Torah Portion Vayigash - Joseph and His Brothers Reunited

Shalom Mishpacha,

With the beautiful holiday of Hanukkah now over, I hope this finds everyone in happiness and health, filled with light and ready to keep shining into the coming months. As we continue reading sefer Bereishit (Genesis), we come to parshat Vayigash.

We left off last week (with baited breath!) with Yoseph's pronouncement that he was keeping Binyamin as a slave for ‘stealing’ his wine cup. The other 11 brothers still do not know this Egyptian Viceroy whom they have come to ask for food during a famine is their long lost brother.

Yehuda steps forward to challenge the decision and offers himself as a slave instead of Benyamin. Yoseph can no longer hold back his emotions and he will relay the words to his brothers that echo through the generations to the present day: “Anee Yoseph! I am Joseph!”

The brothers are shocked and they are ashamed. In a moment, they realize all they had done, remembering how they threw him into a pit and then sold him into slavery. Yoseph HaTzaddik, the righteous one, comforts his brothers by assuring them that it was not by their hand that he descended to mitzrayim, Egypt, but by Hashem’s.

He tells them he was placed right where he needed to be, to be able to save them from famine. Yoseph then offers to bring the extended family to mitzrayim and they accept. Yaakov is initially numb and disbelieving of the news, but becomes very excited to see his son.

The Torah then recounts the 70 members of Jacob's family that went down to Egypt and we have the powerful scene of Yaakov reuniting with his son Yoseph and his meeting with Pharaoh.

There are so many beautiful lessons here about the ability one can have to forgive others and to seeing beyond past misdeeds allowing for a brighter future and for both to rise above what may have occurred. Yoseph strengthens all of his descendants – each of us – with this potential power to tap into. Who could have shown such restraint, such love, such kedushah (holiness)?

Forgiving others and seeing beyond the harm they may have done to us continues to be a struggle for many. Neither letting go nor apologizing are easy, but such actions can go quite a distance in repairing relationships. 

Of course, once all the pieces come together in the brothers’ minds in that moment, they are fearful of reprisal for what they had done. Yoseph, once again living up to the name for which he is known in our tradition – HaTzaddik – immediately puts his brothers at ease and ‘lets them off the hook’, so to speak, by telling them that Hashem brought him to Egypt to be able to sustain the family of Israel (and the world).

Yoseph teaches us so much about chessed (kindness), as well as bitachon (trust) and emunah (faith), as he not only demonstrates deep kindness for his brothers, but also places the events that took place within the larger picture of life: accepting that all happens for a reason and was, in the end, for the best for everyone.

For this lesson alone, we can forever be indebted to Yoseph and our Torah. But we can go deeper. There are also beautiful lessons about the importance of the achdut (unity) of the Jewish people, and that unity co-exists with diversity in Klal Yisrael. The strength of the brothers reuniting, and then once Yaakov joins them, of the whole family reuniting, is almost palpable as you read the Torah this week.

I think we have all experienced that somehow, seemingly paradoxically, relationships can be strengthened, that we can sometimes come closer, after being apart. Then, the critical importance of the unity of our people is a point that is driven home at the end of the parsha as well, but is easily missed. At the end of the parsha the Torah states: "And all the souls of Yaakov's house that came to Egypt -- seventy."

The Chofetz Chaim (Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, a great tzaddik, of our more recent history) points out that the Hebrew word for "souls" is "nefashot"; yet, in this verse, a singular form "nefesh" is used, alluding to the fact that “in heaven the souls of Israel are like one, and this was demonstrated at that point in our history.”

The division that we read over the last few weeks between the brothers, between the tribes of Israel, was but a precursor to a strong unity that was to come. This moment, and the foundation that was being built, reaches down to each of us today.

This unity among us, as Rabbi Shimon Finkelman reminds us, does not lessen the truth of that fact that while each Jewish soul is an integral part of this one whole, it is also unique and special. He brings a comparison to a person’s body that is indeed a single unit, but still comprised of many individual parts, each with its own unique and special function.

The Chofetz Chaim translates the importance of this unity into practical terms: “if another Jew refuses to do a favor that you have asked of him or her, or even if he or she has caused you heartache or has shamed you in some way, do not seek revenge or bear a grudge, for who is oneself and whois one's fellow'? Both stem from the same source, as it is written and who is like Your nation, Israel, one nation on earth? (Divrei HaYamim - Chronicles)”.

Rabbi Shimon Finkelman argues that when a person has an inflammation in his or her foot, one cannot say that the rest of his or her body feels fine and is not bound up in that pain. Similarly, the souls of the Jewish people are bound up with one another.

When the soul of one Jewish person is hurting, all Jews (even though one may not know him or her personally) feel the pain; or perhaps, our Torah is teaching us, we should feel that pain. The Jewish people are like one soul; we thus must strive to ensure the unity of all Jews.

At this time in history, this lesson remains critical. Although we descended to Egypt as one so long ago, today the Yiddishe Mishpacha is in many ways fractured. Perhaps the time has come to truly realize and internalize that whether or not we pray the same way or resemble one another in every way, we are one.

One people, and one family... And a family comes together and survives through rising above some factors of disunity and through chessed and forgiveness, as Yoseph taught us. Family remains together and thrives as a unit through patience and tolerance, and with love. There can be diversity in a unified whole.

The colourful mosaic of the Jewish people’s tapestry need not divide us. Together our strength is greater and only together do we move closer to fulfilling our collective purpose.

We may each spell Hanukkah differently, but the light it teaches us to shine forth, comes from the same source... and together, it is unbelievably bright.

Shabbat Shalom

- Evan D. Green

Partner and International Project/Programme Manager

Le Groupe-conseil Baastel ltee

(819) 595-1421 ext.228 cell: (819) 329-4490

www.baastel.com

Joseph and The Pit - A Short But Powerful Torah Message For Overcoming Temptation, Addiction and Harm!

Let me start by asking you the following questions: What is your biggest challenge or problem in life right now? If you could change,  improve or utterly transform just one thing, what would it be? Can you tell when something is spiritually helpful or harmful? 

There are so many negative influences and temptations in our daily lives, in the popular media and on the internet. So few positive role models about building healthy lives and healthy relationships. 

What can we do to protect ourselves and those we love from such spiritually negative choices and the often tragic consequences of allowing these negative influences to impact our lives?

This week’s Torah Portion actually contains one of the most incredible life transforming, yet surprisingly short single sentences that perfectly address this question of overcoming or guarding against harmful choices and influences. It’s a sentence that holds one of the most powerful keys to overcoming life’s most difficult and deadly challenges and temptations!

In this week’s parsha we learn the gripping and heart rendering story of Joseph being sold by his brothers into slavery. But first, in an attempt to kill Joseph, his brothers throw him into a pit a deep pit.

The Torah states: "the pit was empty - it had no water".

Rashi, one of the greatest Torah scholars of the last 1000 years brilliantly summarizes when he comments: “If it was empty it obviously had no water- it was empty”.  

So why does the Torah add the phrase "there was no water" after clearly stating “it was empty”?  Why this seemingly double statement with the same basic surface meaning? After all there are no errors in the Torah. 

It turns out, the Torah is hinting at or pre-supposing an important and ancient oral Torah teaching. Not only was there no water in the pit, but there were in fact “Snakes and scorpions" in it instead: (Talmud tractate Shabbat page 22a also tractate Chagiga 3a).

There’s a very deep and life transforming lesson hidden here in this single sentence repetition!

Many people assume that there is always a middle ground, a lifestyle that although not “completely holy” is never-the-less also not completely unholy.  Sadly, so many are unaware of what it means to live a life rooted in Torah in the first place.

Rashi is teaching us that this idea of living only a partially Torah based or worse a Torah-less life, - (giving holiness less than our 100% attention and effort) is in fact very spiritually harmful and dangerous to ourselves and to the world around us.  

To put it simply, there is no middle ground!  Rashi is basically saying that spiritually, when we fail to immerse ourselves in water there are snakes and scorpions instead.

Water here, of course represents the life giving wisdom of the Torah. Snakes and scorpions the opposite or alternative to a Torah based life style mindless addictions, sin and harmful behaviors.

  These days, it seems virtually impossible, to guard oneself spiritually from succumbing to some form of sin or addiction. So how do we protect ourselves and one and other?

By making sure that there is plenty of "water" in our daily spiritual diets. If there is an abundance of “water” (Torah study and practice) in our lives, then there simply can't be any room for snakes and scorpions, - period!

The pure "light” of the Torah will illuminate the path before you, giving you the ability to openly and clearly discern the difference between good and evil in every life situation. It will clearly illuminate the difference between productiveness and counter productiveness, spiritual harm and spiritual safety, both in the immediate sense and in the very, very long term sense of the word spiritual.

When we study and fill ourselves with the Torah’s wisdom -we also fill our minds and hearts with good character traits that enable strong and healthy emotional and behavioral self-control. We raise ourselves higher than the narrow mindedness of comparatively unholy or non-Torah based life choices and influences.

The snakes and scorpions of harmful behavioral choices and addictions have no space to occupy in the pure light of Torah based life choices through continuous learning!

In this day and age there are many temptations and seemingly easy ways out, but in the end there are really no excuses. If you’re facing serious life challenges and problems right now, that just makes it all the more critical that you start connecting with Torah.  

It’s never too late! Never give up!

With the help of technology you have the ability to connect to the life transforming wisdom of the Torah like never before; - It’s all right there "at the tip of your fingers".

It’s just a matter of making that critical first choice and taking that critical first step. I say: Choose Water, Choose Torah!