Vayeshev: Chapter 8

"And his brothers went to feed"

Synopsis

This section touches upon the role of providence in the story of Joseph and especially of his sale into slavery-since, when Joseph's brothers sold him, they were in collaboration with the Shechinah.

Relevance

The longest and strongest master-slave relationship is that between man and his ego. All of us are in bondage to our reactive whims and egocentric desires. We are also prisoners of other people's perceptions of us. Our ego is our taskmaster - and the ego is so good at its job, most of us don't even realize we are in bondage. Therefore, the Light of The Creator will send us challenging opportunities to provoke our ego and highlight our self-centeredness. The Light of this passage opens our eyes and shows us the way to freedom by allowing us to recognize life's hardships for what they really-opportunities to rise above the power of impulse and effect inner transformation.