Thursday, November 28, 2013
Parshas Miketz: The Connection between the Physical and Spiritual
10:54 PM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
"Joseph answered Pharaoh saying, 'That is beyond me, it is G-d who will respond with Pharaoh's welfare" (Genesis 41:16)
Rav Yaakov Kamenetzky in Emes L'Yakov explains this verse through the lighting of the candles on Chanukah before Shabbos. The Shabbos candles we are allowed to get benefit from but not the Chanukah candles. Not only that but one is not allowed to use the light to read words of Torah or for any other mitzvah as well.
The Shabbos candles are lit so there will marital harmony between husband and wife and the Chanukah candles are lit because of the miracle of what happened in the Temple. Nonetheless, if one only had money for either Shabbos candles or Chanukah candles, one should buy Shabbos candles because marital harmony outweighs even the great miracle of what transpired by Chanukah. Why should this be so?
The great miracle of Chanukah shows the tremendous Hashgacha Pratis (Divine Providence) and miracle that G-d did for the Jewish people but Shabbos candles show the connection between the physical world and spiritual world through the meals that we consume.
We also know that by keeping the laws of Shabbos, it is a gateway to what will be in the next world regarding the awesomeness of the spiritual experience. The question though is how this eating and drinking on Shabbos is part of what the great spirituality of the next world.
The answer is because the spiritual worlds are connected one to the other. This is how our holy ancestors used the physical world for spiritual means. This explains what Yosef said to Pharoah in their seemingly mundane conversation,
Pharoah tells Yosef that he is a great interpreter of dreams whereas Yosef pushes him off saying that it is beyond him and it is only G-d who will explain the dream to him and the subsequent dream as well, This is incredible because Pharaoh being the ultimate denier of G-d's power agrees and says that Yosef has the spirit of G-d within him!
This is the power that our ancestors have passed on to us this idea that physical things even have spiritual realities. The fact that Yosef can interpret dreams is only because it is G-d who shows him what the dreams mean.
This is a tremendous lesson for us because we can take a mundane act such as eating and drinking and make it seemingly part of what the next world experience will be like!
May we always see that connection between the physical and the spiritual in everything that we do.
Shabbat Shalom
Rav Yaakov Kamenetzky in Emes L'Yakov explains this verse through the lighting of the candles on Chanukah before Shabbos. The Shabbos candles we are allowed to get benefit from but not the Chanukah candles. Not only that but one is not allowed to use the light to read words of Torah or for any other mitzvah as well.
The Shabbos candles are lit so there will marital harmony between husband and wife and the Chanukah candles are lit because of the miracle of what happened in the Temple. Nonetheless, if one only had money for either Shabbos candles or Chanukah candles, one should buy Shabbos candles because marital harmony outweighs even the great miracle of what transpired by Chanukah. Why should this be so?
The great miracle of Chanukah shows the tremendous Hashgacha Pratis (Divine Providence) and miracle that G-d did for the Jewish people but Shabbos candles show the connection between the physical world and spiritual world through the meals that we consume.
We also know that by keeping the laws of Shabbos, it is a gateway to what will be in the next world regarding the awesomeness of the spiritual experience. The question though is how this eating and drinking on Shabbos is part of what the great spirituality of the next world.
The answer is because the spiritual worlds are connected one to the other. This is how our holy ancestors used the physical world for spiritual means. This explains what Yosef said to Pharoah in their seemingly mundane conversation,
Pharoah tells Yosef that he is a great interpreter of dreams whereas Yosef pushes him off saying that it is beyond him and it is only G-d who will explain the dream to him and the subsequent dream as well, This is incredible because Pharaoh being the ultimate denier of G-d's power agrees and says that Yosef has the spirit of G-d within him!
This is the power that our ancestors have passed on to us this idea that physical things even have spiritual realities. The fact that Yosef can interpret dreams is only because it is G-d who shows him what the dreams mean.
This is a tremendous lesson for us because we can take a mundane act such as eating and drinking and make it seemingly part of what the next world experience will be like!
May we always see that connection between the physical and the spiritual in everything that we do.
Shabbat Shalom
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