Spark of Jewish Experience

The brothers forcibly sold their younger brother, Yosef and, after all that was said and done, he ended up in Egypt.  As far as the brothers were concerned they were in for a big surprise as to his whereabouts, which we will read in this week’s parsha.  Perhaps, the expression “rags to riches” originated here for Yosef was in jail one moment and a few hours later the Viceroy of Egypt. Sounds like the American dream, huh.

 The span of when the brothers sold Yosef and when they were reunited with him – was twenty two years.  Yaakov’s sons came to Egypt to buy food for the family, for there was a famine in their part of the world. Yosef anticipated his brothers’ arrival and gave strict orders to Egyptian immigration that the brothers check in directly to him. Oddly enough, Yosef’s brothers did not recognize him. Go figure.

 Yosef treated his brothers in a deceptive and cold way, to an extent, causing them to panic a number of times during their numerous visits.  They may have deserved it because of what they had done to Yosef, as Reuven said in last week’s parsha.

The brothers said to one another, “We are guilty because of our brother. When he pleaded with us, we didn’t pay attention. Therefore, this anguish has come to us.” (Bereishit 42:21)

Yosef’s younger brother – Binyamin did not make the trip. The Viceroy was yearning to see him for he was a brother that he shared the same mother as well as father. Yosef insisted that the brothers bring Binyamin so he can meet with him. However, after he specially arrived, to see the Viceroy, Yosef already was planning an interesting scheme. He wanted to give the impression Benyamin would stay permanently in confinement. Yosef planted something in his bag, and sent his officers after the brothers when they went to travel back to their home. They searched the entire luggage and the missing item was found in Binyamin’s bag.

Yehudah apologetically admits that the brothers are guilty as charged and volunteers the servitude of all the brothers to Yosef — “also us and also the one in whose hand the goblet was found”. He is very humble in his manner. Yosef, however, refuses to consider mass punishment and insists that he will only punish the brother in whose hand the goblet was found. “The rest of you can return in peace to your father.”

WAS IT A DIFFERENT APPROACH OR JEKYLL AND HYDE PERSONALITIES?

This week’s parsha begins with a totally different attitude on Yehudah’s part. It seems like it’s an entire different cast of characters or perhaps the brothers just got fed up with being Mr. Nice Guy.  Perhaps, Yehudah had a lot at stake vouching for Binyamin’s safety.  They reached their boiling point, lost their patience and attempted a different approach. The Baal HaTurim cites textual proofs that the connotation of “Vayigash Elav Yehudah” (And Yehudah drew near) is that Yehudah approached Yosef to do battle. He was ready to fight.

Given that, why was Yehudah so beggarly at the end of last week’s parsha? “Behold, we will be slaves to my master. Put us in prison. Do whatever you want to us.” What suddenly happens between the end of Miketz and the beginning of Vayigash that causes Yehudah to be ready to kill Yosef to rescue Binyamin?

Rav Elya Lopian suggests that a simple thing happened here. Every time the brothers ran into a problem, they kept coming back to the same conclusion: “We are guilty” (aval asheimim anachnu). Despite the fact that the sale of Yosef transpired 22 years earlier, this was constantly on their minds. They believed what they did was indeed correct. They followed a judicial ruling (based on the court of justice they themselves convened) but there was a measure of guilt that they bore in that they ignored his pleas and did not have mercy upon him. In other words, “What we did was right, but we should have been more merciful.”

Because they were walking around with this burden, therefore every time something happened they said “We are guilty! This is a punishment for what we did.” Therefore, when they confronted this reality that Binyamin was caught, they were mentally ready to say “behold, we are servants to my master”. They saw this as Divine Retribution. “We deserve it; it is part of our punishment.”

This way of thinking was logical up until the last pasuk of Parshat Miketz. However, when Yosef insisted that only the person, in whose hand the goblet was found ,that would be the slave and that the brothers could go back in peace to their father, there was no way they could interpret this as being part of their punishment for the sale of their brother. It was now Binyamin who was being punished and he had no part in the sale! This put matters in a new light.

If this has nothing to do with the sale of Yosef, then Yehudah goes from the meek “I will be your servant” Yehudah to the bold “I will take you on” Yehudah.

One of the reasons why we walk four steps escorting our guest outside is because this is what Pharaoh did when Avraham was leaving. As a reward, years later, Yosef was knocking on Pharaoh’s door step with the interpretation of his dream and a solution for the hunger benefiting Egypt to the highest degree. For this to happen – the Jews had to be slaves to Pharaoh. They were to be guests in Egypt.  Nevertheless because Pharaoh and Egypt treated the Israelites miserably – all bets were off. What was to be a big benefit to Pharaoh and Egypt for generations turned out to be short lived. The Egyptians went over the line.

This is what Yehuda was trying to convey to Yosef. The Viceroy cannot step over the boundaries. You are not an emissary of G-d in this area. Binyamin is off limits!! If your majesty wants to punish us, fine – we deserve it. However, the lad is not part of the deal.

What is the lesson to take away from all this? The lesson is that when trouble befalls someone, he should examine his ways. At such times – one needs to introspect. People must ask themselves, “Why is this happening to me? One should do a proper accounting of their life, their actions.

 

However, this can be dangerous; one cannot say – I know why these things are happening to me. It is certainly not for us to tell someone else “this happened to you because of such and such”.  I know why they can’t have kids or why he never got married or why he lost a lot of money. That is not our place. This is one of the most difficult things to deal with in life. We do not know all the pieces of the puzzle.

 There is an interesting variation of an example I heard this past week at Seuda shleshit in Rabbi Abramov’s shul “Shaarei Tefilah” by a friend and neighbor Mr. Lior Chiav. I believe it brings home our point.

There was a fellow, an Accountant, who couldn’t find a job. Even during Tax season, the busiest time of the year for accountants. He couldn’t even latch on for a few weeks. The fellow was pulling his hair out as he’s reading the “help wanted” in the local papers.

One day, tired as he couldn’t keep his eyes open, he was entertaining a guest who jumped out of fright when the host yawned. The friend, staring at the tired accountant at the very odd frightening yawning sound the accountant made, and commented WOWE!!! Knowing the reason the friend jumped the host, the annoyed accountant, said “it runs in the family.” With a clever gleam the friend proposes something outlandish “I know someone in the zoo who is desperately looking for a replacement of their lion who died yesterday. It would take the zoo a number of weeks till a replacement will arrive. Perhaps, you can put on a lion suit and do your yawning, growling scary sound. It’s pretty convincing and the idea might work, for the animals have quite a distance from the patrons.   What do you care, you get your paycheck and you go home”. The friend dialed the zoo as he was explaining the crazy nutty proposal to the accountant and within ten minutes convinced the desperate zoo keeper on the other side of the phone to hire his friend…

 And so it was the first day, Lion outfit and the entire accountant from a distance was growling-yawning at the kids. “Hey, it’s pretty easy, I can live with this for a few weeks as long as my friends and family don’t find out I’m doing this”

 A few days passed and the accountant is doing his thing, when he hears a loud and scary growl. Startled, he looks up and low and behold, he sees a lion.  Frightened and thinking this lion is going to tear me apart, he looks up to Shamayim and shouts the first thing that comes out of his mouth, the first thing he learned in grade school ” SHEMA YISRAEL HASHEM ELOKENU HASHEM ECHAD!!”. The other lion opens up his mouth and screams out “BARUCH SHEM KEVOD MALCHUTO L’OLAM VAED.” After they realize that the environment is safe and they’re just two Jews trying to make a living, the other lion says to the accountant “they just hired me yesterday. Tell me buddy, how much they’re paying you? Are you getting benefits? I wouldn’t have taken this job but I’m desperate. I have to feed my family”.  The accountant, curious, asks the other lion “what’s your profession?  “I’m a doctor” was the response.

We cannot project what direction life will turn out or why things happen. What jobs fall upon us, who we marry, if we are able to have children and how they will turn out – it’s all in G-d’s hands.  Making an effort is crucial but it’s no guarantee. We can play the game of life as best we can, with the tools G-d gave us, however, we cannot predict the future or explain the past. There will always be the element of error.

   I heard something interesting from Rabbi Asher Hurzberg that is important to share. Life is very similar to coming late to shul and hearing only half the famous psalm, after the word SHOMER in the middle of the chazzan recitation of Ashrei prayer:

“Shomer Hashem et kol ohava v’et kol hareshaim yashmid”

G-d watches all who loves Him and all the wicked will be destroyed.

Without the word Shomer-G-d watches the verse reads “all who love Him and all the wicked will be destroyed”. Similarly, we are born in the middle of the picture; we missed the beginning.

As we all know the great Rabbi Akiva was murdered by the Romans in the most gruesome death. The Angels in the heavens were crying and asked G-d “Zeh Torah – Zeh scharechah? This is your Torah and this is its reward?

G-d answered “One more word out of you and I’ll tear this world apart”

G-d’s response needs explanation. It best can be conveyed through a parable.

A King orders a tailor to make him a special suit and in return will reward him with great wealth. He provides him with the material and gives him a time frame to conclude his work. The tailor at the end of the time frame finished the special suit where the King then tried it on for a fitting. “Beautiful” the tailor proclaimed. The King was satisfied. He then replied “thank you, now where is the rest of the material”. The tailor replied “there is no extra material, it all was used up”. The King retorted “but I gave you so much”. The Tailor answered “if I take the suit apart you will see your majesty that there is material in the lining the stitching etc.

G-d is saying “if you angels want to probe further, I would have to unravel the entire world apart from its inception to the very end – for you to see the entire picture”

The Talmud states [Berachot 13b] that when Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, the author of the Mishna, recited Kriat Shma, he would cover his eyes. Based on this passage, the Tur in Shulchan Aruch rules – and this is the universal practice – that every Jew should cover his eyes when reciting Kriat Shma. Why do we do this? Because sometimes, when we try to say Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad [the L-rd our G- d the L-rd is One], attesting to our belief that the attribute of

Mercy and the attribute of Justice are all the same, there are too many troubles right before our eyes to allow us to truly believe this testimony. It becomes difficult for us to say that everything is for the good. Therefore, we cover our eyes so that, symbolically at least, we do not see all the troubles.

“And Yosef shall place his hand on your eyes.” [Bereshit 46:3-4]. Regarding the words “and Yosef shall place his hand on your eyes” the Zohar comments: “This is what the secret of Krias Shma is all about.”

Therefore, G-d told Yaakov not to fear the descent to Egypt. Although Yaakov perceived prophetically that this would be the beginning of a long and bitter exile, G-d reassured him by saying, “Yosef will place his hands over your eyes.” In other words, G-d was reminding Yaakov of all that happened to Yosef and that despite the trauma and troubles, all had worked out for the best in the end. Yosef personified the idea that apparent troubles can foreshadow great and positive outcomes.

“Yosef will cover your eyes.” The Zohar states – “this is the secret of Kriat Shma.”

Now we understand the Zohar. The secret of Kriat Shma is the unification of Hashem [G-d of Mercy] with Elokeinu [our G-d of Judgment]. This is sometimes hard to perceive unless we cover our eyes. Yosef (and all that happened to him in his life) should be our metaphorical model for covering our eyes and allowing ourselves to be convinced of the truth of this declaration of unification of G-d’s attributes.