"Advice of the heart is like deep water," this alludes to Yehudah; "and the wise man draws them up," this refers to Yosef (Zohar 201b).
VaYigash
Reb Shlomo Minyan HarNof
(R. Raphael, email: [email protected])
One People, Many Paths
Take one piece of wood and write on it, "For Yehudah and the children of Israel"�and take another piece of wood and write on it, "For Yosef the stem of Ephraim and the whole house of Yisrael�and bring them near to one another so they become joined in one stem united in one union �"(from the parashah's haftorah, Yehezkiel 37:15-17).
Yosef knew that the brothers had done teshuvah when they came before him having accepted the leadership of Yehudah. We can understand what this means when we see that the struggle between Yosef and his brothers came from the fact that Yosef's Divinely decreed mission was to be the tzaddik whose holiness could draw the multiplicity of tribes to Hashem. This conflicted with the notion of the brothers, who held that each of the tribes had its particular individuality with which it would serve Gd.
From a "Heavenly perspective" Yosef's way was the true one, but Klal Yisrael saw things according to the tribes. And really both are true. Because in the end it was only through the holiness of Yosef the tzaddik that each of the tribes merited to find its particular place. The intention of the brothers was always to find unity amongst themselves. If Yosef would have found that they were capable of this unity on their own he would never have argued with them. But in fact they were only able to come to unity through the power of Yosef the one that could unite all the individual paths of Klal Yisrael.
When the brothers submitted to Yehudah and then Yehudah turned to Yosef, the midrash says they all approached, one by one. This represents the coming together of two different kinds of unity as we've said, the unity in oneness through Yehudah as he approaches Yosef and the unity of many as the twelve tribes constellated around Yehudah. Seeing them arrayed there before him in their individuality united around Yehudah, Yosef could not hold back. He saw that there was unity between them and assented to their words.
"Yehudah approached him." Yehudah is related to the word to acknowledge, admit or thank - "hoda'ah." This is why the Jewish people are called Yehudim, because we are a people that turns to Hashem to acknowledging that everything, whether small or great, comes from Him. And this is what enables us to approach (yigash) the Creator. Because even in a time of suffering when the light of Hashem's face is hidden, we can start again, accepting Hashem's will, and clarifying within ourselves that even in the hiddenness we are receiving our life only through the will of Hashem. Thus, we can read the pasuk when it says that "Yehudah approached him," as meaning that in the midst of the darkness of what was happening in Mitzrayim he submitted to the will of Hashem.
And this is called approaching Yosef, the innermost point that is coming from Hashem. At this point Yehudah was in terrible confusion, not knowing what he must do or say to reach the Viceroy of Mitzrayim. Yehudah separates himself at that moment and turned towards Hashem. He reached this, not by adding more requests to be rescued by Hashem, but by looking to himself in the situation and accepting the will of Hashem in fullness. And through turning to Hashem in this way there was an opening from above, revealing the innermost intent of what was happening as it says, "Yosef could not restrain himself": he revealed his innermost intention.
Thus, when Yehudah approached Yosef he said, "If you would listen, my Master" (Adoni), which alludes to the name of Hashem, Adnut which represents Gd's rulership in this world. Yehudah accepted that what was happening around him was Hashem's running the world. And the name of Yehudah has all the letters of the name Havayeh (plus a dalet which makes itself poor to receive from above). The name Havayeh represents Hashem's innermost intent in ruling the world associated with the aspect of mercy, kindness. These two names refer to what it says in the pasuk, "On that day He will be one, and His name one." Because name refers to how Hashem is manifest, and in the future, through our acknowledgment the world will fully radiate the light of Hashem's inner intention. Until that time we can experience this as individuals by coming to an awareness of Hashem even at times when we feel distant. Finding this illumination through faith in times of darkness is called "plowing," digging down in order to find Hashem's presence within. When we do that then Hashem "harvests," returning things to their source. And this is what it means that Yehudah approached. That through opening himself in his faith, he was drawn to the aspect of Yosef who is called nazir, separated for Hashem, above the level of nature. And this is what it means that Hashem promised he would descend with Yaakov to Mitzrayim and go up with him. That through our surrender we can attach ourselves to the source which reaches down in the aspect of Yosef, arousing the redemption. This is the secret of placing together redemption and prayer. That through making ourselves aware of the inner intention we arouse the redemption through our prayer. And Yehudah was able to break through because he put himself aside. He made a completely honest judgment of himself before Yosef. So also we must deal with our sins honestly and submit to Hashem's truth. Then we can make our requests for His help and our prayers to be saved will be answered (Sefat Emet 245-6).
An Inner Need To Tell The Story - The Power Of Truth
When a family splits up there are two ways of coming together. One is to for the brother that left to come home. The other is for those who claim to represent the sanctity of the home to join the other in exile. Maybe a home that's broken is already a kind of exile even for those that stay. The brokenness persists. There can be no going home at this point. What was torn cannot yet be made whole. The first part of healing is acknowledging the wound.
"I will have sinned�How can I go back�I cannot bear to see�" (Bereishit 44:32-34)
The wound is acknowledged when there is an initial crisis. The circumstance of famine brought the brothers guiltily to Mitzrayim. But it is the imprisoning of Benyamin, the last beloved son of Rachel, that dredges up what the brothers did when they removed Yosef from his father Yaakov causing him grievous pain. His depression dimmed almost to extinction his prophetic vision. Now, if Benyamin does not return home, the last Patriarch will die of a broken heart.
Of all the brothers it is Yehudah who has the courage to grasp the moment. Almost absurdly, he steps up to the all-powerful viceroy of Mitzrayim, Yosef, and begins to pour out his heart in a very intimate way. It is not a speech of reason. It is not a speech of justification. It reaches to a totally different level - the level of the necessity of family and truth and taking the utmost responsibility for what will be even when he is confronting the most powerful man in Mitzrayim.
And what of Yosef's responsibility? Yosef has stayed away for twenty-two years. What he has subjected his family to is almost unforgivable...if not for the goal he intended to reach with Hashem's help.
Hidden Closeness
"Please, Your Highness, let me say something to you personally" (Yehudah to Yosef in Bereishit 44:18).
Yosef has two - very distinct - faces. He is all-powerful ruler of Mitzrayim and he is spiritual leader of the holy family of Yaakov. In neither of these roles is Yosef recognized for what he is. As ruler of Mitzrayim, the brothers have no notion that the man standing before them is Yosef. And as far as his role as spiritual leader�the brothers put an end to that long ago.
But it is precisely in the hiddenness of these roles that Yosef is able to bring about a revelation of who he really is. While Yosef navigates his course, trying to reunite the family, he uses the ship of state to arrive there. His camouflage is supreme and his hidden agenda goes undetected. And even as the brothers continue to be unaware of who Yosef really is, they are drawn ineluctably towards the meeting point of what is inner and what is outer both in Yosef and in themselves.
Only by holding himself back from the overpowering familiarity with his brothers is he able to bring them to where they need to be. But all the time there is tension between the two roles Yosef plays. On the one hand, as viceroy of Mitzrayim he is distant and strange to his family and to the expression of self. As leader and sustainer of his family he is secretly within himself familiar and close. Yosef is required to maintain both of these faces through the duration of his exile from his family.
When Yehudah offers to become enslaved to viceroy-Yosef in order to save his half brother Benyamin, the past and present finally come together. Yehudah's action redeems the sale of Yosef that occurred so many years ago. When he is ready to give himself in order to save Benyamin and enslave himself as Yosef had been enslaved, then there is a healing in the depth of judgment and repair.
Touching Essence
"And Yosef could not restrain himself" (Bereishit 45:1)
Much of the story of Yosef and his brothers is a tale of waiting: things must reach the right moment. Like a bow string being drawn, the disunity of a family whose deepest essence is to be unified, creates a mounting tension that, more and more, begs resolution. Yosef's plan only works because he is able to withhold himself from his family. This withholding is Yosef's strength, the strength of the tzaddik. His ability to hold himself back from the temptation of Potiphara is paralleled now in holding himself back from revealing himself to his brothers. For Yosef's ability to remain distant is the very thing that brings the brothers to teshuvah.
Why does Yosef cry? While Yosef has been posturing in his role as viceroy of Mitzrayim, his heart yearns to be reunited with his family. Holding opposites demands release and expression. When he moves to straightforwardly face his family, his body is wracked with weeping.
Yosef does not decide to reveal himself because he has arrived at some preconceived point. He is not a machine. The Sefat Emet makes this clear when he says that Yosef could have achieved more if he had held on longer. But Yosef is trying with all his being to give a human expression to a spiritual aspiration. Yosef aspires to bring a holy family to complete unity.
Still, he is also a human being who is capable of being overcome by the humanness of the situation. That is the power of the story. The confrontation within Yosef of powerful feelings - feelings of closeness and the need to express himself outwardly - pitted against an overriding demand for distance, formality and self-control in order to fulfill the goal - these are the two poles that are stretched to breaking point in trying to achieve a complete expression.
The Goal Is Always Above Time
"You must hurry and go back to my father" (Bereishit 45:9). "Hurry and bring father here" (Bereishit 44:13).
After waiting for all those years, how can there suddenly be such a need to rush things? The duration of time is played out through the roles of separateness that were created. When the need for pretending stops, we feel the tremendous power of truth bringing things back to their proper state.
"The brothers were so startled (nivhalu) they didn't know what to say" (Bereishit 45:3) The word bahala, used to describe the state of mind of the brothers when they are suddenly confronted with Yosef's truth, parallels the condition of B'nei Yisrael when they finally left the exile of Mitzrayim after 210 years. The targum Onkolus says they went out of Mitzrayim "b'bahelu," in haste (Devarim 16:3).
Exile is a kind of suspension of truth. When one finally returns to living what is really going on, it is as if one never had left, but, at the same time, it is shocking. All the pretenses drop off. All the distance falls away. Time ceases and the mind is emptied. The brothers who suddenly stand face to face with Yosef are in a state of shock, thrust into a present that for the first time in twenty-two years is real. Yaakov, whom Yosef stayed away from for all these years, must now be told immediately - the whole reason for drawing out his painful absence is over.
When We'll See, What Will There Be Left To Say
When Yosef reveals himself, when the truth is there before them, "The brothers could not answer him because of their embarrassment in standing before him." According to Rabbi Isaac Sher, the brothers were shown in an instant that everything they had built their lives around wasn't true and originated in the imaginings of their hearts.
The Midrash Rabbah tells us, "Yosef said to his brothers 'Come near�' Woe to us in the day of judgment and woe to us in the day of rebuke. Yosef was mere flesh and blood, yet when he rebuked his brothers they could not withstand his rebuke. How much less will man of flesh and blood be able to withstand the rebuke of the Holy One Blessed Be He who is judge and prosecutor and sits on a throne and judges every single person. As it says in Tehillim, "I will reprove you and set the cause before your eyes."
While Yosef has become strange outwardly, the brothers had already made Yosef a stranger inwardly. They manifested this when they sent him into exile. The power of the rebuke comes from Yosef's disclosure of his identity at the critical moment when they have come to understand the deeper truth of what it means to be family, to be responsible one for the other. The brothers can say nothing because it is a deeply emotional event that carries with it a kind of mental silence. It is above all the justifications and rationalizations they have been carrying around all these years.
"Is my father still alive?" Yosef unites the past and present because he implies, "Everything I have done was for my father, Yaakov."
Real Heroes - Jewels In The Dust
Who were our ancestors, the heroes of Bereisheit? Were they altogether above the concerns of ordinary life or were they like Yosef, forced to operate in a world of externality and falseness, as we are today, while they struggled to nurture and realize the holy destiny they carried within them?
The story of Nachum Ish Gam Zu serves as a good allegory for this. The Gemara, in Taanit 21a, tells us that the Jews of his time decided they wanted to send a precious gift to the king. They sent Nachum Ish Gam Zu with a chest of precious stones and pearls. Ish Gam Zu traveled to the capital and at the inn where he was staying all the precious stones in the chest were stolen and replaced with earth. When he saw what had happened, Ish Gam Zu said, "This is also good." He proceeded to the king with his chest full of earth and encountered the wrath of the monarch. His life was in danger, but at this point the prophet Eliyahu intervened and gave the dirt magical qualities that eventually enabled the king to vanquish his worst enemy.
So too, we come into this world with a precious soul. But the forces of this world pull us down further and further till we are tarnished, overwhelmed by the needs of the body. And, ironically it is this fallible and lowly clay that makes us more precious to Hashem than even the angels. Because when a person in this lowly world works to do Hashem's will, he defeats the King's worst enemy, the illusion of the disconnectedness of this world. Then, what seemed like the lowest -man - is revealed as truly being the highest.
Baal Hatanya On The Parashah
What is the deeper idea of Yehudah coming near to Yosef? The Baal HaTanya compares the two types of mashichim ben Yosef and ben David (Yehudah), to the two sanctuaries. The temporary sanctuary in the desert was made out of wood or plant material and animal skins. The only inanimate material was the floor, which was earth. But in the Temple the walls and even the roof were made of stone.
This parallels the qualities that Yosef and Yehudah embody. Yosef is tzaddik: "Like a date tree he blooms, like a cedar in Lebanon he reaches high up." The tzaddik reaches to exalted spiritual levels, climbing the ladder of holiness towards the Heavens. This gradual process of refinement is parallel to the order of worlds that descended in orderly fashion from the most spiritual to the most physical when Hashem constructed the universe.
But there is not just one ordering of creation. The order of creation mentioned above is seen in Parashat Bereishit when we are told that "Gd created the Heavens and Earth," the Heavens being mentioned in closer proximity to the Creator. But later on we are told, "These are the generations of the Earth and Heavens when He created them." Here the Earth is primary. Yehudah represents this second order. He is parallel to the Second Temple where the walls and roof are made from stone - inanimate substance. This represents the very highest spiritual level of acknowledging Hashem in an absolute way with all of one's life. Thus Yehudah comes from Hoda'ah - giving thanks or acknowledging.
While Yosef is the one who reaches high and pours down, Yehudah receives below. Yet, in another sense Yehudah comes from a higher place. His very lowliness actually comes from the highest of worlds which even in their expression are only godly. Thus, while he is like dust which is low, he also has the ability of transforming himself in negation to holiness. This is why he is worthy of wearing the crown - as it says of a married woman, she is ateret baalah, the crown of her husband. Yehudah, through the aspect of utterly acknowledging something above himself, has the ability to come to a unique expression. Just like a woman makes herself part of her husband and in so doing surrounds him and rises above him, so Yehudah represents the aspect of the Temple which reaches higher than daat through utter negation, turning dust into spirit.
At A Glance