A Change of Heart
Parshas
Miketz
There was no convincing
the Egyptian viceroy. Jacob’s sons kept protesting that they had come to Egypt
in all innocence to buy grain for their starving families, but the hostile
viceroy would have none of it. They were evil spies, he insisted, and he had
them arrested and thrown into the dungeon. Only one would be allowed to return
home to bring evidence of their innocence, while the others would languish in
prison.
Three days later,
however, the viceroy apparently has a change of heart. As we read in this
week’s Torah portion, he has the brothers brought before him, and he tells them
that, because he fears the Lord, he will modify his earlier decree. Instead of
keeping them all incarcerated until their innocence is established, he will
keep only one and allow the rest to return home with food for their hungry
families.
After the viceroy
makes his announcement, the Torah adds, “And so they did.” But what was it that
they did? The Torah does not specify. Instead, the Torah goes on to record
their words of self-recrimination for having sold their brother Joseph into
slavery. “We are indeed guilty of mistreating our brother,” they say. “We saw
his extreme distress when he pleaded with us, but we did not listen to him.
That is why we are being subjected to this misfortune.” But the mystery
remains. What was it that they did as soon as the viceroy had spoken?
Let us consider for a
moment. Twenty-two years have gone by since that fateful day when the brothers
sold Joseph into slavery. Why do they finally acknowledge their guilt at this
particular moment?
The commentators
explain that the unexpected actions of the viceroy prompted them to reevaluate
their own deeds so many years before. The viceroy ruled Egypt with the iron
hand of an autocratic despot. He answered to no one except for Pharaoh, who
gave him virtual carte blanche to do as he pleased. When he decrees that all
the brothers would be locked up until they proved their innocence, it is
inconceivable that he would suddenly have a change of heart. Why should he?
Clearly, their fate is sealed.
And yet, wonder of
wonders, the viceroy does indeed have a change of heart. What could this mean?
The brothers see in
this a clear message from Heaven. A person must always keep an open mind and
not feel locked into his original positions. No matter what, he must always
maintain an objective perspective. If he thinks he may have made an error, he
should correct it, though his ego may suffer somewhat. If even the arrogant and
haughty viceroy had changed his mind of his own accord, surely Jacob’s sons
could do no less.
Originally, they had agreed among themselves that Joseph
deserved to die, or at least be sold into slavery, for his supposed
transgressions. Once they had arrived at this decision, they had been
immovable, and all Joseph’s pleas for mercy had fallen on deaf ears. But now
they took their example from the viceroy who had shown the courage to reexamine
his earlier decision. “And so they did.” They, too, reexamined their earlier
actions and found them wanting.
A married couple sought
the help of a great sage.
“My husband is
insufferable,” the wife complained.
“I’m only reacting to
her nastiness,” he retorted.
“Think carefully,” said
the sage. “When did this all begin?”
“About a week ago,”
said the wife, “I baked a very fancy cake, and he forgot to take it out of the
oven. All that work for nothing!” “I didn’t forget,” protested her husband.
“The message wasn’t clear.”
“Now wait a minute,
young man,” said the sage. “She did leave you a message, didn’t she? But you
couldn’t admit that you made a mistake, so you defended yourself with all your
might.”
The husband nodded
sheepishly.
“Well then,” said the
sage, “I think we can resolve all your problems. Just admit you were at fault
and apologize. I’m sure she will forgive you.”
In our own lives, we are constantly presented with situations
that demand of us that we take a stand one way or the other. And once we have
taken this stand, it sometimes takes on a life of its own. Once we have
invested our honor and credibility in a particular position, we sometimes find
ourselves going to great lengths to defend the indefensible. However, if we
keep an open mind, if we are honest with ourselves and consider the possibility
that we may have erred, we will discover that the ultimate honor always lies in
embracing the truth and doing what is right.
Text Copyright © 2006
by Rabbi Naftali Reich and Torah.org.
Rabbi Reich is on the
faculty of the Ohr Somayach Tanebaum Education Center.
Pawns in Divine Hands
Parshas
Miketz
Posted on December 5, 2018 (5779) By
Rabbi Berel Wein | Series: Rabbi Wein
| Level: Beginner
In this week’s Torah reading, we read of the dreams of the Pharaoh
of Egypt. The Torah does not identify who this Pharaoh was. We know nothing
about him, we know nothing as to how he became the Pharaoh. He is a complete
mystery, yet he is the catalyst for everything that will happen. He will be the
one who has Joseph released from prison. He is the one that will make Joseph
the viceroy of Egypt. In that regard, and because of the dreams that he had,
the famine comes to the entire area of the middle east and Joseph and his
brothers enact the final drama of their relationship and of the building of the
people of Israel.
It is interesting to
note that throughout the Bible there are characters who are central to the
story but who are basically anonymous. We do not know who they are and why they
act as they do. We do not know if they are aware of the central role that they
are playing in the history of civilization and of the Jewish people. From
everything that we can read and understand, it seems that they are oblivious as
to their role. They are behaving as ordinary human beings in what they think
are ordinary circumstances and are unaware that somehow cosmic events are
occurring because of them.
The Pharaoh simply
wants to have a bad dream interpreted. He is not interested and may not even
know, regarding the house of Jacob in the land of Israel, nor of the fact that
there is a young Hebrew that is a prisoner in one of his dungeons. All he wants
is to have his anxieties relieved by having some sort of interpretation of his
frightening dream. Here we have a
glimpse into how Heaven, so to speak, interferes and guides – without notice –
the events of human beings and of civilization.
This is the nature of
human life. We always concentrate on the trees and most of the time we’re not
even aware that there is a forest. What looks to us to be small and
insignificant choices are really magnified because of their effect upon others
and upon history. The Pharaoh of Egypt does not realize that he is the center
of a drama that will remain cogent and important for thirty-seven hundred
years. He is not aware as to what his true role in the matter is. So, he just
acts as a normal human being. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy to see how quickly
he raises Joseph. He could just have said, “Well, thank you for the interpretation
of the dream.” He could have just, if he wanted to be magnanimous, freed Joseph
from jail.
But here, he elevates him. He makes him second in command of
the Egyptian empire. He believes that Joseph is so talented and that the dream
is so real that he must act in order to implement it. This, already, is the
hand of Heaven. This points out to us how the divine will, so to speak,
pushes human beings into behavior that is not quite logical, but that, in
retrospect, is important, eventful, and meaningful. And that is really an
important lesson that all of us should take to heart because there are no
inconsequential actions of human beings. Everything that we do, everything that
we say, counts and is recorded for good or for better.
Shabbat shalom.
Rabbi Berel Wein
Rabbi Berel Wein
The Past
Parshas
Miketz
Posted on November 28, 2013 (5774) By
Rabbi Berel Wein | Series: Rabbi Wein
| Level: Beginner
All of the people
involved in the human drama described for us in this week’s Torah reading are
haunted by their past actions, behavior and attitudes. Pharaoh
is disturbed by his dreams of an empire where the strong overwhelm the weak and
suddenly this past dream turns into a nightmare of the weak devouring the
strong. Pharaoh’s butler thought that he had placed his past indiscretions
behind him and could safely forget everything and everyone associated with his
time in prison.
He is now forced to
recall the young Jewish Yosef and once again bring back the entire sordid story
to the attention of Pharaoh. Yosef rises to power and position and attempts to
build a new life for himself far away from his homeland and his family.
And, lo and behold,
there now appear before him his ten brothers with whom he disagreed vehemently
years ago and were the agents in his being sold as a slave to Egyptian
aristocracy. Suddenly his heavenly inspired dreams of long ago and the
bitterness of his relationship with his ten brothers descend upon him once
more. The brothers do not realize that they are standing before their brother
Yosef. But they remember remorsefully the feud with him and their less than
charitable behavior towards him and see their current danger in Egypt as
somehow being Divine retribution for their callousness and lack of compassion
towards a brother.
And back in the Land of
Israel, the old father Yaakov is inconsolable over the disappearance of Yosef
for he remains convinced that the old dreams of Yosef were true prophecy and
thus somehow must yet remain valid and will be fulfilled.
The past never disappears, not in personal life nor in
national and international affairs. All attempts to “move on” so to speak are
always hampered by the baggage of the past that we are always forced to carry
with us. Our generation of Jews is still haunted by the Holocaust.
The nations of Europe
are still possessed of their ancient and almost inbred disdain and hatred of
Jews and Judaism. They cannot expunge that demon from their very being. The
Left is still haunted by the false vision and unattainable economic and social
theories of nineteenth century Marxism with all of its malevolent byproducts.
The past compresses upon our world and gives us little room for serenity and
comfort. But there is a positive past that also exists in the Jewish world –
the past of Sinai and Jerusalem, of Torah and chosiness, of thousands of years
of traditional Jewish life and unwavering moral values.
That past is also slowly returning to many Jews who had
forgotten about it or who never really knew much about it. The past is
therefore a mighty weapon in shaping our present and certainly our future. It
is the past that saves Yosef and his brothers and restores Yaakov to be the
father of the nation of Israel. The past is not always pleasant to recall. But
it is always necessary and instructive. As we dream on of a glorious future we
must remember that our past always accompanies us on life’s journey.
Shabat shalom
Rabbi Berel Wein
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