Shabbos Parashas Vayechi - 5775
Shabbos Parashas Vayechi - 5775
Rabbi Hal Miller Thus shall you say to Yosef: please forgive the spiteful deed of your brothers and their sin for they have done you evil. So now, please forgive the spiteful deed of the servants of your father's G-d." And Yosef wept when they spoke to him. [Bereishis 50:17]
Upon the death of Yaakov, an interesting episode occurred between his sons. What the
Torah describes for us is pretty thin. In the last few chapters, Yosef seems to have gone out of his way to be kind and close around his brothers. There is no indication that he held a grudge. What was really going on?
Immediately before our verse the Torah says, "And Yosef's brothers saw that their father was dead, and they said, 'Perhaps Yosef will nurse hatred against us and then he will surely repay us all the evil that we did to him.' They commanded that Yosef be told, 'Your father commanded before his death, saying'." In short, the brothers were worried that without Yaakov around, Yosef would no longer need to keep quiet about the event of
his sale by his brothers, and he would now take revenge. It seems that the brothers
invented a story here. We know that Yaakov never knew of the sale, so he could not possibly have instructed the brothers to say this. Had Yaakov known, he would have spoken directly with Yosef. Did the brothers blatantly lie? Aren't they considered to be righteous men?
Rashi asks, "What is 'and they saw'?" He tells us that the brothers noticed a change in Yosef. He no longer ate meals with them, nor did he appear to be as friendly with them as he had been since the family's arrival in Egypt.
Sforno has a unique approach. He sees "your father commanded" as Yaakov telling the brothers that if they had an issue with Yosef, it was up to them to raise it. Yaakov himself didn't tell them, according to Sforno, to say anything in his name, nor did he even necessarily know the topic. The lesson here is that nothing gets settled by
keeping it hidden.
Onkelos looks at the phrase, "your father's G-d". In his opinion, this phrase is to indicate that even though Yaakov is gone, G-d Himself continues on. The brothers
were informing Yosef that they remained true to G-d.
Rabbi Tanchuma [Bereishis Rabbah 100:8] says that Yosef's change in dining pattern
was for the best of intentions. Yosef felt it was wrong for Yaakov to have seated him ahead of Reuven and Yehudah, the elder sons who were destined for leadership roles. Yosef did not feel comfortable sitting in the most honored seat, and withdrew.
Nechama Leibowitz points out that this was a mistake. Yosef was thinking of his own position, "but, he should have taken account of not only his own spiritual needs and duties towards his Creator, but also of his brothers' feelings." She asks, what stopped Yosef from changing the seating on his own?
If Yosef chose not to further associate with his brothers, then his withdrawal might have spurred the brothers to attempt a reconciliation here. But basing a reconciliation on a lie doesn't seem a very solid method. What was the key to the brothers' move? Rashi says, "they altered facts about this matter for the sake of peace." In the Gemora Yevamos [65b] we see, "R. Ila said in the name of R. Elazar ben R. Shimon, 'One may alter the truth for the sake of peace'." Is the Torah telling us that lying is okay?
Rather, the Torah is emphasizing by this incident how important is peace between
family members. After seventeen years in Egypt as a reunited family, there was still
some level of hostility. The brothers were right in taking 'extreme measures' to mend fences. Fraternal peace is that important. Yosef recognized that his father had given no such orders, and that the brothers were trying desperately to patch things up, thus he cried when they spoke to him. Mission accomplished.