Unifying All the Parts of Ourselves

This week’s Torah portion is Vayechi, which means, and he lived. Jacob and his family are living in Egypt. He is nearly blind and near death. He calls his son Joseph to ask him to bury him in Canaan, in Eretz Israel. He then adopts Joseph’s sons, Menashe and Ephraim, adding them to the tribes of Israel, and blesses them. Later, on his deathbed, he assembles his family and chooses a leader, and then dies. At the end of the portion, Joseph, having assured his brothers of his complete forgiveness, also dies.

The Torah tells us that something strange occurred when Jacob blessed his grandsons. It says, “Joseph took the two of them, Ephraim with his right hand to Israel’s left and Menashe with his left hand to Israel’s right and he drew close to him But Israel extended his right hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger and his left hand on Menashe’s head. He moved his hands with intelligence for Menashe was the firstborn. ” (Gen. 48:13-14) Joseph objects but Jacob makes a prediction that Ephraim will become greater than Menashe. Then he blesses the boys, “by you shall Israel bless, saying, May God make you like Ephraim and like Menashe.” (48:20)

There is a long tradition in Judaism that the right hand symbolizes the yetzer hatov, the good impulse, and the left hand symbolizes the yetzer hara.{And we found out a few years ago when we took a trip to the Metropolitan Museum, that this episode of Jacob blessing his grandsons was portrayed in a renaissance tapestry as a symbol of the cross!} In the Talmud the “rabbis taught, always let the left hand thrust away and the right hand draw near.”(Sotah 47a) We can see that there was a deep chasm between the right and left, the good and evil impulses, at the time of the Talmud. However in the Torah, in Deuteronomy, there is another tradition: “Serve God with all your hearts.” The Chassidic masters aligned themselves with the principle of unifying the two parts of ourselves.

Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk wrote, “Ideally, we must serve God with both inclinations.”(P140) My teacher, Rabbi Gelberman, who came out of the Chasidic Satmar lineage taught that if you cut off the evil inclination, “you end up with a one-armed man.”(Personal communication) Rabbi Gelberman had a PhD in psychology. He was a therapist as well as a rabbi. Surely he had read the teachings of Carl Jung, who dreamed about a figure he called the Shadow, describing the Shadow as, “the dark side of his being.” (P. 235, Memories, Dreams and Reflections) Jung came to believe in the necessity of the unification of the conscious and unconscious, as well as the good self and the shadow self; that there is energy in the shadow which is creative and also necessary for our growth; and that the solution to the conflict between these opposites “is felt as grace.” How does this relate to Menashe and Ephraim?

Jung’s teaching about grace is echoed by Rabbi Gunther Plaut, who wrote that, “Every blessing bestowed by a person is at the core a prayer, since it asks God to help accomplish what the person by oneself cannot. (P. 305). This acknowledges God’s presence in every human interaction. Jung felt the goodness and rightness of that harmony which is representative of God’s Oneness. This relates in another way as well. The Rebbe of Zolitz (Soul of the Torah, P. 78) said that “Jacob noticed that although he promised the younger one greatness, Ephraim did not become arrogant and Menashe did not become jealous.” There is a long tradition that Menashe and Ephraim were the first Jewish brothers who got along well, which explains why they so deserved the blessing that all children become like them.

This also teaches us a more modern approach, a more psychological approach to working with ourselves to move forward in this New Year. First, we can look for and seek out parts of ourselves that we are ashamed of and don’t really approve of; parts we may have locked away, not wanting to deal with them; parts that we hope won’t pop out unexpectedly. We can work toward accepting those parts of us that are less than charming, and even love them. Then we can use the energy and creativity in those shadow parts of ourselves, harmonizing our acceptable and less acceptable selves to make inner peace, as it is said in the Song of Songs, let his left hand be under my head and his right hand embrace me. (SOS 2:6 & 8:3)

If we think about it, this inner conflict is also a metaphor for the parts of the human family we don’t find acceptable, and who we have to accept and love before the Messianic age of peace can arrive. Unless we become whole and at peace with ourselves, inwardly and outwardly, there is no grace, no blessing. Another detail: when Jacob stretched his right hand over to Ephraim and his left to Menashe, the left hand was on top! When we can be as happy and proud of all our energies, then we will be complete, whole, and capable of great goodness, even holiness. In this New Year, may we come to gently harmonize and accept our total selves: loving each part of us, integrating all parts into a contented whole, so that we may serve life: humanity and God, with all our energies, all our hearts.