From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, January 02, 2004 1:29 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Vayigash, 5764



                                        The Long Road Back

             By Rabbi Joshua (regrettably known as The Hoffer) Hoffman


In memory of Rebbetzin Recha Schwab, z"l, widow of Rabbi Shimon Shwab, z"l. Rebbetzin Schwab passed away this week in Washington Heights, New York. May her memory be a blessing.


After Yosef reveals his identity to his brothers, he tells them to go back to Cana'an, tell their father that he is still alive, and bring him down with them to Egypt, so that he can sustain the entire family there. Before he sends them off, he gives all of them gifts. The Torah tells us that he gave each of them a suit of clothing, but that he gave Binyomin five suits (Bereishis 45:22).The Talmud asks how could it be that Yosef was making the same mistake that his father made, in showing favoritism to one brother over the other? The answer, given by Rav Yefes, is that Yosef was alluding to Mordechai, who, hundreds of years later, would emerge from the king's palace wearing five royal garments. The Vilna Gaon explained that the five garments given to Binyomin were not, together, more valuable than the one suit of clothing given to each of the brothers, and, so, no jealousy was aroused, and the allusion was in place. Still, one may ask, why is the story of Mordechai and the Jews in Shushan relevant to the relationship between Yosef and his brothers, to the extent that Yosef would make such an allusion?

Rabbi Yehudah Leib Alter of Gur, in his commentary Sefas Emes on our verse, writes that the allusion to Purim is an indication that the inner reality of what we experience in exile takes on many different outer forms, just as Binyomin received five garments in place of the one garment received by the rest of the brothers. Perhaps what he means is that just as divine providence - the inner reality - was  behind all that happened to Yosef and his brothers, so too was it behind what happened in Shushan. Rabbi Alter also conjectures that this allusion to changes of clothing is the reason behind the custom of wearing disguises and masks on Purim. Interestingly, Elie Weisel, in his book Messengers of God, writes that in his home town of Sighet, the topic of the yearly Purim spiel was the drama of Yosef and his brothers. This was, in fact, a custom that was prevalent in many Eastern European Jewish communities. Although Mr. Wiesel himself offers his own explanation for this practice, I believe that the idea here, too, was to indicate that people often wear masks, and we need to understand what is going on behind the masks.

Rav Dovid Feinstein, in a similar but somewhat different vein, explained the allusion by referring to Yosef's statement to his brothers, " And now do not be sad and do not be angry with yourselves that you sold me here, for it was to preserve life that God sent me before you" (Bereishis 45:5). In the same way, Rav Dovid Feinstein pointed out, the rabbis tell us that when Achashveirosh removed his ring and gave it to Haman, thereby sanctioning him to carry out his plan to wipe out the Jewish people, he did more to bring the Jews to repent than did the words of all the prophets sent to them for that purpose. I would like to offer a different approach based a passage in the Midrash Rabbah to Megillas Esther, cited in Yalkut Reuveni.

The midrash says that full attainment of forgiveness for the sin of the brothers against Yosef was not attained until the days of Mordechai. I believe that the idea being expressed here is that the sin of the brothers against Yosef generated a break in the family. Ramban notes that although we find that Avrohom put great efforts into bringing people close to God, calling to them in His name, and Yitzchok also called to people in the name of God, we do not find that Ya'akov did so. The reason for this, Ramban says, is that Ya'akov concentrated his efforts on building and training his family. One way of understanding this comment of the Ramban, according to Rabbi Ezriel Erlanger, mashgiach ruchani of the Mirrer Yeshiva in Brooklyn, is that the existence of Ya'akov's family in itself accomplished that which Avrohom and Yitzchok accomplished through calling in God's name to others. However, this could hold true  only if his sons were united and projected a positive message to the world. As long as a rift existed among them, they could not accomplish their purpose. When Haman complained to Achashveirosh about the Jews, he said that they are a people dispersed and scattered among the nations (Esther 3:8). As Rav Kook and others have explained, a major failing of the Jews at the time was that they were not united. In order to combat Haman's decree, the Jews needed to unite, to act together as one, in accepting the Torah upon themselves anew. The midrash thus seems to be saying that the rift between the brothers that began in the time of Yosef was not completely healed until the time of Mordechai. Perhaps, then, this was another meaning behind Yosef's allusion to Mordechai in giving Binyomin five suits of clothing.



Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.

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