Josef by Cedars Of Lebanon - Parshat Vayeshev
Josh Engelson of Cedars of Lebanon gives us an exclusive look into his newest single Josef, and how this week’s Parsha inspired the track.
When Josef is drawn from the dungeon and successfully interprets Pharaoh’s dream, Pharaoh decides to promote Josef from a prisoner to a ‘mishneh lemelech’, second to the king. According to tradition, (Midrash) Pharaoh’s existing minister disapproved, denouncing Josef as a foreigner, lacking in his ability to communicate in their tongue. (Josef went on to prove his linguistic ability by displaying his fluency in seventy languages, surpassing the knowledge of Pharaoh himself.)
Pharaoh responded to his ministers, “gnunei malchut ani ro’ei bo,'' I see the colors of royalty inside of him. You can only imagine the disappointment of a minister who had worked his way to the top, now simply working under a man just brought out of slavery. What is the quality that Pharaoh is describing? What kind of service does it portend? What are these colors he sees? Is Josef a designer or an artist? Ultimately, what does Pharaoh, as a royal king himself, see that he has in common with this particular dungeon slave that would proport/qualify him to be kingly as well?
The clear commonality that can be traced through the narrative between Josef and Pharaoh, is their clear obsession with dreams. Josef begins the Parshah obsessed with his dreams and his unconscious world, that he was willing to put his relationship with his family on the line. It was so important to him that he relate his dreams in which he saw representations of his brothers and parents bowing to him, that he risked espousing jealousy and hatred from his notorious big brothers.
Can you imagine dreaming such dreams? Such vivid and powerful dreams? Giving such credence to your dreams, to the point that you are willing to sacrifice your relationships in the earthly realm on their behalf?
Josef did end up giving up on his dreams at a point, or at least he was dissuaded from them by those he looked up to most. Yet, Josef was still undeniably identified as the dreamer: “Reeh baal hachaloimos bah” “behold, the dream holder is coming,” his brothers proclaimed as they saw him from a distance, devising their own plan to throw him into a pit. These dreams and his identification with them, actuality got him into the pit, sold as a slave, allegedly seduced (unsuccesfully), thrown into prison, and ultimately brought out of prison to become second to king.
Although Josef may have set his dreams aside, he still always held onto them. They brought him down to the deepest pit, but they also lifted him to the highest heights. He could have looked at those dreamers in the jail with disdain and told them to just forget about dreams, don't allow them to bother you. Yet, he remained not only a lover of the dream, but an interpreter (Poter) of them. A quality and skill that you don't see early on in Josef’s youth or narrative about his own dreams.
Perhaps he developed this skill with time and through struggle. But most of all, and whats most praiseworthy considering the circumstances, through his clear and fierce resolve to never detach from the dream.
What is the nature of a dream?
Dreams come in all types of forms, some are soft and peaceful, some are scary and evoke fear, some are happy or pleasurable. But one property of dreams that cannot be denied is their so common paradoxical nature. As the Gemarah mentions, in a dream one can see a an elephant fly through a needle, or one can be transported to a far away land.
In this world, there are dream people and there are surface people. The dream people are motivated by the dream. They are convinced that unlocking the unconscious is the key to all. That the truth is, our only limitation is our subconscious belief in our own limits and the entanglements with the traumas we have learned. That light and darkness, genius and foolishness, rich and poor, are a hairsbreadth away and even live in the same home.
The surface people give no credence to the dream. Science and practicality are the defining metrics. What can be measured is only the empirical. So they live in the reality of hierarchy. They may find their place, but they'll never be on top, there is not enough of a “chance”. There is not enough of the dream. Usually it's the kings that are the dreamers as well as sometimes the dwellers of the dungeon. Not the mediocre in between.
The dream is an unconscious or subconscious event that gives us insight to our true nature. But any work that is relaxed and with the intention of digging deep and realizing that there is nothing stopping us from our own desires except for our approach or relationship with those desires, can be called “dream” work as well.
“Josef’s destiny was not only carved by him being a dreamer, but rather, his path and triumph were primarily wrought by his ability to be a dream interpreter.”
This is what placed Josef beyond pharoh. Not only does Josef have the belief and obsession with the dream, as pharoh does, but he also has the power to ground and interpret the dream.
He was called a Poter chalomot, interpreter of dreams. The word Poter does not only mean an interpreter or solver, but can also translate as weaver.
The Gemara says “every dream goes according to its interpretation,” as the ability to interpret dreams comes from your ability to contain the two opposites. To realize that this world is also a den of paradox and understand, what of the paradox in the dream is worth comparing to the paradoxes in this world, which are momentously so shrouded by method, reason and hierarchy.
Josefs life story then follows the image and property of the dream. He is in a moment lifted from a dungeon above all ministers. This is not sensible to the minister who works for his money and his prestige, but it is the fate of the dreamer who cannot be understood in his toleration of opposites and paradox. The energy you put out is the energy you get. And Josef lived the dream of transporting from bottom to top in the a flash of a moment.
Perhaps Josefs ability to go from a dreamer to a dream interpreter, or weaver of worlds, was spawned by the moments that he gave up on the dream and joined reality. The moments of discouragement and fierce opposition to his dreams.
You see, pharoh could not interpret the dream because he lived the dream. He was the ultimate symbol of freedom (pharo from the word “phria” to open or unfurl) and he lived a dreamlike experience of reality, that is why he relished in the dreams so much, why he was hypersensitive to his dreams, why he wouldnt rest and didnt accept the words of his advisors until he found a sufficient interpretation, as it says (divrei emet makirin) words of truth are recognizable, until Josef came along and laid out the dream like a set table. But he could not interpret the dream, because he was never given the chance to live any other reality than the dream world. To have enough of a grasp on the earthly realm so as to weave the unconscious with the conscious like a beautiful tapestry.
For this he needed Josef who experienced reality in its most brutal relentless form, yet also loved, respected, relished and held on to the dream.
Perhaps this is why Josef is also known and symbolized by his coat of many colors, in the sense that this was his highest attainment, to never give up one reality for another, but to hold and contain them both elegantly, with beauty and confidence.
“Annim zmiros, veshirim e’rog, ki ailecha nafshi taarog.”
“I will sing songs of grace and i will weave music together, for my soul longs for you.”
My new song, Josef, is an encouraging take on re-gaining trust and confidence in life through struggle and challenges. It's modeled after the story of Yosef as an archetypal symbol representing success through challenge.
Cedars of Lebanon was formed in Brooklyn by singer/songwriter Josh Engelson. Josh was born and raised in Los Angeles and trained in folk and rhythmic wordplay.
He began his serious music composition in Brooklyn, inspired by his journey into the studies of hassidic and mystical teachings, as well as hassidic niggunim.
It was there that he formed his band, Cedars of Lebanon.
Where Brooklyn streets meet middle eastern flair. Bridging these two worlds, result in a unique blend of songs that you can vibe to on a sunny day, while, simultaneously feeling a deeper, more magical arena of life.
Listen to Josef Here.
