AIMeM Torah would like to wish all our readers a Happy Chanukah!
Parshas Mikeitz finds Yosef in the
complete opposite situation from last week’s parsha. After correctly
interpreting the dreams of Paroh, Yosef is raised to second-in-command of Egypt
with total control over all functions of the kingdom. His main assignment was
to prepare for the upcoming seven-year famine which he had predicted. With this
foreknowledge and a plan, Yosef built Egypt into the wealthiest country in the
World; people from every country came to Egypt to purchase food.
Eventually, Yaakov’s sons make their way
down to Egypt. Yosef had prepared for this and had them gathered up and brought
to his palace. He then proceeded to put them through an emotional ordeal by first
accusing them of being spies and forcing them to return to Eretz Yisrael to
bring back Binyamin to prove their innocence. In the meantime, he kept Shimon in
jail as a hostage. What was the reason for this whole charade? Yosef must have
known it would be difficult for his father to let Binyamin, his only remaining
reminder of Rachel, leave his side for an extended period of time. Also, with
all the tortures his brothers put him through when selling him as a slave, did
that mean Yosef allowed to take revenge on them now? Why did he put Yaakov and
his brothers through this torment?
The Ramban explains based on the pasuk, “וַיִּזְכֹּ֣ר
יוֹסֵ֔ף אֵ֚ת הַֽחֲלֹמ֔וֹת אֲשֶׁ֥ר חָלַ֖ם לָהֶ֑ם” “And Yosef
remembered the dreams that he had dreamed about them (his brothers) (Bereishis
42:9). When Yosef saw his brothers bowing down to him, he recalled the dreams
from his youth, the ones they had all interpreted to mean that he would one day
rule over his brothers. However, when the brothers first appeared in front of
him, the dream was not completely fulfilled; according to his dream, all eleven
of his brothers had to bow down to him, so he had to have Binyamin brought down
as well. Once Binyamin arrived and all eleven brothers bowed down to him, Yosef
was ready to move on to the second dream which included his father bowing down
to him, and sent for Yaakov to come down to Egypt. The Ramban acknowledges that
this whole episode must have been torture for the family, but he declares that
it was worth it so that the dreams should be fulfilled.
The question is obvious: was it that
important that the dreams be fulfilled to the exact detail that Yosef had to
torture his brothers, and worse, his father? Chazal teach us that in every
dream, even in the most true ones, there is a part which is not true. Why couldn’t
Yosef chalk up Binyamin not being there to that principle? What is the big deal
about his dreams?
I came across a number of answers, but
one that stood out to me comes from Rav Yaakov Kaminetzky. He explains that it wasn’t
specifically about the dreams that made Yosef go through this entire process.
There was a lesson he had to teach his brothers which even after all the years
of his being gone, they still hadn’t learned. The brothers were wise men who
acted only for the sake of Hashem. When they observed Yosef’s behavior as a
youth, how he preened himself, and entertained (in their minds) delusions of
grandeur, they felt he was threatening the long-term future of the family culture
they had carefully constructed. After all, this was not a group of simple shepherds,
they were to be the founders of the great Nation of Hashem! Therefore, without
even consulting their father, they put together a Beis Din and sentenced him.
This was no kangaroo court, however; they had a fair judgement, and based on
their observations, came out with a fair ruling. However, they were clearly
mistaken; and even all these years later, while they felt bad for their father,
they still felt they had made the correct decision in regards to Yosef.
Yosef wanted to teach his brothers a
lesson that went beyond just him, that even though they were great men, they
could still make a mistake in their initial, simple assumptions. It was
possible to have a fair and impartial judgement, but if the assumption was
incorrect, the whole idea would be incorrect. Until they went through all the
tortures in this week’s parsha, they had never entertained this possibility. It
was so important to show them this, that he made sure every detail of the dream
was exactly the way it had been foreseen, just to make sure this point was
illustrated to the fullest. And his planned worked, as it says in the pasuk, “וַיֹּֽאמְר֞וּ
אִ֣ישׁ אֶל־אָחִ֗יו אֲבָל֘ אֲשֵׁמִ֣ים | אֲנַ֘חְנוּ֘ עַל־אָחִ֒ינוּ֒ אֲשֶׁ֨ר
רָאִ֜ינוּ צָרַ֥ת נַפְשׁ֛וֹ בְּהִתְחַֽנְנ֥וֹ אֵלֵ֖ינוּ וְלֹ֣א שָׁמָ֑עְנוּ
עַל־כֵּן֙ בָּ֣אָה אֵלֵ֔ינוּ הַצָּרָ֖ה הַזֹּֽאת” “And they said to one another, ‘Indeed, we are guilty for
our brother, that we witnessed the distress of his soul when he begged us, and
we did not listen. That is why this trouble has come upon us.” (Ibid 21).
Shabbat Shalom!
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