Joseph & His Brothers

'Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Please come closer to me," and they drew closer. And he said, "I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. But now do not be sad, and let it not trouble you that you sold me here, for it was to preserve life that God sent me before you.' (Genesis 45:4-5)

​

In this week's Torah portion, Vayigash, after an intense and moving dialogue between Joseph and Judah, Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers, that he is the viceroy to Egypt's kingdom and their long lost brother. Our Sages remark that the shock and surprise they felt at that moment is akin to the shock we will feel at the time of the redemption and coming of Mashiach, when we will understand God's Presence was here all along.

What's so powerful and insightful here is Joseph's magnanimous reaction to his brother's ill treatment of him in the past. Hated by his brothers, Joseph was thrown into a pit and instead of killing him, his brothers sold him to a caravan of Ishmaelites. We know the rest of the story, as Joseph moves from servant to prisoner, and then rises to 2nd in command of the strongest nation of his time, with the vision and interpretation of Pharaoh's dream that famine was on its way that ultimately saved not only Egypt's people, but the entire Middle East. 

How often do we focus on the deeper reasons behind what happens to us? Judaism teaches that everything that happens to us has a Divine plan and significance behind it. Yes, those that execute those plans toward us have free choice to do so, but that event was meant to happeneither way. It is up to us to choose to focus on the messenger of that plan, or the Director of the plan behind it all. Joseph chose to live his life according to the latter. He was meant to experience hard times, to descend into Egypt and servitude, in order to save the world. His brothers did wrong him, but he chose not to dwell on their mistake, but on the Divine plan behind it that was no mistake at all. 

{Mind and perspective are crucial to interpersonal peace. At the end of Ch. 12 in his magnum opos, Tanya, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi writes a radical idea when we are wronged: So, too, in matters between man and his fellow-man. As soon as there rises from his heart to his mind any animosity or hatred, God forbid, or jealousy, anger or a grudge, he will bar them from his mind and will, refusing even to think of them. On the contrary, his mind will prevail over and dominate the feelings of his heart, to do the exact opposite of that which the heart desires, namely, to conduct himself toward his fellow with the quality of kindness and to display towards his fellow a disproportionate love, in suffering from him to the furthest extreme, without being provoked into anger or to take revenge in kind, God forbid, even without anger; but, on the contrary, to repay offenders with favors, as taught in the Zohar, that we should learn from the example of Joseph’s conduct with his brothers, when he repaid them for the suffering they brought upon him, with kindness and favors.}   

Like our forefather Joseph, let's try to focus on the deeper plan and not on the superficial experiences that occur to us. This doesn't mean to roll over and accept abuse, but rather to recognize that those around us have zero control over our fate, and that what happens to us has a deeper purpose.

Shabbat Shalom!