The four chapters of Genesis 44 to 47 is known by a Hebrew word (“vayigash”) which means “and he drew near”. This is the stand-out word in Genesis 44:18 where it is said that one of Yaakov’s 12 sons, YEHUDAH, took it upon himself to draw near to Yoseph, and speak to him on behalf of their youngest brother, Benyamin, and their elderly father, Yaakov. At this stage, none of the brothers knew that Yoseph, overseer over the house of the Pharao, and governor of the land of Egypt, was in fact their own brother whom they had abandoned before. But Yehudah, clearly taking a LEADING ROLE, already in these early stages of the formation of the Jewish people, drew near to Yoseph, and spoke to him in a way that none of his brothers have ever spoken to him. He reveals to Yoseph the intimate and sensitive relationship between their father and their youngest brother. “If he leaves his father, his father shall die”, he says plainly and in all honestly to Yoseph. And the sense is clear: Yaakov has already “lost” his favourite son, Yoseph. He will not survive the tragedy of losing another son. Yehudah continues to explain the absolute necessity of ensuring that nothing happens to Benyamin. His father’s own soul (“nefesh”) is bound up with the soul of Benyamin, he says at last. These words of Yehudah cut through the soul of Yoseph, and, overwhelmed with emotion and tears, he sent all the bystanders away and revealed his true identity to his brothers.
The word “SOUL” (“nefesh”) appears no less than 10 times in this Parashah of only four chapters – perhaps more than in any of the other 53 Parashot in the Torah. It is therefore no coincidence that we see more human emotion, and more spiritual insight, and more genuine caring in this Parashah than in any of the other Parashot. We know today that “nefesh” or “soul” may simply refer to a person’s life, or his “BEING”, as it is often translated in The Scriptures. But the point is: Life or being, in itself, is much more than the physicality of events and reports and cold facts. The “soul” has to do with the very ESSENCE of life. And this includes human qualities and responses like weeping and empathy and caring and touch and courage and feelings of loss and all kinds of human needs, like protection, secureness, worthiness, being wanted and being loved. Scriptures are saying that it is the “nefesh” that is troubled (Psalm 6:3); it is the “nefesh” that hates the wrong (Psalm 11:5); it is the “nefesh” that has the capacity of receiving counsel (Psalm 13:2); it is the “nefesh” that is brought back to life by the Torah (Psalm 19:7); it is the “nefesh” that may be brought to naught, even while a person is still alive (Psalm 24:4) and it is the “nefesh” that has the capacity of being lifted up and revived by Yahweh, even when it had been humiliated, or trodden down, before (Psalm 25:1). These are just a few of the more than 700 references to the word “nefesh” in the Pre-Messianic Scriptures alone. When Yahweh deals with us, He deals with our soul, and with every single dimension that is related to our soul, many of which are not visible to the human eye – many of which are not recognized at all, by those who have turned their backs upon Yahweh.
The book of PROVERBS is part of the wisdom literature in Scriptures. Not only are these proverbs believed to have originated with SOLOMON, the king of Israel who was blessed with unparalleled wisdom, by Yahweh Himself. It is also a collection reflecting the unique quality that is called the “WISDOM OF YAHWEH”. The kind of wisdom that has nothing to do with IQ, is never a reason for boasting, begins with the fear of Yahweh, and grows with an increased understanding of the teaching (literally: the “torah”) of Yahweh. The Messianic Scriptures reveal that what is wise in the eyes of Yahweh, is often folly in the eyes of men. And what is wise in the eyes of men, is often folly in the eyes of Yahweh. In this book of Proverbs one finds a portrayal of the soul of man that is so profound, that it should not be overlooked. It says, among other things, that people who live in sin and entice others to follow their example, are in a process of AMBUSHING their own souls (Proverbs 1:18). True wisdom is the life source of one’s soul (Proverbs 3:22). The soul cannot survive without the Wisdom of Yahweh. One of the most beautiful assurances of the entire Scripture, comes from Proverbs 10:3: Yahweh does not let the soul of the righteous person go hungry. Proverbs also reveal (in Proverbs 11:17) that the man who shows kindness and mercy to his wife in MARRIAGE, is rewarding his own soul (11:127). Another way of rewarding and guarding one’s own soul, is by watching one’s MOUTH and counting one’s words (Proverbs 13:3). And the book of Proverbs has good advice to all PARENTS: If you do not discipline your child, you are letting go of all hope and expectation with regards to your child, and have set or turned your “nefesh” (your soul) towards the child’s destruction!
The prophet of YESHAYAHU (Isaiah) also helps us in our understanding of the concept of the “nefesh” or the soul. To those who have chosen the paths of Yahweh, he says in Isaiah 26:8, the longing of their soul is for His Name and for His remembrance. These ones have a new desire to honour and to call upon his Name. They have come to recognize that the One who is called Yahweh has DELIVERED THEIR SOULS from the pit of corruption and has cast all their sins behind his back (Isaiah 38:17). They find themselves in a new, everlasting COVENANT with Him, and when they incline their ears to Him, they find their own souls DELIGHTING in his goodness and faithfulness (Isaiah 55:2-3)! And the result is that they cannot keep all of this to themselves. They become aware of those who are hungry and AFFLICTED around them, and their natural inclination is to EXTEND (and to enlarge) their souls towards the ones living in darkness, in an effort to bring light into their lives (Isaiah 58:10). And the ones who are making it their business to enlighten the paths of others, discover a new capacity within their souls: the capacity to simply REJOICE and to EXULT in Yahweh – for all that He had done to them, and despite the bad things that OTHERS had done to them (Isaiah 61:10). This pattern increasingly becomes a reality in their lives, as they find within their souls a daily LONGING for Yahweh (Psalm 33:20). Within their souls there is now less reason to boast about themselves and so much more reason to boast in Yahweh (Psalm 34:2). Something happened within themselves, and this change is described strikingly in Psalm 42:1-2: “As a deer longs for the water streams, so my soul longs for You, O Elohim. My soul thirsts for Elohim. My desire is to enter in and to appear before Elohim.”
The word “nefesh” (soul) is related to another Hebrew word “nafash”, which means “to REFRESH”. This is a clear indication that true refreshment, in the Biblical sense of the word, is not something superficial or artificial. It is about the SOUL – about the innermost being of a person. And it comes as no surprize that in two of the three instances where the word “nafash” is used in Scriptures, it refers to the SHABBAT. The most well known of these being Exodus 31:17: “For in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed (from the word ‘nafash’).” What does this mean? To me, it means that to keep the Shabbat the way the Creator had intended it from the very beginning, is to MAKE ROOM FOR THE SOUL. It is the same as taking time to BREATHE, withdrawing from work, setting aside those things that are not an absolute necessity on the Day of rest. Making room for the soul is taking a BREAK from the materialistic pattern of this world, in order to remain in touch with the ETERNAL PATTERN of our Creator. Someone once said that the reason we keep the Shabbat is because we have recognized the need to take special care of the SEED of eternity, planted in the soul. It is as simple as that. The One who made us, made us as soul-beings. Human beings who can feel and discern and appreciate – even those things that are not visible and audible and tangible. But He didn’t leave us in the dark. He planted within our souls a seed of eternity and He gave us clear guidelines and instructions, as to how to proceed from that seed within our souls, to the TREE OF LIFE, as described in the last chapter of Scriptures, in the vicinity of which there is no more curse, no more lack, no more sickness, no more night. Because Yahweh Elohim will be on his throne, the Lamb, which is the Root and the Offspring of David, will be before the throne, and the servants of Elohim will be around the throne, worshiping Yahweh, with his Name written on their foreheads, seeing Him from face to face. Making room for the soul is what brought them into the presence of the Almighty!
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