VaYigash 5631 Second Ma'amar

“ויאמר יוסף אל אחיו אני יוסף העוד אבי חי ולא יכלו אחיו לענות אתו כי נבהלו מפניו/Yosef said to his brothers, ‘I am Yosef. Is my father still alive?’ His brothers could not answer him because they were shocked before him.” The Midrash says that in this pasuk Yosef rebuked his brothers and they were not able to answer because of the shame they felt. The Midrash compares this with God’s rebuke on the ultimate day of judgment, “אוי לנו מיום הדין אוי לנו מיום התוכחה/Woe is to us on the day of judgment; woe is to us on the day of rebuke.” If the brothers could not withstand Yosef’s admonishment, how will we be able to withstand the ultimate admonishment before the redemption. Is the Midrash’s comparison simply one of degrees of rebuke or is there a fundamental connection between Yosef’s chiding his brothers and God’s chastisement on the final day of judgment?

The Sfas Emes explains that the rebukes are fundamentally the same. To understand why, we need to understand why the brothers were ashamed. The Sfas Emes explains that the brothers were mistaken about Yosef himself. The Zohar tells us that Yosef was שומר הברית/keeper of the covenant. Conventionally, this refers to his overcoming the temptations presented to him by the wife of Potiphar. The covenant that he kept was the covenant of the circumcision.

In this world holiness is hidden by gross physicality. The removal of the foreskin represents an unveiling of the holiness that lies within the physical world. (See VaYeira 5632 First Ma’amar for a detailed discussion of this concept.) Yosef, as the keeper of the covenant, represents the holiness that is within the physical world. The brothers, because this was hidden, did not realize it. Once Yosef revealed himself to his brothers, when they were confronted with their mistake, they stood in shame.

At the ultimate redemption as well, it will be made clear for all to see that the physical world in which we live is replete with holiness. God gave us the physical world and our circumstances to use to accomplish God’s will thereby rectifying ourselves and our environment. Before the final redemption, when this fact becomes clear to us we will look back at our lives and wonder how we could have used the physical world for purposes that were at odds with God’s will. Realizing our mistake, we will stand in shame before God. This is why the Midrash compares Yosef’s rebuke and the rebuke on the final day of judgment. They are fundamentally the same.

We can prevent the rebuke and our resulting shame by internalizing the understanding that everything around us and everything that happens to us are tools that God gave us in order to use to accomplish His will and come close to Him. On the day of judgment we will be able to stand before God, not in shame, but proudly having used these tools for their fundamental and ultimate purposes. Amen.

VaYigash 5631 First Ma'amar

At the end of parshas Mikeitz, Yosef frames his younger brother Binyamin. He decides that as a punishment he will keep Binyamin as a servant and free the rest of his brothers. In the beginning of our parsha, Yehudah tries to convince Yosef to take him instead of Binyamin. To this end he recounts the sequence of events from the brothers’ initial encounter with Yosef to the present.

The question that immediately presents itself is that Yehudah’s argument adds nothing that is not already known. He simply recounts the events leading up to the current situation. What is the point of this?

To answer this question it will help to first understand the fundamental difference between Yosef and Yehudah in their approach to serving God. In the second ma’amar of parshas VaYeishev 5631 the Sfas Emes explains, in the name of his grandfather the Chidushei HaRim that Yosef and Yehudah are archetypes of different kinds of tzadikim. Yosef was completely dedicated to God. In this sense, he was removed from the mundane. Yosef saw the Godliness that gives life to everything physical. In fact, the Sfas Emes tells us that Yosef actually represents this hidden Godliness. The Torah calls him the most consecrated of his brothers (Breishis 49:26). Yehudah, on the other hand, revealed the holiness in the mundane. The Torah tells us, regarding Yehudah, “May God hear Yehudah’s voice and bring him to his people.” (Devarim 33:7) The Chidushei HaRim understands this as an allusion to Yehudah bringing God to His people.

There are tzadikim who do not have many followers. They are very holy and removed from the world around them. This is Yosef’s approach. On the other hand, there are tzadikim who have many followers. Their work is in influencing as many people as possible. They bring holiness into the mundane. This is Yehudah’s approach.

What did Yehudah gain by simply rehashing the recent events? The Chidushei HaRim explains that Jews are called Yehudim in Hebrew, after Yehudah. The name Yehudah comes from the root word hoda’a which means “thanks” and “admission.” Jews are called Yehudim because we thank God for everything, large and small. We know that everything comes from Him.

Yehudah understood that everything, even the most difficult situation, is from God. Yehudah knew that to be saved he would have to approach the level of Yosef. On this level he was able to approach Yosef, who represented the actual Godliness hidden in this world. The way he raised himself to Yosef’s level was by repeating the sequence of events leading to the present difficult situation, admitting and accepting, at each step, that it was all from God. The hidden Godliness within the events was thus revealed. The greatest good we can aspire to, is coming close to God himself. Therefore, revelation itself is redemption. That is why immediately following Yehudah’s argument, the Torah tells us that Yosef was no longer able to contain himself and he revealed himself to his brothers. Once the Godliness was revealed, the brothers were saved.

The Torah is teaching us an important lesson. Any time we find ourselves in a difficult situation, we have the tools with which to save ourselves. We need to first understand that God is hidden in even the most difficult circumstances. Even if a person thinks that his own mistakes caused his current situation, (the Torah tells us that Yosef’s brothers blamed themselves for their predicament) when he recognizes that God is the life giving force behind his predicament and asks God for help, he will be answered.

Mikeitz 5631 End of Second Ma'amar

It is possible that Pharaoh’s dreams were also meant to prepare Yosef for the coming exile. In fact, the Midrash tells us that in the merit of Yosef, we were stringent regarding illicit relations, no mean feat in decadent Egypt. The Midrash says that this is one of the qualities we exhibited to be worthy of redemption.

Yosef represented the ability to find enlightenment even from within the spiritual concealment which typified ancient Egypt. Yosef is referred to as שומר הברית/shomer habris/keeper of the covenant. Conventionally this is a reference to his overcoming the temptation presented to him by his master Potiphar’s wife. However, when we think about the fundamental definition of a covenant we come to realize that this concept has broader applications. A covenant defines a relationship. It is the point at which two people or entities connect. In the case of the relationship between God and the Creation the point of connection is the spiritual essence that God sent into the physical Creation to give it life and existence. This spiritual essence is the sign that there is a relationship between the Creation and God. Accordingly, Yosef was a שומר הברית/shomer habris/keeper of the covenant in the sense that he connected to God by concentration on the spiritual essence of everything he did. He did this by subjugating his own desires before God’s in everything he did. This quality of Yosef was necessary to ameliorate the effects of the exile in Egypt. Indeed, the Midrash says that the exile of Egypt began only when we stopped keeping the covenant. When we stopped keeping the covenant, a new king arose in Egypt who decreed new decrees. The plain meaning of the Midrash refers to the covenant of circumcision. According to the Sfas Emes, though, the deeper meaning of the Midrash hints to the covenant defining our relationship with God.

This aspect of Yosef is a useful tool to help us find spiritual enlightenment not only in exile but also in any situation which is not ideally conducive to this. For example, it can be applied to lighting up our weekdays in spite of our daily distractions. How do we do this? Most of our actions during the week are spiritually neutral. In conventional terms we would not consider them to be mitzvos. We eat. We go to work. We relate to our spouses and family. However, depending upon our intent in the course of our daily activities, we have the ability to transform everything that we do into a mitzvah. Our intent enables us to find the spiritual essence hiding within every physical activity. The Sfas Emes explains that by subordinating our own desires and thinking instead about raising ourselves spiritually and coming close to God, we can all find the spiritual essence within everything we do.

The Sfas Emes explains this spiritual essence, its concealment and revelation, in terms of the days of the week and Shabbos. The concept of Shabbos is a revelation of the spiritual that is within the physical. By contemplating our actions beforehand we can find this concept during the week as well. The difference between Shabbos and the weekdays is that during the week finding this spirituality requires work whereas on Shabbos it is much easier if we are open to it.

We see this concept in a pasuk in Yechezkel referring to the third Beis HaMikdash, “שער החצר הפנימית הפונה קדים יהיה סגור ששת ימי המעשה וביום השבת יפתח וביום החדש יפתח/Sha’ar hechatzeir hapenimis haponeh kadim yehiyeh sagur sheishes yemei hama’aseh uvayom haShabbos yepasei’ach uveyom hachodesh yepasei’ach/The inner courtyard gate that faces east will be closed during the six workdays but on Shabbos it will be opened and on Rosh Chodesh it will be opened.” The gates of the temple opening and closing connote spiritual gates opening and closing. On Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh there is a spiritual revelation that we don’t find naturally during the week. According to the Sfas Emes, this pasuk is not only referring to the day of Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh. It is referring to the concept of spiritual revelation exemplified by Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh. In this sense, we can experience an aspect of Shabbos during the week as well.

We’ve seen that experiencing the concept of Shabbos entails contemplating coming close to God through our daily activities. What is the concept of Rosh Chodesh? Rosh Chodesh represents renewal. The Sfas Emes explains that Rosh Chodesh represents faith that in nature there is a continuous renewal of the continuing existence of the Creation.

Living our lives within the natural world, it is easy to become lulled into thinking that there is no renewal at all. Our observation of nature leads us to this conclusion. Today is the same as yesterday and yesterday was the same as the day before. Shlomo HaMelech wrote in Koheles, “אין כל חדש תחת השמש/Ein kol chadash tachas hashemesh/There is nothing new under the sun.” “Under the sun” is a metaphor for the natural world. Shlomo HaMelech is making our point. He is teaching us that within the natural world there is no indication of renewal. The inference is that “above the sun” – outside of nature – there is renewal. The Sfas Emes explains this as an allusion to the aspect of Shabbos that represents subordination to God’s will and the aspect of Rosh Chodesh that represents faith in continuous renewal. These are certainly qualities that transcend the natural world around us.

The idea of “שומר הברית/shomer habris/keeper of the covenant” includes both these concepts. When we desire to do God's will in our everyday activities and cultivate an understanding that because of the continuous renewal of the Creation, each moment is an opportunity to renew ourselves, we are emulating Yosef. This is a powerful tool. Applying it can transform our lives.