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Here we have come to the end of the story of Joseph, and the migration of the Hebrews (descendants of Abraham), the sons of Jacob to settle in the land of Egypt. One could say that the stage was set for the nation of Israel to emerge.
Everything is ready for the climactic scene, beginning with the birth of the nation, to the climax at Sinai. Thus, the story of Genesis has truly ended. From the very birth of the cosmos, to the placement of the children of Israel in Egypt. Which will soon result in the birth (creation) of the nation of Israel, the crown, the goal of the Creation itself.
n47:28]
Nor do we content ourselves with the guarantees and promises written in the holy books that the redemption will eventually come. After praying for the redemption in the morning prayers, we do so again in the afternoon prayers, and yet again in the evening prayers. We approach G‑d every day, many times a day, to plead and clamor: Take us out of Egypt!
Q ‘Take us out of Egylt’ and into… where?
The Priestly nation
Do you not yet realise that our greatest strength was the distributed nature of our evolution. It was constantly fed by the mysteries and energies of all the cultures in which we nurtured. When one of our hosts turned against us, we had other lands to flee to and continue our journey.
The constant desire to manifest our destiny in a material fashion will be our downfall. The need to have a land in which we base ourselves, or a temple of brick and mortar upon which our very spirit rests, is a recipe for extinction. That has been the Achilles heel of all the dead and passed cultures.
We have to be like the Levites who owned no land, and were distributed in the Kingdom to serve everyone in every place in the land. The Temple we will create, the one in which the Shekhinah will rest, is a spiritual Temple, not a physical one. It just sits upon the Earth, but is not apparent except to the eyes that can see it. It will be like Avalon, hidden in the mists of the confused, but clear to the eyes of the pure.
n48:1]
Abraham requested old age, pleading before G‑d: “Master of the Universe! When a man and his son enter a town, none know whom to honor.” Said G‑d to him: “By your life, you have asked a proper thing, and it will commence with you.” Thus, from the beginning of the Book aging is not mentioned, but when Abraham came, old age was granted to him, as is written: “And Abraham was old and come along in days” (Genesis 24:1).
Isaac asked for affliction, pleading thus: “Master of the Universe! When a man dies without affliction, Judgment threatens him; but if You afflict him, Judgment would not threaten him.” Said G‑d to him: “By your life, you have asked well, and it will commence with you.” Thus affliction is not mentioned from the beginning of the Book until Isaac, as is written: “It came to pass that when Isaac was old, his eyes were dimmed” (ibid. 27:1).
Jacob requested illness, saying to Him: “Master of the Universe! A man dies without previous illness, and does not settle his affairs with his children; but if he were two or three days ill, he would settle his affairs with his children.” Said G‑d to him: “By your life, you have asked well, and it will commence with you.” Thus it is written: “It was said to Joseph: Behold, your father is ill.”
His sons answered him: “‘Hear O Israel, the L‑rd our G‑d, the L‑rd is One.’ Just as there is only One in your heart, so is there in our heart only One.”
At that moment our father Jacob exclaimed, “Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever.”
Said the rabbis: How shall we act? Shall we recite it (the verse “Blessed be . . .” after the Shema)? But our teacher Moses did not say it. Shall we not say it? But Jacob said it. Hence, they enacted that it should be recited quietly.
The tribe of Levi did not receive a province in the Holy Land (like the other tribes)—only cities scattered throughout the land. And all the paupers, scribes and schoolteachers of Israel, who are scattered about the land, are of the tribe of Simeon.