The Inner Dreamer
Many people are familiar with the Kabbalistic idea of a person being an ״עולם קטן״ a “small world”.
Among other things, this means that we can find the entire world inside of ourselves. Indeed, this is the goal of many meditative disciplines, and perhaps even a possible definition of enlightenment.
At the same time, the Zohar writes:
״דכד ברא קודשא בריך הוא עלמא, אסתכל בה באורייתא וברא עלמא, ובאורייתא אתברי עלמא״
“When the Blessed Holy One created the world, He gazed into Torah and created the world; by Torah the world was created”
(כרך ב׳ דף קסא)
Thus, just like we can find the entire world inside ourselves, we can also find the Torah inside ourselves. Indeed, our holy ancestors and the great patriarchs accomplished this; as the Gemara says:
״ומהיכן למד אברהם את התורה, רבן שמעון אומר: נעשו שתי כליותיו כשתי כדים של מים והיו נובעות תורה.״
“And from where did Avraham learn the Torah? Rabbi Shimon says: His two kidneys became like two jugs of water and the Torah flowed from them.״
(בראשית רבה צה, ג)
It is through this lens that I’d like to analyze this week’s Parshah, פרשת וישב.
Yaakov Avinu, the father, represents the more mature and rational part of the self; while his sons represent the younger and more emotional elements. Of all the brothers, Yaakov loved Yosef the most. Yosef was the piece of his youth that he most connected with, a younger version of himself, a reminder of the love of his youth — Rachel.
It is this youthful part of us that dreams of accomplishing great things. Indeed, kids often have the loftiest goals and aspirations. In fact, they might be so out of this world, that a part of us despises them. A part of us thinks we are merely having delusions of grandeur. So lofty can a child’s dreams be, that even our rational mind scolds us and says ״מה החלום הזה אשר חלמת״ “What is this dream that you have dreamt?”
But ultimately it is only the brothers, the lower less developed aspects, that become jealous of our big dreams ״ויקנאו בו אחיו״; and even try to actively prevent them from coming to fruition. The more developed and wise father, the rational mind, must keep a space for the dreams of our youth, no matter how lofty and seemingly unattainable they are. As the verse says ״ואביו שמר את הדבר״ “And his father kept the matter in mind”.
The older we get, the more important it is for us to cherish the younger aspects of ourselves, to make them a special garment, and to not forget their significance.
As Rav Kook writes: “It is our own good fortune that our culture involves us so heavily in children’s education. This connection alone attaches us to childhood, and all its purity, and an energy of simplicity is channeled through us and becomes internalized because of this. It cleans out the contamination and crookedness of sophistication that seeps into us as we grow older.
Blessed is the person who draws energy from the sap of childhood, even in adulthood.”
(Shmoneh Kevatzim 7:205)
