YOSEF COULD NO LONGER RESTRAIN HIMSELF IN THE PRESENCE OF ALL WHO WERE STATIONED AROUND HIM, HE CALLED OUT: HAVE EVERYONE LEAVE ME! SO NO ONE STOOD IN ATTENDANCE UPON HIM WHEN YOSEF MADE HIMSELF KNOWN TO HIS BROTHERS. HE PUT FORTH HIS VOICE IN WEEPING: THE EGYPTIANS HEARD, PHARAOH'S HOUSEHOLD HEARD. THEN YOSEF SAID TO HIS BROTHERS: I AM YOSEF. IS MY FATHER STILL ALIVE? BUT HIS BROTHERS WERE NOT ABLE TO ANSWER HIM, FOR THEY WERE CONFOUNDED IN HIS PRESENCE. YOSEF SAID TO HIS BROTHERS; PRAY COME CLOSE TO ME! THEY CAME CLOSE. HE SAID: I AM YOSEF YOUR BROTHER, WHOM YOU SOLD INTO EGYPT. BUT NOW, DO NOT BE PAINED, AND DO NOT BE UPSET THAT YOU SOLD ME HERE!

 (Bereishit 45:1-5)

 

Reconciliation - Choice or Necessity of Circumstance

"If only it could be as with a brother, as if you had nursed at my mother's breast" (Song of Songs 8:1) - In the distant future, when The Holy One, Blessed Be He, will reconcile with Knesset Yisrael, she will say to Him: Master of the Universe, how shall I be comforted for the fact that you did not treat me even as flesh and blood? Yosef, of flesh and blood, even though his brothers had treated him badly, did not take revenge. When they came to him, he extended them mercy, as is written "Yosef could not restrain himself" - but You, You did not have mercy upon me; you set aside the qualities attributed to you "A merciful and forgiving God."

 (Yalkut Shimoni, Eicha 247: 1031)

 

"Yosef could no longer control himself before all his attendants" - this means that he wanted to control himself and to bring Yaakov in order to fulfill "the sun and the moon... bow down to him" - and he should not have pitied them, just as they did not pity him when he pleaded with them. But it was not proper [to repay their callousness] in the presence of his attendants who were not aware of the whole story, and he would have seemed to be cruel, unforgiving and evil. Yosef could not control himself because of [the presence] of all the attendants.

 (Meshech Chochma, Bereishit 45:1)

 

 

YUDIM (Tens)

Hayyim Rubenstein

 

On Yud Tishrei

My innocence died

 

On Yud-Bet in Cheshvan

My soul was cut off.

 

On Yud Tevet

My wall was breached.

And on Yud-Bet of the month,

My grandmother died.

 

Between Yud and Yud

My days were filled

With Kaddish prayers.

Decrees on the rains,

And on life.

 

The blow delivered

By the tip of a yud¹

Rent asunder

Het yud yud final mem² - final.

 

Yud hypen yud...

Merciful and forgiving G-d,

Who creates the peace on high,

Forgive our iniquity and our sin,

And make us your inheritance.

Dawn of Yud-bet Cheshvan, 5757

 

1. "Kotzo shel Yud" ­- the tip of the Yud - a metaphor for something or someone of little significance

2. Letters of "hayyim" - "life".

 

 

 

"ALTHOUGH YOU INTENDED ME HARM,

GOD INTENDED IT FOR GOOD,

SO AS TO BRING ABOUT THE PRESENT RESULT -

THE SURVIVAL OF MANY PEOPLE."

Hayyim Rubenstein

           

Yosef's cries echo throughout this parasha; cries of sorrow are replaced by cries of frustration, cries of loss, cries of mercy. There are many kinds of crying in our world, and Yosef took a bit of each.

The brothers' estrangement from Yosef grew with the years. From the day when he revealed his dreams to them until the day after they materialized, the brothers hated him, and could not swallow their pride. Even the firstborn, the brothers' conscience, torn between his duty to his father and his social commitment to his brothers, was unable to overcome his feelings of aversion towards his brother.

Yosef tries to speak with his brothers. He shares his dreams with them. He tries to bring them close to his unique point of view. His brothers alienate themselves from him. They sell him to strangers. His brothers are unable to face his colors, so bright in their difference. "And they hated him and could not speak with him in peace." (Bereishit 37:4)

Yosef dwells alone. An individualist. A non-conformist. Different. A dreamer. Mocked. Rejected. It is difficult for the brothers to accept that davka he - Yosef - saw further ahead than did they. He survived tremendous difficulties; he withstood temptations. Second to the king. "They recognized him not."

He knocks at their door - there is no answer. Taps - no response. Yosef tries every door, every window. No entry. His brothers speak with him. "They did not know that Yosef understood". And thus at the time of his being sold, "when he pleaded with us and we did not listen."

Yosef's cry is his righteousness. His triumph over his passion was a one-time dramatic event. His crying was protracted. Tzadikkim are not revealed through miracles, with loud ballyhoo. The actions of the tzaddikim are performed in secret. In a soft voice. Between them and their Creator. Yosef's righteousness is uncovered only following contemplation of his crying. Davka in his lack of self-control.

Yosef's crying is the cry of one who believes in the justice of his way. The non-conformist. One who lives the tension between the certainty and the clarity, and the social pressures. Between the inner voice and the external derision. He succeeds in different surroundings, unfamiliar ones; he longs for the familiar environment, the contradictory one. The painful one. His dreams are realized in Egypt, and his heart is with his father. He names his son Menashe. After the past.

Yosef cried for the first time not after his sale to foreigners. Not in prison, and not with his deliverance. His first cry was one of separation. Of frustration. The cry of lack of communication, of contact. "He turned away from them and wept. But he came back to them." Yosef, whose brothers had made him a stranger when they sold him to a stranger, turns to them in the tongue of the strangers. In harsh language. The language of power. "When Yosef saw his brothers, he recognized them; but he acted like a stranger toward them and spoke harshly to them." They do not understand his language, its allusions. They are not open to his world. The conversation continues to be a dialogue between strangers. "Yosef recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him... He turned away... and wept... but he came back to them..." A cry of separation.

The second cry was one of longing. "With that, Yosef hurried out, for he was overcome with feeling toward his brothers and was on the verge of tears; he went into a room and wept there. Then he washed his face, reappeared, and - now in control of himself - gave the order, "Serve the meal." (Bereishit 43:30-31). His heart goes out to his brother. To his brothers. Again... distancing, crying, and return. Demonstration of routine. The passage stresses that the crying is the result of lack of control. Before and after the cry, he wears the cloak of the king's second-in-command who is used to daily affairs. "... gave the order, "Serve the meal". His longing for his brothers is preceded by his yearning for his aged father. "How is your aged father of whom you spoke? Is he still in good health?" The crying, more than anything else, expresses the Yosef who is beneath the royal garb. Yosef, the youngster who used to tend the sheep along with his brothers. Who longs for his brothers.

The third cry is the cry of release. Of removing the cloak. The setting aside of the foreign covering. The emotional attempt, warm and overflowing, to join his brothers in love. "Yosef could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, "Have everyone withdraw from me!" so there was no one else about when Yosef made himself known to his brothers. His sobs were so loud that the Egyptians could hear, and so the news reached Pharaoh's palace. Yosef said to his brothers, "I am Yosef. Is my father still well?" But his brothers could not answer him, so dumbfounded were they on account of him." (Ibid. 45:1-3) " His disclosure is personal - flowing from his pounding heart. He is alone with his brothers. Egypt, Pharaoh's household, all the world, hears his cry. Understands its meaning. "Egypt heard" - but not his brothers. Their alienation seals their ears. Even after he explains his words "I am Yosef", they react with confusion. Emotionally they are still separated from him. Estranged. He continues "Come forward to me", pleading, in his attempt to bring them closer. "They came forward". Cold. Frozen. They approach as though forced by a demon.

In the passages which follow, the feeling of coercion is intensified: "he fell upon the neck of his brother Binyamin and wept, and Binyamin wept on his neck; He kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; only then were his brothers able to talk to him. The news reached Pharaoh's palace." The hearts of Yosef and Binyamin are united. Torrents of tears on their necks. The cry of lovers who meet after a long separation. A cry of clinging and integration. The rest of his brothers, despite his kiss and his weeping, "speak with him". They do not fall upon his neck. He, second to the king, clothed in colorful clothes and all the regal glory, removes the outer signs, the alienating emblems, opens his heart, steps down to them, kisses and cries, kisses and cries. They reply with few words. His brothers "spoke with him."

Pharaoh's household hears the voices, loves Yosef and opens its gates before the objects of his love. But facing them they find the locked door of his brothers.

His warm heart cries in similar fashion when he meets his father. "Yosef hitched his chariot and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel; he presented himself to him and, falling upon his neck, he wept on his neck a good while" - informing you that his cry characterized his true love. The purity of his emotions. Those which he demonstrates before his father, whose love is mentioned at the outset of the story, the love for Benjamin woven throughout the story, and his overture to his brothers which is met with extended rejection.

Extended rejection is to be found also at the end of parashat Vayechi, following his father's death (there the crying is one of pain and departure) as they accuse him. "When Yosef's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "What if Yosef stills bears a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrong that we did him?" So they sent this message to Yosef, "Before his death your father left this instruction: So shall you say to Yosef, "Forgive, I urge you, the offense and guilt of your brothers who treated so harshly". Therefore, please forgive the offense of the servants of the God of your fathers." And Yosef was in tears as they spoke to him. (Ibid., 50:15-17)

The suspicion and fear of Yosef did not surrender their place to love, friendship, and affection. The feelings that were woven between them in their youth, continued to into adulthood. Yosef did not succeed in breaking through to their hearts. This is the meaning of his last crying. A cry of disappointment and frustration. The cry of the tzaddik who persists loving them even in the face of their animosity. Their envy.

If only the cry of the tzaddik could penetrate our hearts in days of dissension between brothers. Days of internal hatred, when the flames of controversy burn in our midst. His quite sobbing teaches us that in the dark of the forest, there are many paths to the truth, all leading to our God. "Train a lad in the way he ought to go", for each one has a way of his own. Not always can we discern it as we walk our own private path. Truth has many faces, and in order to see them we can be assisted by the love embodied in Yosef's tears. Even him whom we estrange. Who looks like a stranger. The one who is dressed in the coat of many colors is our brother, Yosef.

Yosef, so mistreated by his brothers, when he sees them standing in distress he cannot repress his mercies for them; his eyes well up with tears. Yosef cannot control himself for his compassion for his brothers is aroused, and he wants to cry, and he goes into his room and weeps there. But Esav was not overcome with pity for his brother: "For pursuing his brother with a sword" (Amos 1:11)

Hayyim Rubinstein is involved in education

 

 

Readers write:

I was astonished to read a quotation by Prof. Moshe Halbertal from the pamphlet "The Temple Mount - Compromise in the Eye of the Storm" (Shabbat Shalom", Parashat Vayetzeh)

These words are in the category of "He [the claimant] claimed barley, but he [the defendant] admitted to wheat." Halbertal argues "How is it possible to claim ownership over a place where one may not trod." I wonder - what's the connection? What's the connection between the laws which prohibit physical access to the holy site (because of ritual impurity) and the issue of sovereignty?

How absurd! Davka in Parashat Vayetzeh we find God saying to the slumbering and dreaming Yaakov at the site due to become the Temple mount: "The land on which you lie I will give to you." What is this if not the promise of sovereignty?

Furthermore, our Sages determined that there are three places over which the nations cannot charge us with robbery - The Temple Mount - which was purchased by David - the Cave of Machpelah - purchased by Avraham - and Shechem - purchased by Yaakov.

What is this if not a guideline for understanding the following: True, we desire universality, we yearn for peace and unity - but these can be successfully realized only through the Jewish nation dwelling proudly in its land, and the world - accepting Israel's centrality - embracing its function as mediator, the channel through which flow sanctity and spirit to the entire world.

King Solomon, in his speech at the Temple inauguration, clearly expressed its threefold nature - religious, national, and universal. It is a spiritual magnet for all humanity, a crown of Israel's nationality, and an open universal fount for all peoples (I Kings, 8)

The raising of the banner of universality on the Temple Mount, while removing our national flag from it, is in the category of "setting a graven image in the sanctuary." Turning the holy site - whose potential for holiness can be realized only if it be under the spiritual and political sovereignty of the Jewish people - into (as per Prof. Halbertal) "a field for manipulation in international conflict", is to transform weakness into an ideal. Prof. Halbertal would have done well to admit that the desired ideal is that which is clearly delineated by God's promise in Yaakov's dream; only we, in our weakness, and because of regional and worldwide political tensions, are unable - and perhaps should not - realize our rightful claim to the mount, but rather wait patiently until... the days of Mashiach for realization of the entire vision.

                                                                                                Rabbi Yoram Cohen-Ohr

                                                                                                Tushia

 

Editor's comment:

Prof. Halbertal's "Temple Mount - Compromise in the Eye of the Storm", published by the Ihr Shalom Assoc., P.O.B. 8159, Yerushalayim, (02-5660648) should be read in its entirety in order to fully understand his thesis.

In any case, we certainly agree with Rabbi Cohen-Ohr, that we should not realize our rights to the Mount at this time. This declaration - as opposed to the tendency of certain sectors of our population "lidchot et haketz", to"speed up the redemption" - conforms to the opinion of the overwhelming majority of Israel's great sages.

We published a section of Prof. Halbertal's article that presents an interesting thesis that differentiates between sovereignty and sanctity; holiness is not dependent upon sovereignty and sovereignty does not add holiness. In the words of Chief Rabbi Bakshi-Doron quoted in the same pamphlet:

"We must act so as to insure that all the political arguments between us be resolved through honest negotiation, through understanding and mutual respect, justice and equality, in the recognition of the need to protect the rights of every man and every nation. It is important on this occasion and for the sake of peace, that we again clarify our approach to the holy sites. We should try to insure that sites which are dear and holy to Moslems, Christians, and Jews not be cause for conflict and struggle, not be exploited as ammunition in the hands of those who fight peace".

These important words teach us an important chapter about holiness that is incompatible with physical struggle.

 

 

 

 

Editorial Board: Pinchas Leiser (Editor), Miriam Fine (Coordinator), Itzhak Frankenthal and Dr. Menachem Klein

Translation: Kadish Goldberg

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