More Than Enough (Vayigash 5774)

Having just finished Chanukah the festival that celebrates the miracle of purposeful light -- how we see the world and use our eyes comes to mind. This season also encourages our eyes to grow much bigger than our stomachs. From the food excess of Thanksgiving; to the jelly-donut and latke excess of Chanukah; to the material and shopping excess of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the sales of the season. 

This week’s Torah portion, Vayigash, offers a perspective on our human impulse to seek excess. The patriarch Jacob is told that his favored son Joseph is still alive 22 years after Joseph’s brothers told their father Jacob that Joseph was killed by wild beasts. The brothers continue describing for Jacob that Joseph is now the viceroy of Egypt. Jacob seems to interrupt their revelations exclaiming, in some translations, “It is enough [that] Joseph my son is yet alive.” (Genesis 45:28; see, for example, JPS Translation in “The Soncino Chumash (1983)) 

It is as if Jacob is saying, “This is enough; I don’t need anything more!” Or “It is enough to know that Joseph is alive, I don’t need anything more!” Jacob’s exclamation prompts us to ask when are our eyes ever filled with enough light that we don’t need any more? Or when are our stomachs so full that we don’t turn our eyes to wanting more? 

At this season of Chanukah, which rehearses the story of Jewish culture contending with Hellenic culture, a famous story about Alexander the Great and the Acquisitive Eye comes to mind. The Talmud and Jewish tradition has its own version of the story. 

In the Talmud’s version Alexander is traveling home after conquering the world. Here is my elaboration on that story: Alexander the Great comes to a stream that flows directly from the Garden of Eden. He follows the stream to its source and seeks entry to the Garden. Alexander is denied with a statement that only the righteous can enter. He protests that a king of his stature should not be both rejected and turned away empty-handed. So a little round object is given to him. He puts it in his sack and carries it home. Once home he seeks to determine the worth of the round object. (Based on Tamid 32b)

He puts the round object on one side of a scale and heaps gold and silver on the other side. But this little round object outweighs however much gold and silver Alexander puts on the other side of the scale. An astonished Alexander seeks guidance from the rabbis. They explain that the object is an eyeball, which can never be fully satisfied. 

Then the rabbis suggest Alexander cover the eyeball with a handful of dust. Alexander covers the eyeball with dust and this tips the scale. Unable to see the eyeball weighs nothing. The rabbis explain, “The human eye is never satisfied with what it sees. No matter how much gold and silver you put in front of it, the eye will always want more.” In other words, the greedy ambition of an eye seeks more than we need; our greedy eyes get us into trouble. [Link to Jewish Encyclopedia Version of Alexander and the Acquisitive Eye]

At this season of big eyes and much excess, let the Alexander remind us of our capacity, on occasion, to close our eyes and control our desires. If we have the strength to close our eyes to greedy pursuits may we also have the wisdom to open our eyes to recognize and express gratitude for all the blessings that fill our lives. May we grow to exclaim, as Jacob does, “this is enough; I don’t need anything more.”