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This week’s Miller’s Musings is sponsored
לעילוי נשמת לאה בת אברהם
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Quote of the Week:
“Strength is built upon inner
character. Character is built upon inner strength.”
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Miller’s Musings
ויגש פרשת
In
Total Control
Yosef is sending a message
to his father for the first time in over twenty years. There must have been so much that he wanted
to say. So much that he wanted to tell
him including everything that had occurred.
But surely most importantly would be to let him know that he had not
strayed from his father’s teachings. He
had not left the path that Yaakov had set out for him. This is surely what would have concerned his
father the most and therefore the primary communication he would want to pass
on. And yet we see the one thing he asks
for his brothers to tell him is of his success in Egypt and his position as the
“ruler over all the land of Egypt.”
Why? Could he possibly have
thought that this would impress a man of Yaakov’s spiritual heights? What did
he hope to convey?
Yosef certainly
impressed Paroah with his dream interpretation, not only making sense but in
the way it all resonated with Paroah as the absolute truth. But Paraoh had
surely met wise men before who would have shown great wisdom during his reign.
So what was it about Yosef that made him not only assign him as overseer of the
food supply during the years of plenty and famine, but also as the
second-in-command for his entire kingdom?
Although there are many traits that one may look for in a leader of
people the Sifsei Chaim says that the one universal mark of a great ruler is
one who is able to conquer their own selves.
A person that is in total control of their own desires and personality
has the strength and power to lead judiciously and discerningly. Such a person will not let pride destroy them
nor jealousy dissuade them from treating others correctly. They will not allow anger to obscure their
rational thought nor desire distort what they know to be right. This is what Paroah saw in Yosef when he
refused to take credit for the elucidation of the dreams, despite the potential
of tremendous reward and favour from the king. When he prefaced his explanation,
saying his abilities stemmed only from Hashem, Paraoh saw that Yosef was in
absolute control of himself and was therefore worthy of a place by his side. This was what Yosef was telling his father. I
have not let you down. I have clung fast to your principles and maintained my dominance
over my baser instincts and the proof is that I, a slave, have been elevated to
rule over Egypt. Only a person adhering
to these ideals could have ascended in this way.
There is a certain
irony to the fact that many people claim to refuse to be slaves to religion,
yet are more than happy to be slaves to mass media, culture or, worst of all,
their own visceral desires. Someone who
is unable to control what they look at, consume, talk about or think of, are
surely showing a weakness of character that must at least be acknowledged, if
not remedied. Who are we if we do not display
at the minimum some capacity to restrict ourselves and regulate these areas of
our life? What type of person have we become if life is lived without
boundaries or limits and we cannot at times exercise restraint rather than indulgence?
If we aspire to be leaders of others we must start by being rulers of
ourselves.
*May
the power of Shabbos give us the power we need to gain control of ourselves*
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