What's Perfect Faith? How Much is Too Much Effort? Kabbalah & Jewish Philosophy

Joseph, Yosef, was stuck in prison and he interpreted dreams for the two stewards. The people one of them was the baker, the king's baker, Pharaoh's baker, and the other one was in charge of Pharaoh's wine. They both did something wrong, they were both put in jail, and Joseph comes and tells them that one is going to die and one is going to live. So Joseph is standing in front of this person and he's reasoning to himself, this person is about to go back to his job in a few days. His job was to serve Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. The person in charge of everything, all of the the court system. He he's the he's the real boss. So he figures this is a very nice opportunity. Perhaps even God ordained this whole situation so that this person can be the vehicle through which I'm saved. I'm an innocent man in jail for 10 years now. So he decides to tell this person I'm an innocent man. I'm here and please, when you go in front of the king of Egypt, remember me. Remember me and the good the kindness I showed you when I helped you and please mention to him that there's an innocent man stuck in prison. And he says it twice. He says, "Mention me and remember me." He he he he does does it does it does it like a repeated language there in his in his request. And then the story jumps forward 2 years. And we find out 2 years later Pharaoh has a dream. And the big question is, what's 2 years? 2 years for what? What are we counting 2 years from? And so the idea is we're counting 2 years from this episode with the person in charge of the king's wine. And the rabbis, of course, having a level of perception that is truly a gift from God, were able to understand that really when Yosef asked twice or mentioned this the double expression of remembering and and and and him, so he he made some kind of a I don't want to call it a mistake, certainly not at this point in the discussion, but what he did resulted in God saying that Joseph, you're going to stay in prison now for 2 more years. And the 2 years that we mentioned in Meqates is a reflection of that. That 2 years from the time that you asked for help, now power has a dream, and now you are mentioned and saved. And we're taught that really it was decreed upon Joseph to stay in jail for 10 years. And he was going to go out. However, since he kind of got involved in the in his story, so to speak, so he he was punished and remained in jail for 2 more years. Now, I'd like to ask anyone here, to be honest, we're in the question stage, and I I I like to always say honest questions are always okay. So, we're allowed to say this story doesn't make any sense to us. You're not saying it doesn't make any sense. You're saying we don't see yet the sense in it. So, you're not insulting the story. But, does this story make any sense to anybody here? Does it make Do you see any reason why a person should be punished for 2 years in jail for telling a person that he logically saw that was going to be in the right place at the right time to help him get out? And asking it once, twice, even 100 times. I mean, how many times do we ask a co-worker or a friend or a connection? You know, it's all about It's not what you know, it's who you know. How many times do we make that phone call and the or the reminding email? Did you Did you do that for me? Did you ask cuz we want a friend to get us a job, to get us something. We're We're always turning to the people around us for help. There's in fact a verse that says that King David himself says, "May God be among my helpers." What do you mean, "May God be among your helpers?" If you have God, what do you need a helper for? The answer is God helps you through the helpers. There's a certain amount of responsibility we have to make an effort to help ourselves. As the famous saying goes, I don't know if it's a Torah expression, but God helps those that help themselves. And it sounds very true and very logical. If you don't help yourself, what what are you expecting Hashem to do for you? Help yourself, and Hashem will also help. And this is the verse, God is I want God to be among my helpers. What what essentially I think King David is saying is that if if God is behind my helper, if he's with my helper, then there'll be success. If God is not with my helper, then all the help in the world won't be a success. But still we see that we need that helper. So what was Joseph's flaw? What was wrong over here when Joseph asked this this the minister of of the wine to help help. Wasn't he just fulfilling that idea that King David is saying that God should be among my helpers? So this person is sent by God to help me, so I'm asking him for help. So it should be beautiful. He should have gotten out. Why is he staying there for 2 more years? We believe, hopefully, that God is partners with us in our lives. That God is with us in our daily life. We do things and we know that alone we will never succeed, but as we said from the verse from King David, but if God is among my helpers and and if God supports my efforts, the success will really be cuz Hashem blesses my actions to be successful. So it's really like a partnership. Together, God and me make the life and the success I experience. And that's acceptable. But that's for me. Now, like let's let's take the analogy of driving on the road. Imagine I'm driving on the road. So I know that if I don't get in the driver's seat and drive and move the steering wheel and press put my foot on the gas and brakes, of course, don't forget the other one, I'm not going to go anywhere. So I have to drive. But at the same time, I know that with all my driving I can't go anywhere without Hashem. So I know that God is helping me while I help myself. That's the standard approach in life. And and that's that's perfect for me. It may be for all of us here. And that means we must make our effort. And and and as many times as we feel we need would maybe be acceptable, each person on their own level. Imagine now I'm sitting in the same car and I I can I cannot see with my own eyes cuz God doesn't take physical form, but I I can see with the eyes of my mind and I can feel with all the bones in my body that God is right there in the car with me and he's he's he's putting his foot on the pedal so to speak and he's turning the wheel. So imagine I'm in a car now where I I see clearly that God is the driver. Of course this is a muscle for my life. I Imagine I was able to see we were able to see in our lives that God is actually driving which is a big kiddish. It's It's a this is a novel approach. It's not a normal approach. But imagine I have that clarity that much clarity that God is the driver. It's not so crazy but it says you know what? In the In heaven the angels see that God is the driver. That's why they're angels. Imagine we could reach the level of clarity they have to see that just like in heaven God is the driver so too on earth he's the driver. Imagine we reach that level. Maybe it's possible. According to the Meforshim it is. Joseph reached that level. So Joseph's in this world and he he sees 100% that God's the driver. So imagine now God's driving and he's making a turn and I'm like not so happy with that turn or I'm anxious to see that turn go better and I reach my hand and I and I and I and I try to help HASHEM TURN THE WHEEL. I'M helping God drive? Shame on you. Helping Hashem drive? He doesn't need my help. No. So now we can appreciate Joseph Yosef Hatzadik the ultimate believer, the greatest believer and truster in God that ever lived. The sages go so far as to say when it says in Tehillim "Fortune is the person that puts his trust in God." That verse was written for Joseph Yosef Hatzadik. The ultimate believer. It's from his ultimate level of of of belief and trust in God that we can appreciate. Since he was punished for this we must we must admit that there was no one else in the world that had enough trust and faith in God than him. And that's why he was punished on this level because of he cuz cuz in his world in his life God was literally driving and he got involved and he tried to you know help God too much drive. That's the idea. And so we can actually use this as a a very empowering helping us to build our trust and even if we can't see it and feel it like he did, we could try to believe it. God is driving. We have to just accept and enjoy the ride and realize what he wants us to do as part of it. He lets us get involved. What does he need and want from me in this in this journey? Now, we can take God where we want to take him and he'll follow us. He says that. He says that in different places. We should know God in all of our ways. We point out that we're talking about my way. Says the path you want to choose, God will go with you down that path. So, there is a lower level and God will oblige us and he will he won't abandon us cuz we we went in the wrong way. He'll come with us. But, imagine if we could reach the point to realize instead of taking God where I want to take him or I want to go, maybe I'll try to go where he wants to take me. Imagine. That's what we see in the story. Now, I want to say all this in a bit more deeper terminology using more Kabbalistic ideas and then we'll conclude. Essentially, this idea is expressed like this. God, we know that God has many names. Right? He's not confused. He just has so many different ways of expressing himself. We're confused sometimes maybe cuz it's hard to mix make make it all get a clear vision of all of these these expressions, but the fact that God has many names tells us that God expresses himself in many ways. One of the main names is Elohim. Elokainu, that that's that's the idea that that word represents concealment when God is hidden. And really nature, the the same numerical value of nature is the same numerical value of Elokim. So, nature hides God. But, does that mean God is is gone? No, God is here through nature. God works through nature, but it's still the same powerful all powerful God. Interesting in English by the way. I don't know if you could do gematrias in English, but you could certainly do this, right? If you take the phrase God is nowhere, God is nowhere. And you just shift a letter this way, that same phrase spells God is now here. Now, I thought that was an unbelievable hidush. I thought that, you know, I thought I was a prophet. God is sending me hidushim. Of course, in English cuz at the time I only knew English, I think, but and then I found out that I'm not the only prophet or none of us are prophets, but we can all have these insightful thoughts cuz I Googled it and found out that I'm not the first person to come up with that that hidush. But anyway, it's a hidush nonetheless. God is nowhere becomes God is now here if we just shift our perspective, and that's nature. The fact that the numerical value of nature matches with the name of God that's Elohim tells us that really God is here. He created in a way that it appears as if he's nowhere, but he's really here. And it's our job to look through the surface and get to the the depth of what's going on and feel and see God in the world and in our lives. The hidden God. That's an amazing thing. To to see and and and and feel the hidden God in this world, that's an accomplishment. And that's why he's hiding. He's playing hide-and-seek. It's a hide-and-seek game. God is hiding, and he really wants us to find him. The whole reason why he's hiding is because we're supposed to find him. Now, imagine this story can play out in a few ways, and I'm going to go a bit off of the real point, but I think it's a beautiful thought. It could take us a long time to find him, but imagine in the game of hide-and-seek, imagine this kid there is hiding and he's hot and bothered and he's excited cuz he found such a good hiding spot. And he's sitting there and sitting there and no one comes. No one comes. Finally, after a long time, he gets out to see that nobody's even looking for him. So, that's the unfortunate sadness and reality of today. God is hiding. The question is, how many people are actually taking the time to look for him? I don't know how many. That points us to the verse from the first day of creation with Adam after the first sin. God comes to Adam and says, "Where are you?" God knew where Adam was. What he's saying to him was, "Where are you? If you are if you have lost sight of the fact that I'm here, then you're lost. Where are you? I'm here. Where are you?" That's the question. God's here, where are we? Are we trying to be part of his world or have we made a fake illusion of our own for ourselves and we're just stuck in that one. That's that's that's that's the Elohim part. There's another name of God that we see, Yud Kay Vav Kay, the great name of God which is corresponds to past, present, and future all at once. It's also from the the word in Hebrew lahavot, to bring into existence. And it's explained to also correspond to the idea of supernatural miracles. The hanhaga, the way God runs the world through the name of Yud Kay Vav Kay is no limits, totally above nature. For that level of of revelation, nature and above nature is all one. Now, that's the way it's explained that Yosef reached a level by virtue of his great soul to be connected spiritually all the way up to the top. Five levels of the soul, so all five levels were connected to the upper five worlds that exist. Once you're connected that high, then when you look in at at the world, all you see is God. So, on that level where you see Yud Kay Vav Kay with the the name of God that brings the world into existence constantly and that makes miracles. When you see that, when you're living on that level, just sit back and enjoy the ride. Obviously, you'll have tests. You'll have what to do. But certainly, you're not going to start putting your dependence on simple people that they're your salvation. And that's the level he was on and that's why for him he was punished.