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Ultimately “I Am” Shouts “G-d Is”. Mine is But to Acknowledge This.
The verse states, “And Joseph ‘hoorad’ (descended) to Egypt.” Upon which our Sages extrapolate from a play of words, in which “hoorad” is drawn from the etymology of “roideh” and “vayeired”, which mean “rulership” and “subordinating”, that Joseph’s dewcent “hoorad” was one of “rulership” and “subordinating” over Egypt.
The issue which this teaching is that in essence the Sages are saying that “hoorad” was not for the sake of later ascent. They are saying that Joseph’s “hoorad” is “roideh” and “vayeired”! How can this be?
The answer lay in the teaching of our Sages that “An olive, when it is crushed, produces oil.” There is no two separate concepts going on, in which, first let us crush the olive, and then let us bring forth oil from the olive. The crushing is the producing of oil!
However, this does need a deeper explanation. And the deeper explanation is at the very core fundamental teachings of the Alter Rebbe’s core book Tanya:
In order to create a Finite Defined World from an Infinite Light G-d did a Tzimtzum - Contraction of His Infinite Light. G-d reversed the shine of the Infinite Light from shining outward to shining Inward. This produced the Great Circle boundary of Infinite Light, which encircled a Place of Void, in which a Finite ray of Light can be introduced to create within that Place of Void a Finite Realm from Finite Worlds and their Finite Beings.
However: This Tzimtzum did not create a Place of Void in which G-d Himself was not present. That is impossible, for there can never be anything outside of the existence of G-d! The Place of Void is only void of the “infinit-ism” of G-d’s Infinite Light. So ultimately, creation is within G-d Himself!
This will explain yet another teaching: G-d created the world out of the letters of His utterances, of the “And G-d said, ‘Let there be….’” The core teaching is saying that it isn’t that the letters of G-d’s utterances produced a creation below it. Rather, it is saying that the very being-ness of each and every creation is the very letters of G-d’s utterances!
Thus, what we have here is an amazing antithesis of existence! On the one hand, the whole purpose of creation, and its being brought about through a Tzimtzum is in order to create a reality of true Freedom of Choice for us. And Freedom of Choice can only exist is there is a true experience of “I AM!”
However, simultaneously, the truth is that the one and only true being-ness of everything and anything is that it is within the Essence of G-d Himself. More than this, it is not just that our true being-ness is within G-d Himself, and that G-d Himself is within us. Rather, the very being-ness of everything is the letters of the utterances of G-d, as they are within and part-and-parcel of G-d Himself!!
The outcome of this is the antithetical truths of “And Joseph ‘hoorad’ into Egypt,” as a slave, sold to Egypt, while simultaneously this was at the very core of its being-ness G-d Himself having Joseph being his truest self of “roideh” and “vayeired” over Egypt! To the point that as a slave his master Potiphar sees and states that G-d is with Joseph, and all that he does is blessed with success!
This is the reality of each and every one of us. In what truly is an exile, we are truly “rulers and “subordinators” of our exile, for G-d is with us, and all we do is blessed. And it isn’t just us who see this and proclaim this. Rather, it is the exile itself that acknowledges this and proclaims this!
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