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This week's Torah portion, Mikeitz,1 contains the story of the liberation of Joseph from prison and his ascent to the position of viceroy over the Egyptian empire. Joseph's imprisonment turned out to be a test of his conviction, and, when he conducted himself according to G-d's will in the midst of his suffering, the test enabled him to reach a higher level than before, catapulting him to the second most powerful position on earth. As the Torah leader of his generation, however, Joseph's ascent should also have been an ascent for the world. Yet it does not appear that way, as only he rose to a level of leadership, and--after his death--conditions steadily worsened for the Jewish people until they were fully enslaved by a new Pharaoh. A deeper look, however, reveals that the world was in fact elevated.
When the famine predicted by Joseph struck, "the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread. So Pharaoh said to all of Egypt, 'Go to Joseph. Whatever he says to you, you should do'."2 Rashi explains that the superfluous words "to you" allude to the fact that Joseph ordered the Egyptian men to do something to themselves, namely, to circumcise themselves before he would give them any grain.3
Several commentators have attempted to explain this seemingly bizarre behavior of Joseph, in ordering gentiles to perform a mitzvah that is not part of the Seven Laws of Noah,4 suggesting that he was trying to make the environment more comfortable for the Jews who were to settle in Egypt later5 or, alternatively, that he was trying to improve the behavior of the Egyptians in order to lessen the severity of the famine.6
But why, then, did Joseph also demand of the Egyptians that they "forsake idol worship" and declare, "Blessed be G-d Who gives food to all flesh!"7 Apparently Joseph wanted to uplift the Egyptians not just for his self-interest in preserving his own people, but also to please G-d, for G-d's Divine Presence does not rest where idolatry prevails.
Thus, G-d Himself is, so to speak, exiled from this world until idol worship is banished. In recognition of this, Adam, upon being created, "called to the entire creation, 'Come, let us prostrate ourselves and bow down; let us bend the knee before the L-rd, our Maker,' crowning Him as King of the world at large."8 Adam himself was not, however, prepared to carry out this mission, and the world descended into darkness.
Avraham also attempted to imbue the world with Torah, as the Zohar states: "From every nation and tongue they brought their children to Avraham, and they said to him, "Guide our children in your ways."9 But the world was not ready, and his initial successes were lost.10
In Joseph's time as well, the gentile world was not ready to receive the full message of the Torah. Thus, the prosperity of G-d's people was short-lived, and the Egyptians came to physically prevent Jews from performing Torah mitzvoth,11 making the task of teaching Torah to the world-at-large impossible.
Six centuries later, at the dedication of the First Temple, King Solomon lit ten menorahs12 with seven lights each, in an attempt to bring all seventy nations in existence at the time into G-d's kingdom,13 and then prayed that "all the peoples of the earth shall know that the L-rd is G-d, there is no other."14 It is explained in Jewish mysticism that this level of knowledge of the unity of G-d, expressed as "there is no other," as opposed to the alternative expression found in Torah of "there is no other besides G-d," requires the study of Torah mysticism to attain. Thus, King Solomon was praying for gentiles to reach the level where they could properly receive the deepest insights of Torah.
The world was not, however, so refined and, while King Solomon's opening of the Temple to gentile visitors had a dramatic influence on the world, the gentile nations were not able to receive the full message of the Torah and instead took only pieces of the Torah to form new religions. Thus, during the four centuries that King Solomon's Temple stood, the major religions and belief systems of nearly three billion gentiles today--including Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, and Hellenistic philosophy--sprung up.15 The other three billion gentiles have inherited Christianity and Islam, which directly credit Moses and the Jews with receiving the word of G-d. Thus most of the six billion people in the world have now incorporated some Torah into their lives, but not its full message. The tool for correcting the situation until now was to refine the gentile nations indirectly through the Jewish performance of "personal" mitzvoth--such as prayer, charity, Torah study and the like--which could be done even in the darkened depths of exile. The Alter Rebbe16 explained that the active performance of mitzvoth "'is man's entire purpose,' the purpose for which he was created and for which [his soul] descended to this world, so that G-d may have an abode precisely in the lowest realms, to turn the darkness into light so that G-d's glory fills specifically the entire physical world and 'all flesh will behold [G-dliness] together'."17 To implement the mystical refinement of the creation, including the souls of all gentiles, the Alter Rebbe directed his followers to pray at length (well beyond the Torah requirement) and to focus on internal self-refinement, since at that time there was no direct way to influence gentiles.
That was then. As the Lubavitcher Rebbe has explained, "[T]he role of the entire Jewish people and the cosmic reason for their dispersion throughout the world is associated with the process of 'tziruf,' refinement. Nevertheless, in the present era, this function has been completed. To borrow an expression of the previous Rebbe's, 'We have already polished the buttons,' and completed the task of refining the world...."18
Thus, the personal observance of Mitzvoth by Jews has succeeded in refining gentiles to the point that they can now receive the entire message of Torah and all commandments relating to them, fully abandoning all other religious beliefs and practices19. The Rebbe, like Joseph, therefore initiated a campaign of direct influence on gentiles, declaring, "'All that G-d created in this world, He created only for His own glory,' (to proclaim His glory to the world). 'To make the world an abode for G-d' is the duty of every Jew, and as we say at the beginning of the prayers: 'Offer praise to the L-rd, proclaim His Name; make His deeds known among the nations....' [We must] make His Kingship known in all the world, and pray to G-d, 'Reign over the entire world in Your Glory.' The end purpose of Creation is that (not only we Jews, but also) the whole world, all mankind, all children of Adam, the first man, indeed, the whole of Creation, nature itself, should acknowledge that the Creator of the world is the 'King of all the earth'."20
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1The Torah portion read publicly this coming Shabbos/Sabbath at synagogues throughout the world, according to the established Torah reading cycle, is called "Mikeitz," meaning "at the end," for the story of Joseph begins in this portion "at the end" of the passing of two years after the beginning of his imprisonment and his interpretation of the dreams of his fellow prisoners.
2Bereishis/Genesis 41:55.
3Rashi, the eleventh-century Jewish leader and Bible commentator, comments on the fact that the always succinct Torah could have just said, "Whatever he says, you should do." Rashi on Bereishis 41:55 citing Bereishis Rabbah 91:5; Matnos to Bereishis Rabbah 91:5.
4The Torah laws that are to be followed by all gentiles. Those who do observe them do not convert to Judaism but, rather, become observant "Noachides." Rambam, however, does rule that Ishmaelites of today must have circumcisions on the eighth day because they have become intermingled with Keturites, descendants of Abraham who are required to have timely circumcisions. Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Melachim Milcamoteihem, 10:8.
5Iyunim BaMikra and Eitz Yosef on Bereishis Rabbah
6Tiferes Yehonasan
7Midrash HaGadol, 41:25
8Sicha/public address of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, First Night of Sukkot, 5747
9Zohar 1:177b
10See, for example, Yalkut Shimoni, Vayeira 82: "None of the slaves who were circumcised with the Patriarch Abraham or their offspring endured in Israel."
11Commandments
12Candelabras
13I Kings 7:49
14I Kings 8:60
15Durant, Our Oriental Heritage, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1954
16Founder of Chabad Chassidut, also known as the Lubavitch movement
17Tanya, Ch. 37, quoting Yeshayahu 40:5
18Sichos in English, Shabbos Parshas Vayeishev, 5752, vol. 51, p. 17
19As required by the Torah; Hilchot Melachim, Op cit., 10:9
20Letter to B'nai Yisrael (Children of Israel), Chai (18th of) Elul, 5746, printed in Sichos in English, vol. 32, pp. 154-155