Inside Parsha

For those who are into self, there are two forms of doing it well: self-actualisation and self-transcendence. The former connotes a path of achievement, fine-tuning ones G-d given talents and developing new ones with perseverance, grit and determination. The latter describes a lifestyle focused upon the other – upon ones fellow, meaningful causes as well as cleaving to the Divine – in which ones own needs are made secondary to, or are perhaps fulfilled via, an outwards focus. So, which is better? Can one have both? When Moshe is born, the Torah describes how it was apparent to observers that “he was good” (Shemot 2:2). In Zohar a debate surrounds the nature of the ‘goodness’ that manifested itself before those who gathered around the young bub. Rabbi Chiya says that Moshe was born circumcised. Rabbi Yosi says the house was filled with light. Being a Kabbalistic work, the Zohar appears to be pointing us to a deeper debate. Circumcision is code for self-actualisation. Just as

How do we look when we are uninspired? Do we let go of the values that define us, throwing in the proverbial towel, or hang on to them for dear life, praying for our next spiritual uplift? Inspiration, by definition, is short-term. It’s a burst that needs endless replenishment. Important, but not reflective of our real selves. What’s truly worth our time and energy is identifying   and shaping our lowest common-denominator, the person we are when our role models are on holiday and our texts don’t speak to us. Midrash on Parshat Vayechi tells us that Yaakov wished to reveal the date of the final Redemption to his children, yet he reneged in the last moment. What was the rationale for the change of heart? Knowing the potential date of Redemption is inspirational, it gives us the push we need to keep up our commitment, knowing that we only have a short distance still to cover. However, the very notion of the final Redemption is one of a fundamental change to reality. A c

Dream interpretation seems somewhat out of vogue these days. Talmudic wisdom seems to have it that dreams are simply a concoction of what one experiences over the course of their waking hours (Berachot 55b). However, beneath the nightmare of thirsty sea-creatures meandering upon dry land, gulping from giant bottles of gurgling goop, there lies our most primal fears, anxieties and aspirations. Our subconscious lets loose as it weaves metaphors of childhood neglect (the thirsty sea creatures) which drives our insatiable appetite for approval at work (the giant bottles of gurgling goop). Obviously, this matter requires copious therapy if its seemingly far-fetched significance is to be fully unravelled. No different are the dreams that abound in Genesis. The colourful characters of the Bible were as iconoclastic in their sleep as they were in their waking hours. Jacob dreams of ladders, angels and sheep, Joseph dreams of stalks and stars, the butler and baker dreams of wine and b