Miketz, מִקֵּץ. "At the End" Genesis 41:1-44:17

Miketz and Miracles

Poetic notes on the parashat Miketz*

Mashiach unlocks dark prisons

Mashiach lights the menorah of eternal light,

just a little light at first,

that exposes the great darkness of time

Time that fell through Adam's fingers...

flowing into a river of polluted history,

until history became a dark bullet train of time,

shooting toward an end,

carrying Jews in prison cars, boxcars,

ever nearer to the end of the rails

Mashiach unlocks the prison cars

They roll backwards on their tracks,

while the engine of time

speeds on ahead to its end

Pharaoh, the engineer, slept and dreamt

while the high speed train sped on ahead

Through the weight of darkness,

while Pharaoh slept,

the Jews and others in the prison cars

could not feel their loved ones,

could not feel where they were

Pharaoh dreamt of seven fat eons of time,

that looked like seven fattened oxen angels

Then seven lean cross currents of time

arose like flood waves of the Nile,

looking like seven starving oxen angels

And the starving oxen angels

devoured the fattened oxen angels

And Pharaoh awoke

with sweat steaming from his brow

Then he dreamt a second time

Seven healthy imperial economies appeared,

looking like seven tall, divine stalks of corn

Seven diseased, demonic economies appeared,

looking like seven bedevilled stalks of corn

The bedevilled stalks devoured the healthy ones

Pharaoh awoke,

screaming for the train's magicians,

for its soldiers and mechanics,

for all those he trained to lie to him,

to come and save him from the truth

and protect him from the Jews

But none could heal his heart or calm his panic

Then someone said, "There is a Hebrew kid"

"He has a certain way, maybe he can help!"

Pharaoh knew no Hebrew

He didn't know it was the son of Jacob

Pharaoh sent for the Hebrew kid

and they brought him to the Engine

He said, "God has told Pharaoh the truth"

"This train of prison time is coming to an end"

"Go back, and lock yourself in the livestock cars,

in which you have the Jews"

"For Mashiach comes and will unlock those cars

before the engine comes roaring to an end!"

God only knows what Pharaoh actually heard,

but his heart was a little calmer

He said, "Say more!"

So, the Hebrew kid continued,

"Accordingly, let Pharaoh find a man of mercy,

who will guide him to his knees

and teach him to pray the prayer of truth

in the boxcar of the Jews!

In order that he might take hold

of their garments

and they might allow him to go with them,

when their prison car rolls backwards

and comes with Moses down the mountain"

Then Pharaoh moved car by car

toward the prison cars of the Jews

Pharaoh sought the truth with which to pray

He found many truths and enlightenments,

but did he find the truth without spin or any flaw?

He found many kinds of repentance,

with many kinds of tears,

but did he ever find the repentance of the Jews?

When will I speak the complete truth before God?

How broken is my heart

on account of all the evil that's been done,

as I ride upon the train of my lifetime,

speeding toward my end?

Is it only my private heart that is broken?

or is it my human heart that's broken,

the heart I share with every human being?

Once upon a time,

Jacob’s sons were exiled in Canaan,

exiled even in their own promised land,

because they had exiled their brother to Egypt

Now they had gone down themselves to Egypt

And found themselves accused of espionage

Go back and return with Benjamin,

Egypt’s viceroy said,

If you can prove that you are innocent

But who in truth was speaking?

The God of their fathers ruled over all of this

How could they make it right,

what they had done to the firstborn son of Rachel?

What’s at the heart of the repentance of the Jews?

Could Pharaoh ever learn?

Could the workers on his train ever know?

Pharaoh began by knocking on the boxcar door,

to see if they would let him in

Joseph came to the boxcar door

Reuben held the light

Pharaoh waited thinking

Maybe this way he could be forgiven

Maybe this way, one day

He could stand and light a candle with Mashiach

on the Festival of Lights

*Being a meditation on a Torah class on Chanukah, delivered by Rabbi Baitelman of ChaBaD Richmond, B.C., based on materials from, Torah Studies, by Rohr Jewish Learning Institute. Neither Rabbi Baitelman nor the JLI have reviewed or approved of the content of this post. Also based on Likutey Moharan 1 #112 and upon an article on chabad.org entitled, The Repentance Litmus Test, by Mendel Kalmenson.