Much strength lies in the fact that another person stands in front of us and reflects for us the truth with which we live • "And approach Judas" - this is the moment when we can no longer hide

• Illustrative image // Photo: Getty Imagis

When was the last time you heard someone tell your story in your presence? A story you're used to telling yourself? "Constitutive story," with which you shape your self-concept? Your existential experience? A story that has been moving around in your mind for many years without change and response? How does your story sound when you hear it "from the outside" in the voice of the other, rather than "the inside" in your inner voice?

In my opinion, this is the moment when we are exposed in the opening verse of our affair: "And Judas will approach him." Yehuda begins to lay out before Joseph the story of his own life.

The Hasidic adherents, among them the "bright eyes" (see Menachem Nahum of Chernobel, 1797-1730) and "the Shiloah" (Rabbi Mordechai Yasef Liner of Ishbitsa, 1854-1800) have many explanations for the opening verse. First and foremost, understanding the word "To him" - Why does the verse not say "And Judas go to Joseph"? Like God reveals to Abraham who sits at the door of the tent "and the Lord will see to him in alony of mirror". "In both of these places we witness a moment of revelation, in which the name of the gospel recipient disappears, and he appears in the nickname" to him. "

According to the explaining method, "Elio" can be seen as an invitation to step in, to our personal truths. To penetrate beyond the many masks that we wear every day. Exposing the "Elio." It is not our degrees, not the professions with which we earn our living and claim their place in the world. However, as defined by Rabbi Kook (First Chief Rabbi of Eretz Israel, 1935-1865), "the Inner Self". Who are we really when no one is watching us, when we have no need to prove ourselves to anyone or even faith, theology or worldview? Gathering in without the fear of what will be revealed to us.

In the story of Joseph's life, this moment of "approach him Judas" is the moment when something inside him cracked and opened alike. The experience in which Yehuda comes "to him" and tells him the story of his life gives rise to such a human response from a man who functions and is known as the Viceroy. All the masks shatter and Joseph bursts into tears crying in every house of Pharaoh and Egypt. He demanded "remove every man from me" and his only remains: "And no one with him knew Joseph to his brother." He returns to be "Joseph," not even "anyone," and the rest of the tribes are no longer "spies" or "people" as described in the previous affair, but return to being "brothers."

A great power lies in the fact that another person stands in front of us and reflects for us the truth with which we live quietly and sometimes in hiding. A person who serves as a mirror of truth that sometimes even we ourselves did not allow it to float to the ground. A story shaped in our subconscious mind or in our collective memory - whether as individuals or as components within a family or national saga. Maybe even a story that shapes us but we are afraid of its power in directing our lives, and do not want to admit that this is our story.

"And Judas will approach him" - this is the moment when we can no longer hide. Our story, which is in the public domain, is open to all, first and foremost visible to us. He demands from us that we have not yet done. This visibility by the other opens for us our soul openings - our eyes which serve as windows to our soul according to the reception. When we 'look' we also become 'seeing'. This is the moment when the other's speech breaks through the windows of our souls, giving rise to tears of days, years and decades. Tears that serve as a kind of pure hope for the soul.

The "enlightened eyes" teach us "that the Torah is eternal in every person and at all times, but what a teaching is there". This Sabbath, this affair, asks us as individuals, as a family, as a witness, as a people, and as a state, to approach one another, to reflect to each other the truths with which we live and to tell many of our formative stories to one another.

Sabbath We are called to cry and be revealed together as brothers and sisters, and ask "Is my father alive?" / Does Our Vision Live? And out of visibility and vision to embark on a new endeavor.

Shabbat Shalom.

Rabbi Dr. R. Mimi Feigelson is a spiritual influencer at the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary and a senior lecturer in Hasidism and Talmud.