Miketz in a Nutshell
Genesis 41:1–44:17
The name of the Parshah, “Miketz,” means “At the end” and it is found in Genesis 41:1.
Joseph’s imprisonment finally ends when Pharaoh dreams of seven fat cows that are swallowed up by seven lean cows, and of seven fat ears of grain swallowed by seven lean ears. Joseph interprets the dreams to mean that seven years of plenty will be followed by seven years of hunger, and advises Pharaoh to store grain during the plentiful years. Pharaoh appoints Joseph governor of Egypt. Joseph marries Asenath, daughter of Potiphar, and they have two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
Famine spreads throughout the region, and food can be obtained only in Egypt. Ten of Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt to purchase grain; the youngest, Benjamin, stays home, for Jacob fears for his safety. Joseph recognizes his brothers, but they do not recognize him; he accuses them of being spies, insists that they bring Benjamin to prove that they are who they say they are, and imprisons Simeon as a hostage. Later, they discover that the money they paid for their provisions has been mysteriously returned to them.
Jacob agrees to send Benjamin only after Judah assumes personal and eternal responsibility for him. This time Joseph receives them kindly, releases Simeon, and invites them to an eventful dinner at his home. But then he plants his silver goblet, purportedly imbued with magic powers, in Benjamin’s sack. When the brothers set out for home the next morning, they are pursued, searched, and arrested when the goblet is discovered. Joseph offers to set them free and retain only Benjamin as his slave.
***
There is sickness amongst the children of Israel in the encampment. Some people aren’t doing very well and others are worse. It seems they can’t stop the disease from spreading. Some people are talking about it and others are just doing the best they can and waiting for leadership to do something to help them. Meanwhile, Moses is busy writing the mythos section of his book of all things and is simply too busy to lend any Egyptian expertise.
1
So Hillel, tell me exactly how this works again?
It’s not really that difficult, Phaedrus. He thinks it’s important that we think of ourselves as a group and therefore what he’s doing is creating a collective mythology.
A collective mythology.
This is what he calls it. So we are running through the section and it’s theoretically about our history.
Our collective history.
That’s right. He’s creating a mythological history for all Jews to use.
I should remind you that I have a place for it if you have to get sick. I’m mentioning it now because the thought of what they are making us listen to and believe in is making me physically ill.
It may be that you are moved by the immorality of our moral leader. But it may also be moved that you’re just moving like the rest of us. Everybody is sick these days and I personally am very sick of being sick.
You and me both brother. I think it’s the smell worse than anything.
Yeah. That’s the thing about a group of people all shitting 30 times a day. It does add up as a resource. A useless resource. And unwanted and poisonous resource. But one that is ridiculously abundant in camp these days. I really wish he would listen to me. I genuinely wish he would listen to me but he never dies.
How does it work? I mean, how do you actually do the process of writing?
Well, right now it’s all kind of intimate. It’s really just the two of us and of course his wives and hangers on. The big money guys, the meat lobby, they are not really into it. In fact, when Moses told them that he was going to write the book of all things to solidify his reign they tried to tell him no. They want people killing and eating their meat as much as possible and they are really not interested in thoughtfulness. In fact, I know for a fact that the big guy actually tried being vegan.
Get out of here. It’s not possible.
It is. He got it when he first tried going EarthBound worker Jew. When he actually had to get dirty, he found that the only job he was really suited for was being a shepherd. He wasn’t worth crap in the fields and he didn’t have a long enough attention span to pay attention to anything that really needed fixing. But he was pretty good at hanging around staring at the animals. He tells me it was really the happiest time of his life when it was just him and the animals and God.
God was his companion when he was lonely.
Listen, we don’t really like him.
Honestly, he’s an affliction to us all.
Look, I’m going to agree generally with this statement. But as someone who is currently working very closely with him, I just want to say that there is a human being inside of it. I don’t know if he’s really a Jew or he just tells us the stories. I mean, I know that he’s been circumcised but that’s not really everything to be in Jewish. But I think it’s in there. I think deep down he has humanity and that’s the thing. You just have to kind of wait for it.
Yeah, women make you wait for it. What’s it like during that time when you’re waiting?
You’re right. It’s hell. We are in hell.
And technically speaking, Jews don’t even believe in that.
2
I like that. I like that God was with the guy who got it right. God’s never with the one who screws up. That’s not where God dwells according to the Egyptian. But the winners, really good looking people who are excellent at making the crowd happy, God is with them. It means they’re lucky.
Yeah. Part of the mythos is that God is with us. Can you beat that? Do you actually feel lucky?
Not particularly. I have shit 14 times today. That seems to be a normal number. Honestly I’m kind of getting used to it but it is attention getting.
How have you managed to keep yourself from it here?
I’ll tell you if you tell me.
I knew about it because it’s my job to know about these things.
I knew about it because I hang out with the Egyptian and they know all the best things.
Okay. Let’s go 123 go and we’ll see what each other is doing.
They both count and say the same word at the same time.
Myrica cerifera (wax myrtle)
Okay but why does the Egyptian’s concoction actually taste good and the stuff I get out on the street tastes like shit?
The Egyptian probably uses powdered carob to absorb water and toxins from the gut.
And for the rest of us?
Animal dung.
You know something? I’m beginning to believe that I don’t believe in our doctors. I think they are corrupt or as corrupt as anyone in this damn place. I mean, look at the kind of stuff that ends up in the Ebers Papyrus.
Editor’s note: according to Google, this is accurate for ancient Egypt according to The document in question, a key medical text from the time.
They are never going to leave us alone. Animal agriculture is going to be the death of all of us.
It’s just the way they demand that we look at the world. It’s just not right. It’s just not right looking at an animal and seeing food. I don’t see it unless I don’t think about it and they eat meat everyday.
Yeah. Me too. When we were in Egypt, we could always get meat. It was no problem and it was cheap and it was a part of our food everyday.
Like the diarrhea and the illnesses.
Right. Everyone lived the same way. They all look forward to eating meat at the end of the day so they could allow the world to get away from them and get drunk and relax.
Right. And then it was mid-afternoon and then it was a big lunch and then it was kind of between breakfast and lunch and then it was breakfast and then it was just what to do first thing in the morning, right?
Meat makes everybody insane and I can’t stand that the meet people refuse to tell us the truth about who they are, what they do and what their product genuinely is.
They can’t tell you what actually happens because if they did you would quit eating it like we did.
Look, at least we are writing this stuff down. This is something I do. He knew I was in to keeping public journals. He knew that I was in the movement. He knew that I was a writer before he gave me the job of being his writer. He just likes to conveniently forget about that.
Well we’ve got to do something. Either we get public funding and movement behind a curative process instead of demanding that we continue the disease causing process, we’re dead. We are dead as a collective.
We are not doing this collectively because the one that controls the collective is the big guy. You know it, I know it, everybody knows it and worst of all he knows it.
Well, the Egyptian and the meat lobby. He always has plenty of parasites attached to him.
Common knowledge, Hill, common knowledge. You listen to me. You need to get with the Egyptian and make sure he understands that public health is a part of his job. If we can figure out how to beat this, we’ll all be healthier and happier for it. But if he doesn’t get his ass in gear and start paying attention to public problems and trying to get us an infrastructure that makes sense, we are dead dead because we will be too sick to be human beings anymore, day off or no day off.
I will certainly make my best efforts to bring it up. I promise.
3
Okay. I get the dreams. But the actual thought was not mystical. Anybody knows that agriculture runs and cycles. Everyone knows that you have to move your crops around. Everybody knows you can’t count on the same thing without change year after year and you have to keep things moving. Everyone knows this.
Well, that’s the trick. You see the Egyptian is a clever guy. He wants us to be Egypt because he truly believes that Egypt was beautiful. To him, living in the royal palace as a member of the upper upper upper 1% of it all, even despite being a Jew, his view of the world was nothing but riches. Oh yeah, anybody could be rich in Egypt and have fun. If you had money, Egypt would open up for you. Baby, what is your pleasure and we will take care of you! Everybody knew that. But we also knew that this is just what you do to make money from stupid people who come drunk to trading centers.
Right. Not really a high morality situation.
Explain it to me, Hill. Explain it to me so I can understand it.
Okay. You’re him. You’re the big guy. What do you think that means?
I don’t know. You know him. You tell me what it means.
It means he knows he’s all alone. He knows he’s all alone and he knows he’s responsible for us. I am quite sure he has no idea what genuine responsibility means. But in his Egyptian idea of how life is, he sees himself as generally a higher class and therefore completely entitled to do anything he wants with us.
Then this is our worst nightmare. We don’t get to be free people. We don’t get out of slavery. We never get to be free.
Well yes.
Okay. Just so long as I knew. I mean, I’m an entrepreneur. You’re just guaranteeing my livelihood forever and ever and ever. Keep people depressed and make a lot of them and I always have food on my table. And yeah, I eat vegan because my job is to be one step ahead of them.
Great. Another in love with a criminal enterprise that will eventually kill us all.
No. We’re going to be a great people. We are going to be a unified group. We are going to work as a team. I believe we are capable of great things.
Fine. Sometimes I doubt you’re veganism but seriously, can I just point out one tiny flaw in the argument?
Only one? Shoot.
The existence of a great group of people would most probably depend on the greatness of the individuals that make up their whole. If you have a strong leader leading a group of sick people around, you might get something that looks like an army or an empire or something but it’s really a bunch of poorly taken care of animals shitting themselves to death waiting to find out what they are supposed to do with all of this freedom that they now have.
So what you’re saying is that he is a shepherd looking at a 600,000 member flock and we’re getting sick and he’s writing children’s books to make us feel better about ourselves, yes?
I’m afraid that is the flaw in the argument. We see each other because we are flock members. He only sees the flock as a whole and all he’s interested in is how much money he can make off of 600,000 of us. And again, I think that’s going to be the death of everyone and everything. You take away our individuality, what do we have left? We don’t even have ownership of our own lives? Some freedom.
4
Okay, Hillel. You are the writer here. Give me your real opinion. What do you think of this one?
He’s getting better at writing. The early mystical stuff and trying to keep track of the generations was pretty weird. He was making most of it up and every time I picked up a piece of paper to count he would swadd it out of my hands and tell me to get back to the real work. My job was not to count things, my job was to get him on paper and make him look good.
Well, I suppose you should be proud. You are a whore and a sellout but you have pride in your craft as a writer. Would you agree?
Whatever. I’m just saying that yeah, he gave us the foretelling in the dream with his brothers a long time ago. Two years in prisonment and all of the rigmarole and sure enough, a prophecy made so long ago you probably forgot it gets fulfilled. Is that good writing? I don’t know. It is writing though so I’m saying he’s getting better at this. Frankly though, I don’t think he knew how to read before.
Come on! He was a royal engineer. He knows everything about irrigation and farming. He has the best education money can buy in all of Egypt as a member of the Royal House. He’s the most educated guy in the world. How can you make a statement like that?
I can because it’s true. He doesn’t have the attention span to actually follow a story. And listen, do you think it came out of his mouth like this? Do you think when I went to sit down with him to find out what we were putting in writing today that what you are reading is what came out of his face? Try again, booby. I am the writer here. If this makes any sense to you it’s because I wrote it.
All right, I shouldn’t pick on you too much. You’re a good man and everyone knows this.
What I meant was he’s only good at reading bottom lines. He doesn’t want to sit through the story he just wants to know how it begins and how it ends.
And how many head he has and how much money it’s going to get, right?
Basically, you are exactly correct.
Okay wise guy. Why don’t you explain the economics to me? We know that he saved his money and he has it in difficult times. That’s the easy lesson that we can all learn from this. When things are going well?
I’ll try. It’s an interest. It’s a vigorish. It’s the prophet we get from just sitting here. That’s the downward push. That’s the chunk of the steak that we own or they own. During the good times, nobody’s actually getting full value for their food. When food is in abundance, it’s cheap and everybody’s happy because they have a lot to eat. But if you don’t save, food gets pretty expensive during tough times and not everybody has the money.
No, not everybody has the money. But we all know who has the money. The meat business. They have all the money, don’t they?
Pretty much. So it was just about writing it down. It wasn’t rocket science and it wasn’t magic. People just wrote it down. That was the essence of being a decent agriculturalist to all of us. All of us who grew up believing plants were our future knew all the varieties we were going to grow and the planting dates and how we needed to take care of them. We knew all of this.
It’s different for meat people. You are responsible for the entire life of your plant. It’s not going to do anything but sit there and absorb light and drink water and nutrients. It’s not going to do anything but live its life and you have all the time in the world to stare at it and think about it and push it and pull it and learn its secrets because it won’t do anything to fight back. Meat is different. Meat is… Different. Meet is alive. Meat has personality and a life while it’s moving around. It has a life right up until you take it away from them. Crap. I need to shit. I’m making myself really depressed talking about this. This cannot be the only result of living in close proximity to each other.
Yes my friend. Meat is us. We are meat to the Egyptian. Make sure to put plenty of wood dust and lime after you finish. I’m trying not to die here.
And women if you’re a man and the man if you’re a woman. We hunt each other now. We only see each other is meat now as well.
Or like Joseph “going down” to check his fortunes in Egypt, just find a fat rich guy with plenty of steak and you probably won’t starve.
No. If you are looking for a sponsorship, a meat guy would pretty much be your best choice.
We are nothing if not logical as people. We eat well when we can.
But we are kings on shabbos. We all eat like kings on shabbos.
5
Okay, let’s get into this. Because I had a real conversation about this. Well, it was not like a real conversation but I got to tell the entire story.
Wait, what are you talking about?
Okay, this is what happened when we were writing this section. Very often, he will wax philosophical about moments in life where he learned something about something and therefore he wanted to infuse the text with this little bit of wisdom. And yeah, I get it. He wants to believe that this is subtle. I’m good. He imagines himself to be a very popular writer. He won’t become a writer based upon his writing ability but this is what he believes at least as far as what he knows of the act of writing things down.
You’re rambling. Take this and start again.
Okay. A short pause. Okay listen, it’s about power. It’s about having enough money to have relatives come and visit you.
Wait. You mean all of this is just about what it’s like to feel like a host instead of a guest?
Well, that’s what ownership is all about. I own all of this and you come and be a part of my world. A lot of rich people don’t mind their free pass into the rich world. They have nothing but rich friends so everywhere you look is beautiful and well taken care of because they never have to do any of the work themselves. They have slaves. We don’t have slaves. People don’t have slaves. And this is the difference.
Well yeah, that’s exactly what it is. It seems that Joe had a lot of hangups about his problems with his family. There were a lot of unresolved issues there as you can imagine with such an upbringing. But now, everything else was nonsense and working hard trying to make a living as an independent was not the way to go. The future, said Joseph absolutely knowingly, was knowing how to work things in the city. That’s where the real money is and I can prove it to you because I am now the richest man in all of Egypt.
And what happened?
His family became a bunch of provincial hillbillies as far as he was concerned. And as they began to understand who was running them, they began to believe this of themselves.
That sounds great. That’s an awesome revelation. They used to be nobody but if they go to town and have access to inside information and have the potential to control marketplaces and be in on the profit taking every time with every transaction, sure, the city is absolutely a place to be. I’m just worried about those provincial farmers who give up everything just because they were trying to make a living.
You know what? I really am sick. It’s the truth. Every time I spend time with people I feel it. We live too close together. We don’t have enough space to breathe. We were supposed to come out here to get a breath of fresh air and get out of the ghettos of Egypt. I thought that was the entire point of being here was that we were getting out of the ghettos.
Why are you bitching? I thought you were happily becoming a rich man because of how much money you make on human misery. Of course you’re in the perfect place and you have the perfect business because nobody here has life anymore. The only people who got the fresh air were the ones who ran away to make their own lives. Those are the only ones whoever have any real freedom.
All right then. We have group people and we have individual people. The world seems to be about controlling the groups. I say we make a toast to the individual.
It’s the only way. Truthfully, even if you live with other people, it’s the only way.
6
Come on, it’s a nice story.
Thank you. I actually enjoyed making it sentimental. You must forgive me but I have a lot of pride of craft.
Me too. That’s why you love hanging out here. I have the most prideful craft for sale for people who need it. And for my friend who is the most important guy in the world right now, the man actually responsible for the words in the big book, I have a toast. My friend, this is what it’s all about.
What am I supposed to do with it?
Trust in God.
There is an argument about people who take things as curatives that have been created by other people. The highest level of understanding are those who make their own medicines. But for all of his positives, Hillel himself was still a rich man’s child and all of his pride and academics that led to this job seem to have him feeling quite special about himself at the moment. What I’m trying to say is the following rant came as a result of not knowing what you’re ingesting but at least trusting it’s going to be a good thing.
What’s it like? What’s it like? What can I say. It’s about knowing you’re alive. Don’t, it’s about valuing your own life. Yes. It’s about acknowledging that this is my life and I am entitled to live it. But yet, there I am right across from this guy and I can’t stop staring at him. I can’t not listen to him. I can’t not be in his presence and be under his spell because it’s there. But it’s not. He has his thing. He does this thing. He does this royal thing. He’s completely entitled. He knows he’s entitled. I suppose he knows that I hate him or I think I hate him. I can see it in his face that he knows I hate him because he knows everyone hates him. Or maybe he just believes we’re all jealous. Or maybe he knows. Maybe he knows he’s just a fool like the rest of us. Maybe he knows he’s caught his diseases just like the rest of us and he suffers from them just like the rest of us because he’s nothing but a mortal man. Does he talk with God? Okay. Why not? I talk to God? Or do I? I think I do. I mean I think I did before I got involved with this guy who says he’s the only one who talks to God. he can’t be the only one who talks to God because God would never only talk to one person or only these beautiful people. If God was actually talking, he would talk to all of us equally or at least those that he could reach. I don’t even feel like saying he to represent God. I feel like saying she because God is soft to me. God is in the weather. God is in the trees. God is nature. God is the result of whoever has given us this beautiful place to live in but these hideous revolting people to have to live with. And the problem is is they make us all guilty. They make us all believe that nothing is good and no one and nothing has any value but what you could suck from it. He molests me. I am in all of how little he knows and he is absolutely sure he’s benevolent. It’s the truth. In his mind, he believes that everything he does for us is the best. Okay. Did I answer the question? I’m not sure I did. What’s it like? It’s gibberish. He tries to say things but his thoughts are jumbled together. He knows that there is a direction he wishes to go and he knows there is a meaningful thing that he wishes to say but he does not have the capacity to put any of those things together. His mind does not allow him to focus on individual thoughts so he just flies it by the seat of his pants not even particularly praying for divine help that he doesn’t make too many horrendous mistakes. And why? Why is our leader a jabbering spastic lunatic instead of a clear thinking steward to help us solve the problem? He’s a drunk degenerate with at least several venereal diseases that disallow him to rest even a little bit. And I think the crazy part is that he believes that God cleans him of his sins as if he never committed these acts that got him into this terrible pickle in the first place. What’s the truth? Nobody wanted us around in Egypt anymore. We were writers and readers and we had our mythos that we really were chosen by God. They got sick of us and got rid of us and let this once son of Israel have us for a joke army. Brilliant, yeah? And he’s our boss and I get to listen to him talk and making sound like he’s a clear thinking writer who can make a point. That’s what I think. I think he and I are exactly alike. We’re both trying our best to be good to the children of Israel in our own way. And neither of us knows what we’re doing or if we’re doing a good thing or not. Some royal inheritance, huh? 600,000 stiff-necked Jews playing tag you’re it with a drunken Egyptian bureaucrat. Pharaoh must have been laughing his ass off. Here you go buddy, go make your reputation. It’s all you now. You getting nothing from the Royal House. This one is DIY and you have everything you need right there in front of you. I’m giving you 600,000 Jews and the entire desert to play in. Go on, make me proud. Build a Nation greater than Egypt. Go ahead buddy, show us how it’s done. Show us who you are without me. Such a life. Such a life indeed. And me? I get to write the book. If anyone ever finds themselves somewhere and they are bored and lonely, you might read this text. This one really might be around a long time. You just remember that I wrote those words. I wrote those words. If there was any clarity, it was me. And believe me, making sense of Moses is a lot of work. You call me a whore or a cocksucker all you want. I made him sound good and you believe in him to this day because I wrote the words for you to read. Well, that and I’m quite sure we are being sponsored by Egypt at least under the table. Why else would we be doing a project like this, right? I think he needed the money between you and me. I don’t. I don’t really get it either. The guy is just a degenerate tweaker already. He hasn’t had anything even remotely resembling a decent life since he left the meadow and he knows it. But. But. He’s in good hands. We’re going to get there. Actually bro, you listen to me. One of these days he’s going to break. One of these days it’s going to get into his head that he can’t do what he’s trying to do. It’s not because he can’t do it because he’s not enough of a man it’s that it can’t be done. And it’s not even that we are particularly difficult. We are the easiest people in the world. We are literate for God’s sake! Why the hell do you think we are Jews? We are literate and nobody wants illiterate slave! Lest we forget for even a second. He doesn’t have it hard, he’s a shit conductor with a professional orchestra! Go on. Share your wisdom. Tell us all about your relationship with God. Tell us about all of the great advice that God gives your tweaker ass. Cuz you listen to your diseased eggs, anybody with a free steak, anybody with a good looking daughter and anybody who will tell you You’re a good human being. And I love you, you son of a bitch. And yes, I know I’m a very uncommonly beautiful boy and you were really appreciate my boyishness and my exuberance for life. But you listen to me, you take your 12 types of venereal disease and you go hide away with your wife sometime, you just get away and we will show you what a child of Israel can do. You egotistical son of a bitch, you don’t know who I am and you don’t even know who my people are. Yeah, I’m a Jew just like everybody. But I ain’t like everybody. I don’t eat the meat and I don’t drink the alcohol. I don’t play these games that you demand to make a part of things. I believe in the heart and the soul of who we are. I believe that reading and writing and thinking and arguing is good. I believe that science is good. I believe that writing things down and being fair with others is good. I believe the good of the pen. And I know that the pen can be for good or for evil. I know it goes either way. I know it goes either way even if you intend it to go one way. I know that we have no control over any of this and that everything really is in God’s hands. I don’t mean that I have a father taking care of me. That’s his ridiculous as believing the Egyptian is a good leader. That would be like believing any leader was a better leader than you yourself. But I’m not leading anybody but myself. Or maybe by example. Or maybe by reputation. You don’t know me but I’m not nobody. You remember I said that. I’m not nobody. So, you want to know who you got? You want to know who you got playing on your team? You get out of our way and let us do what we can do and we will grow you a paradise in this desert. And all you have to do is your bloody job, the one you were trained to do. All you got to do is shut the hell up about your greatness and your relationship with God and start tapping rocks so we can irrigate fields and put an end to bloody shepherds over grazing the land to unproductiveness. Let’s just get rid of the people that make the desert the desert already and let’s go with people at know how to make things grow. Just tap the rock baby. We don’t need nothing else from you. You just tap those rocks and make sure the water flows and then you will never be hungry and you’ll never be lonely but just stay the hell away from uus because you just don’t have the slightest clue how to live on the land. You just don’t know how to live. You’ve never been anything but dead and that’s the truth. You are a dead person and I am a living person. I think the living people should have the power and that God is with us all everyday in every tree, rock and every living thing that breathes the air and shares in the gift of life’s abundance. I mean those of us who were to enjoy the experience of life for a change. Amen? Anyway. Good stuff. Thank you for this. I really needed it.
Lechayam, bro.
7
I just want to say that of all the brothers, I admire Ruben the best. I like his way of making deals. He says, look, I know you’re all bloodthirsty criminals and absolute evisceration is all you want. But if we can just not be so murderous for a moment here, we might make a profit. I like that. I think they call that grace under pressure.
Yeah but look at how he treats his family. Look how much he enjoys manipulating people. Look at how much he enjoys power. He’s a sick man. He doesn’t need this. He doesn’t need to continually consolidate his power. And he’s doing this over his own family which means he easily does this over everyone’s family.
If you’re good, you’re good. Some guys have got it. God is with them, as you say. There’s nothing you can do about it. You can’t keep a good man down.
I’m not talking about the organizational talent. If you’re Jewish, logistics are our religion as much as anything. But all of this OCD nonsense aside, the problem is that we are talking about one individual completely dominating the landscape of all individuals. There is an argument for allowing someone with legitimate talent to run the grain storage. I mean, we can put in all of this power and mysticism as much as you want. We can believe in gibberish as much as you need to believe in it. The basic principle is that you either are very good with your resources and save them when you are in abundance or you’re going to have problems. And, you have to constantly be working, during good or bad years, to get better and to learn and grow and to be better people. I say the act of living itself, if we’re talking about growing our own food from plants and allowing nature to be without all of them bloodshed and murder and stratification of who is better than who and what is better than what and all this other non-productive nonsense. I say this is where we’re going or we’re not going anywhere.
Well, like our man Joseph, I’m going to bet the no bro. I’m sorry. I’m going with the gamblers on this one. We are losers and no matter how high the ideals, we will find a way to screw it up.
You know I’m not going to become emotional over this. I hear when you say things like that and I understand you just like getting my goat. I know I’m too sensitive for my own good. I understand that I feel these things too deeply. I understood that when I took up the pen. I understood what would happen to me but I did it anyway because I believed it was supposed to be there. Maybe it was. Maybe I am a natural masochist. I don’t know. I really don’t know. But what I do know is that we shouldn’t be gambling on life in the first place. We shouldn’t be gambling at all. We should be working everything out like a business. And I’m not talking about under the table money for the love of God. I’m talking about the actual work of growing decent food for us to eat so we can live another season and enjoy good company in between the work hours.
I know where you’re going with this. You call this Utopian thinking. You, you like to wonder what it would be like to have a non meat person in charge. You love dreaming this dream about having a non-killer run things for a change. What would the world look like if someone who refused to kill and didn’t even want to be around killing anymore for the foolishness and waste of life of it, right? Come on, we know each other, Hill. I know you love dreaming your dreams but you know you have to wake up eventually and that most of it probably comes in something I gave you.
Will then let me be the truth to you for a moment. Maybe I am a citified fop. Maybe I am just an empty shirt bureaucrat looking for a job. Maybe I am is weak and feminine as people say. Or maybe no. Or maybe I’m not so weak. Maybe I’m not so weak and maybe I know what it feels like to punch someone in the face. Maybe I’m someone who has been punched in the face a few times and learned how to get my fist back into theirs faster or first. Let’s just say I’m not such a weak fellow.
Nobody is saying anything like that bro. I just love to listen to you talk about Utopia under Sinai. Tell me again how you see the scenario going down.
Okay, but this is Mr optimist betting the big n o for moisha rabino. But if I have to dig deep, the effort of trying to run the state, run this book and still believe in his heart that the meat lobby people are not ruining everything and everyone by demanding he stays with them for every single possible favor they can get. My God, they are just the greatest parasites ever to walk the face of the earth and nobody ever stops feeding them by letting them stop feeding us.
I did it. I’ve been vegan for a while now too. I do it. But I can also see the point. Great drugs. You eat some meat, you drink some alcohol, you pass out. Who could possibly turn that down? Who could possibly say no to the opportunity to legally kill yourself just enough to make the world go away for a few days and relieve yourself of your responsibility. Such pleasure. I base my entire business on it.
I know. I get it. I really really get it. I’m just saying that it’s what happens after you remove the degenerate episodes of drunk and forgetfulness and replace them with healthy practices that build strength and character and endurance. To become healthier and stronger instead of practicing weakness. I say there is a different result possible and that is the Utopia I see for the children of Israel. Take the meat out of our mouths, stop feeding us death and telling us it is life, stop demanding that we listen to you and only you and just kick back and count your money and see what will happen. Just tap a few rocks now and again for us to allow the water to flow where we need it to and we will be good to go. And I promise you, we will make you fat and happy. You can sit on the throne as long as you can and as long as you want and we agree to pay for you. And we will make you fat we will grow so much food. Just get out of our way and watch what happens.
And of course you want us to gamble that this is possible when we know it’s not.
Well, here’s something to think about. We never find out if it’s possible or not because they never get out of our way. Their livelihood is being parasitic to us. We seem to be obligated to carry these parasites instead of being able to remove them. That’s the way of life. The parasites are the ones who corrupt all of us. Technically and most easily said, the people who get money from not working are the problem.
But that’s all we want.
No bro. It’s all you have but it’s not all you need. We have just come too far from nature. We have just forgotten what it’s like to be an animal because of all of this civilization we are being forced to endure so that the money lenders and the grain silo owners can make their cash and Pharaoh can get richer.
You know what? I suddenly feel quite tired. Actually I feel redundant. I feel I am repeating myself so many times that it’s an unnatural number already. I feel like I’m being mined for my beliefs.
Sorry bro. I thought you knew. I mean, we are a friends. Like all friends, we are wildly symbiotic. Don’t worry about a thing. Everything’s going to be all right. In fact, why don’t you just lay down on the floor and I’ll tell you a story about what happened this morning.
Did something happen this morning? Did something happen to the people?
No bro. It was like this. I rise up this morning, smiled to the rising Sun and three little birds perched by my doorstep. They were singing sweet songs, Melody’s pure and true and they were singing, this is my message to you. Don’t worry about a thing. ‘Cause every little thing is going to be all right. They were singing Don’t worry about a thing. Because every little thing is going to be all right.
Thank you, my friend. For everything.
Only love, my man. Peace to all living things and may God’s grace reign over all of our lives forever and ever and ever.
Amen…
Editor’s note: according to my AI assistant:
There are no historical records or firsthand accounts of what it was like to be with Moses on Mount Sinai. However, the biblical accounts in the Book of Exodus provide vivid descriptions of the experience.
According to the Bible, Mount Sinai was shrouded in smoke and fire, and the Israelites were terrified. Moses, however, was summoned to the top of the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments directly from God. The experience was described as awe-inspiring and terrifying, with thunder, lightning, and a thick cloud covering the mountain.
Some interpretations suggest that Moses’ time on the mountain was a profound spiritual experience, during which he received divine wisdom and guidance. Others emphasize the physical and emotional intensity of the event, with Moses facing challenges and doubts.
Ultimately, the true nature of the experience remains a matter of faith and interpretation. The biblical accounts offer a glimpse into a momentous event in Jewish and Christian history, but the full reality of what it was like to be with Moses on Sinai remains a mystery.
So there you go, all of human knowledge synthesized to an easy to digest sound bite that tells you that nothing was ever real and nothing can be believed in and nothing can ever be proved as true or false.
And I apologize for taking that Eddie Van Halen solo. I don’t usually go All James Agee like that but, you know, it was a Hanukkah gift
