Miller's Musings Parshas Vayigash: A Contradiction in Turns

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בס''ד

With all seemingly lost and calamity surely about to ensue, in an instant all changed and turned from tragedy to triumph.  Yosef revealed who he truly was to his brothers and their salvation arrived with those most famous words “I am Yosef. Is my father still alive?”  The first part is easier to understand, but the question as to if his father was still living is rather difficult since Yehuda had just been appealing to him to return Binyomin on the basis that not doing so would have drastically negative effects on their father.  So surely he already knew that he was alive!

The moment the curtain was pulled back and the brothers discovered who their tormentor truly was, elicited feelings of shock and shame in equal measure. The child they had sold due to his apparent delusions of grandeur, through Hashem’s guiding hand, had become the second most powerful man in Egypt and the determiner of their fate.  Chazal tell us that the rebuke of Yosef should teach us that if the brothers were so dumbfounded by the reprimand they received from their little brother, imagine how confounded and at a loss we will feel in the final judgement confronted by Hashem and all our life’s failings.  In truth, however there was seemingly no actual rebuke, in this dénouement, rather just a divulging of the truth.  Reb Aharon Kotler zt’l explains, that in essence the admonishment was in Yosef’s showing them the contradictions in their claims.  As they stood there before him declaring their concern for Yaakov’s welfare should Binyomin be incarcerated, Yosef highlighted their lack of concern when bringing about his separation from his father.  “You are worried that our father will pass away due to the grief of losing Binyomin!  But is my father still alive after making him lose me for so long!”  The question was in fact not a true question at all, but an assertion of the contradictory nature of their claims and a rebuke of their behaviour.  

We slip up, we fail and we try and rise again.  This is the manner in which we all live our lives.  But in our folly we sometimes try and offer excuses for our shortcomings which does nothing but hinder our ability to grow and improve.  The key to seeing whether our justifications are genuine or simply pretexts for our errors is in alerting ourselves to the inconsistencies in our claims.  If we are not able to arise early for prayer, how are we able to wake up for those activities we want to perform? If we claim to be only looking out for the welfare of others, do we see that in all of our actions or only those that ‘happen’ to also benefit us?  Facing up to the truth may be disheartening but is the only way to know our true selves and the true nature of our actions.

*May we see ourselves clearly this Shabbos*    

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