Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar

We are all Jacob, we are all Joseph, trying to live in the truth and splendor of who we are. Yearning to forgive, to be forgiven. To come to our final moments with the sense of having lived with purpose.

The story of Joseph is the story of heroism, forgiveness, and redemption. His story is not about victimization and defeat. Joseph is a dreamer, a visionary, a wise man, and no amount of evil intent has stifled that within him. His dreams are premonitions and become reality. He becomes a ruler of the land and navigates through a seven-year famine. And he uses his position of power not for revenge or vengeance but rather to enact lifesaving agricultural reforms that save Egypt.

Some say our dreams are born of fears and hopes, of an agitated soul. Others reply that they are visions of what can be, or premonitions of what will most certainly be. Maybe our dreams are channeled energy -- energy that works its way through the mind and spirit, pulling the curtain back just a bit to reveal a Divine truth - a truth that is hidden by the waking mind. The waking mind must be trained not to forget and not to deny the night visions that come to visit.

The story of Joseph is the story of a solitary man, driven, visioning, dreaming, ambitious, misunderstood, and the object of much disdain. It is the story of heroic and tenacious leadership. Many a contemporary leader can relate. Leadership by its very nature is a tug of war between one's desire to actualize a sense of destiny and striving to meet the immediate needs of others. Leaders feel that they are uniquely called upon to achieve something important. To be driven by dream and possibility is lonely work.

The first word for fear is also the word for awe. As we gaze upon the mystery of the heavens, the boundary between awe and fear is ever so slight. We are awe struck by the vast unknown of God, and we are aware of our own smallness. We are afraid of our vulnerability at the same time we are in awe of the grandeur and the blessings that abound.