{"id":39879,"date":"2018-09-12T20:46:40","date_gmt":"2018-09-12T17:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=39879"},"modified":"2022-04-05T18:06:19","modified_gmt":"2022-04-05T15:06:19","slug":"i-am-joseph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/i-am-joseph\/","title":{"rendered":"I Am Joseph!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cIt was God who brought me here,\u201d Joseph proclaims to his brothers. Sounds like some Monday-morning quarterbacking! In hindsight, Joseph can see that had his brothers been kinder, had they not reacted to his smart-alecky smugness with unspeakable cruelty, abandoning him and selling him into slavery, he \u00a0may not have ended up as the wealthy second-in-command to Pharaoh. Only because he can look back at his traumatic past from a position of power and privilege can Joseph see that it all turned out for the best.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet despite his success, in the two chapters just preceding this one, it is clear that Joseph still feels the pain of his brothers\u2019 treachery. He tricks them, he ties Simeon up, he demands they deliver Benjamin to him. These are not the actions of someone who has forgiven past betrayals, or who has completely overcome past traumas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Being thrown into a ditch by your brothers and sold into slavery, can certainly be viewed as trauma. And, like anyone who has suffered a traumatic experience, Joseph\u2019s healing does not follow a straightforward path. One day he can see the silver lining in the cloud, and the next he can once again see only the cloud. <\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps that is why the moment that Joseph declares \u201c<\/span>I am Joseph<\/i><\/b>\u201d is so powerful. The drama stems from the obvious physical revelation: Joseph\u2019s brothers do not recognize in the powerful prince the brother they last saw lying bloodied in a pit. But Joseph\u2019s words also speak to emotional processes: \u201cI am Joseph! Despite the changes, I am actually the same person you knew way back when. I am still that same smug, arrogant, shining Joseph. Yet I have also changed. I have undergone suffering and trauma, I have risen above it, I have healed; and I also carry the suffering with me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Joseph\u2019s self-revelatory cry reminds us that retaining our identity, retaining our values and our perspective on the world, holding on to our sense of self, even when it is severely challenged in the aftermath of crisis, is simultaneously the most difficult aspect of post-traumatic processing, and also the one most necessary to enable healing. Perhaps it is to that place of balance between holding on to his identity, while recognizing that he has changed, that Joseph is referring to when he says, \u201cI am Joseph- and God has brought me here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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