dangers of losing his true identity. In parshat Mikeitz we learned that ego has two sides and two faces as part of the dualities that we face in the material world in order to exercise our free will. Also, as we have mentioned before, all in Creation is filled with G-d’s Love and this Love also is concealed in what we perceive as dark or negative. Ultimately, G-d’s Light will be fully revealed and it depends on us to realize this ultimate reality; and we can do it by choosing to see the Light that is concealed in darkness, by having a positive attitude toward life and embracing Love as the Truth that can ease the negative thoughts, emotions, feelings and passions in which we seem to be trapped. Pain, suffering, anger, sadness, depression and the lower expressions of consciousness can only be redeemed by allowing Love to lead every aspect of our life.