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Topics in this digest: Miketz
5764
Rabbi Dr.
Barry Leff
What are the characteristics one looks for in a leader?
This week’s Torah portion tells us that Pharaoh chose Joseph because
ain navon v’chakham k’mokha, there is none as understanding and wise
as you are.
Translating this phrase is actually somewhat difficult.
Navon is from the Hebrew word
binah, which implies a kind of
understanding we get through analysis. Binah
is related to the word bein,
which means “between.” The understanding we achieve
by seeing the differences between one thing and another, or one approach
and another.
Chakham is from the word
chokhma, which is generally
translated as “wisdom.” It’s a more organic form of knowledge.
Binah is what we in the Western world would characterize as
intellectual analysis, processing facts. An activity of the brain.
Chokhma, wisdom, is something we would characterize as being of the heart,
perhaps more emotional than analytical. Those of you who have
studied Kabbalah might know that the mystics associate these traits with
different organs, but that’s a detour we won’t get into this morning.
We live in a world that places a premium on binah.
The intellectual approach to things is the one that we value. Hard
sciences like physics and biochemistry are considered more important than
“soft sciences” like psychology and sociology that explore realms more
difficult to understand through rational interpretation.
Binah seems to be something we can train, develop, educate.
Classes can add to our warehouse of facts and our ability to analyze them.
But chokhma, raw wisdom, seems to be beyond training. It’s something
we seem to be born with, or not. As is related in the Tanakh (II
Chronicles 9:23) “And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of
Solomon, to hear his wisdom, that God had put in his heart.”
Binah is analytical. Chokhma is intuitive. We
tend to place a premium on analysis. I’m as guilty of this as the
next person. Maybe more guilty than the next person. I have
not infrequently used complicated spreadsheets to help make important
decisions. What job should I take? Make a spreadsheet, and
give ratings to everything from the weather to the paycheck. If you
observe that the weather and cost of housing might not be equally
important, that’s an easy problem to solve—give a weighting to each item,
until you can boil each option down to a number, compare the totals, and
presto—pick the one with the highest score.
One problem with analyzing our decisions is that our
analysis can turn out to be faulty—either because of a flaw in our logic,
or because of unconscious bias. Sometimes our analysis can turn out
to be nothing more than intellectual window dressing on a decision that’s
already been made on an emotional level. The Talmud, tractate
Sanhedrin, brings an explanation of how King Solomon was led to sin
because of excessive analysis. The rabbis of the Talmudic days were
quick to spot discrepancies in our holy texts. One glaring
discrepancy they noted was that there is a commandment that kings should
not have too many wives or too many horses. They then look at Shlomo
Hamelech, King Solomon, who tradition holds was the wisest of kings, and
note that according to the Book of Kings he had 700 wives and 300
concubines. Surely Solomon knew this was forbidden. So how
could he have done it?
The Talmud answers that it’s because Solomon was guilty of
some faulty analysis. The Torah tells us that the prohibition on too
many horses was because they could lead to a return to Egypt to get more
horses, and the prohibition on too many wives was because of a concern
that too many wives would lead the king’s heart astray. Being the
most wise and understanding man on the planet, King Solomon felt it was
impossible that his wives could lead his heart astray, hence this
particular rule applied to other kings, but not to him. Sadly, he
was mistaken—as we find out later, the 700 wives DID in fact lead his
heart astray causing him to sin against God.
Even if your analysis is basically correct, there is a
problem with using analysis for all decisions. To go back to my
example of using spreadsheets to figure out which job to pick, can you
imagine telling Zorba the Greek about this approach? He would
chastise me with one of my favorite lines from the movie: “No, you think
too much, that is your trouble. Clever people and grocers, they weigh
everything.”
The great rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said a similar
thing. Heschel said that we make little decisions through analysis;
but important decisions are made by the heart.
But perhaps Zorba and Rabbi Heschel don’t give analysis
quite its due credit, and that, I believe, is a message we can take from
this week’s Torah portion. In the debate between analysis and
intuition, both are essential.
When Pharaoh called Joseph a man of both intuition and
analysis, he wasn’t saying that randomly. Pharaoh had two dreams
that defied explanation. Skinny cows eating fat cows, and remaining
skinny. Skinny ears of corn consuming fat ears of corn, and
remaining skinny. The dream defied classical analysis.
Pharoah’s geniuses were stumped. Such a thing, fat cows being
consumed by skinny cows, who remained skinny, seems contrary to science.
We all know that if you eat too much you get fat.
What made Joseph unique in his ability to interpret the
dream was he had a flash of chokhma, of wisdom, of intuition. He
“knew” that the fat cows represented years of plenty, and the skinny cows
represented years of famine. Joseph’s understanding did not come
from careful analysis—which is why when Pharaoh told Joseph “I’ve heard
you can interpret dreams,” Joseph answered “It is not in me; God will give
Pharaoh a favorable answer.” The answer didn’t come from Joseph
thinking about the situation and figuring it out. It came from a
flash of insight—a gift from God.
But after that flash of insight, Joseph gives Pharaoh some
sound advice—from his analysis of the situation. He tells Pharaoh
that he should appoint officers in the land, take up a fifth of the output
during the seven good years store the output in the cities, and save it up
for the seven bad years which are surely coming.
Joseph’s advice was not part of the intuition, the flash of
insight that came from God. Joseph’s advice was the result of his
analysis of the situation.
What made Joseph the right man to be put in charge was not
JUST that he had flashes of intuition, as evidenced by his interpreting
dreams, and its not JUST that he had good analytical skills, as
demonstrated by his ability to figure out what to do. It’s that he
had both. .
The kabbahlists, the mystics, envision binah (analysis) as
the channels that direct chockhma (wisdom). Binah and
Chokhma—analysis and intuition together—lead to true knowledge, which is
called Da’at.
The best decisions don’t come from the heart alone and they
don’t come from the brain alone. They come from the heart and the
brain working together.
Shabbat Shalom
It is a great mitzvah to serve God with
great joy, always...R. Nachman of Breslov
Rabbi Barry Leff
Beth Tikvah Congregation
9711 Geal Road
Richmond, BC V7E 1R4
phone: (604) 271-6262
fax: (604) 271-6270
web: www.btikvah.ca
email: rebbarry@yeladim.org
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