Yosef lights the path of jewish history | Rabbi Stewart Weiss | Beit Midrash

Torah Portion and Tanach
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קטגוריה משנית

Our Sedra records the dramatic confrontation
between Yosef & Yehuda, as the brothers are
finally reunited after 22 years of separation.
Yosef has put them through quite a lot of trauma
& tribulation until now. But why did Yosef do this to them?

Some would say this was Yosef’s chance to gain
revenge for what they did to him. Yosef was
incarcerated, demeaned & in fear of losing his
life - & so now it is the brothers’ turn to suffer.

But is this the way a "Tzadik" – as Yosef is
colloquially known - would act? Perhaps, as some
suggest, Yosef was creating a scenario whereby
the brothers once again would be in position to
either save or sacrifice another son of Rachel –
Binyamin - & thus could do Teshuva for their past abandonment of Yosef.

I have a different thought. Yosef foresaw that Am
Yisrael would go through several exiles & many
tough times in the centuries ahead (see Rashi
45:14) & so he was preparing his brothers, both
present & future, by giving them strategies for survival.

He "forces" Yehuda to gather his courage &
confront him, though he was a powerful potentate.
Sometimes we would have to act bravely & stand
tall before those who would challenge us. We
would tell our oppressors that we refuse to give
up our adherence to Mitzvot or, like the Ramban,
we would defend our Torah before the masses, even at the risk of our lives.

The brothers were told to say they were
cattlemen, a profession that was despised by the
agrarian Egyptians, so that we would be separated
into our own communities, where we could more
easily create the institutions we needed for spiritual support.

And then Yosef gives another instruction for the
"journey" ahead of us in history: "Al tirg’zu
ba’derech, do not become agitated on the way."
Rashi defines this cryptic phrase in 3 ways, & I
offer my thoughts as to what I think Yosef is trying to tell us:

1) "Do not engage in Halachic dispute such that
you will lose your way." That is, Halacha - which
actually means to traverse - should have the
overall objective of bringing brothers together,
not separating them. This is a lesson we still need to learn.

2) "Do not take steps that are too big." While it
is perfectly fine to achieve wealth & success in
the Diaspora – something we have certainly
accomplished over the centuries – be careful;
don’t leave too big a footprint. When Jews stand
out too much in the Exile, we invariably make
ourselves targets, something Western Jewry is
experiencing every day in the current crisis we’re in.

3) Finally, "Enter the city when the sun is
shining." We Jews, as we moved around the planet
in our wanderings, have generally chosen to live
in urban areas of large, prosperous cities in
leading nations. We seek, in essence, "sunny
climes" where job prospects are good & where we
can find a comfortable home. But there is a flip
side to this, as well; the sun also sets. In
other words, "climate change" is always on the
horizon, & the cushy spot we created for
ourselves can quickly turn dark & gloomy.

Yosef prophetically gives us the guidebook for Jewish history.

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