פרשת ויגש

In this week’s parsha, Parshat Vayigash, the cup of Yosef has just been found in Benyamin's sack of grain. Yosef has said that whoever has the cup will be his servant, and the rest of them will go free. Yehuda calls Yosef as powerful as Pharoah and begs him not to enslave Benyamin, saying that if Benyamin doesn't come back, his father will die. Yosef tells all the Egyptians to leave, and he reveals himself to his brothers. His brothers are speechless. Yosef explains that it is okay that they sold him because it was all part of Hashem's plan to help them survive the famine. He tells them to go get his father and live in Egypt. Yaacov arrives and says that he can die in peace, having seen Yosef alive again. The brothers ask to live in Goshen, and their wish is granted. The parsha concludes by saying that Bnei Yisrael became fruitful and multiplied.

At the beginning of the parsha, Yehuda says to Yosef, "My lord asked his servants saying, 'Have you a father or brother?'" What kind of question is this? Everyone has a father (besides Adam HaRishon). The Rav זצ״ל addressed this issue. In an edition of the Chumash that includes commentary taken from many sources from and about the Rav, a story from his childhood is used to explain this matter. In the Rav’s story, the students in his childhood yeshiva were learning this parsha lazily because Chanukah had just passed. His teacher suddenly jumped up and asked the young Rav, "What kind of question is this? Everyone has a father!" The Rav attempted to explain by saying, "Yosef wanted to find out if their father was alive. 'Do you have a father?' actually means, 'Is he alive or dead?'" The teacher responded, "If so, Yosef would have phrased the question differently." The teacher went on to explain that Yosef was asking, "'Are you rooted in your father? Do you see him as the foundation of your existence? Do you see him as your provider and sustainer? Or are you just a rootless shepherd wandering from place to place who forgets his origin?" The teacher turned to the students and began to yell, "Are you truly humble? Do you look condescendingly down at your old father as an ancient tradition? Do you think your father is capable of telling you something new and exciting? Something you didn't know before? Or are you so arrogant and vain, that you deny dependence on your father, upon your source? When we recognize the supremacy of our father, we accept the supremacy of our Universal Father in Heaven."

The Rav relates an important message. We have to know who is superior to us and be humble to our roots, our origins. In order to be humble before Hashem, we have to first be humble before our parents. That in itself is sometimes a challenge, but it will make being humble before Hashem that much easier. May we all find true humbleness and accept Hashem, and our parents, as our superiors and our origins.

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe Spectre-Covitz