Parshat Vayeishev 5783
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in this week’s parsha the tension between Yosef and his brothers. The pasuk says (Chapter 37, Pasuk 2), ויבא יוסף את דבתם רעה אל אביהם; Yosef told his father the bad things his brothers were doing. The Sfas Emes asks, but Yosef was known as Yosef HaTzadik. The role of the Tzadik, or a leader of Clal Yisrael, is to say good things and advocate for his people. Moshe Rabbeinu, for example, prayed for Bnei Yisrael when they were in trouble, and always argued in their merit. If Yosef was a Tzadik, why was he doing the opposite and presenting their shortcomings to their father instead?
The previous words in the pasuk quoted above state, והוא נער את בני בלהה ואת בני זלפה נשי אביו. The simple meaning is that Yosef was friends with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah. But Rashi notes the word נער, which means youth, and comments,יה עושה מעשה נערות. מתקן בשערו ממשמש בעיניו כדי שיהיה נראה יפה. The word נער indicates that Yosef did immature things, like playing with his hair and his eyes in order to look nice.
The Chidushei Harim states very strongly that one should not understand the words of Chazal quoted by Rashi literally, that Yosef was constantly trying to beautify himself. Rather, Rashi is teaching that Yosef, at this point in his life, was overly focused on the external. He was concerned mainly on fixing his outward appearance. And for a person of his stature, this was clearly מעשה נערות.
The Sfas Emes elaborates and teaches that just as we all progress and develop in life, so does the Tzadik. And when Yosef was at home with his brothers, just as he was focused on his own externals, he viewed his brothers through the same lens. This is why he spoke poorly about his brothers. He hadn’t reached the level of what the Zohar Hakadosh calls Tzadik Elyon until he was in the house of Potiphar. Until he was confronted with Potiphar’s wife he didn’t truly earn the title of Yosef HaTzadik. At that moment, he looked into himself and his essence, and recalled he was the בן זקונים of Yaakov Avinu. From that point on, he viewed himself differently and was able to view others more complexly, and see the true essence of who they were. Yosef fulfilled the pasuk of (Tehillim, Chapter 37, Pasuk 25), נער הייתי וגם זקנתי. If Yosef began doing מעשה נערות, he ultimately reached the point of the wisdom of זקנה. As the Torah refers to him in next week’s parsha (Chapter 41, Pasuk 43), אברך. Yosef was אב בחכמה ורק בשנים. Though young in years, he achieved great understanding through his experiences.
The Imrei Emes, quoting his father the Sfas Emes, makes a very profound statement. The pasuk in Tehillim states (Chapter 106, Pasuk 2), מי ימלל גבורות ד' ישמיע כל תהלתו. We are fully incapable of properly stating all the praises of Hashem. In a similar fashion, no one truly understands all the ways Clal Yisrael are constantly being מקדש שם שמים, both publicly and privately. We have no true understanding of the depth and the greatness of what appears to be a simple Jew. One needs to be a צדיק עליון, as Yosef became, in order to truly understand this. And then one can properly advocate for Clal Yisrael.
One major aspect of Galus Yavan was their attempt to blur the distinction between themselves and Clal Yisrael. And even more so, they claimed to be the replacement and the “new Israel”. As the Medrash Rabbah on Bereishis (2,7) states, כתבו לכם על קרן השור שאין לכם חלק באלוקי ישראל. And one mitzvah the Hellenists were particularly disdainful of and prohibited was Bris Milah, the mitzvah which focuses on the special relationship between Hashem and Clal Yisrael.
The Ohr Gedalyahu teaches that Galus Yavan was paralleled by the challenge of Yaakov with his daughter Dinah and the people of Shechem; צרת דינה. And here again, they thought that by giving themselves a Bris Milah, they would be equivalent to the Jewish people. But they were wrong; Milah is one thing, but the spiritual connection between the Jew and Gd is much deeper than that. As the Imrei Emes teaches, being a Jew is based on a very deep and fundamental connection, and not on a physical act alone. And this is what the lesson of Yosef was; to see beyond the external and understand that we don’t even begin to fathom the devotion and the greatness of Clal Yisrael, the tribes of Israel.
Good Shabbos and Chanukah Sameach
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