How Joseph Brought Healing to His Broken Family - Parsha Vayigash - By Rabbi YY Jacobson

[Music] good evening and welcome to all who are joining us here from across the globe tonight's class is dedicated by our dear friends david and edestein in the sacred memory of the kudoshima of mumbai and rabbi gavriel and rifki holzberg the chabad ambassadors to mumbai india also dedicated in the loving memory of a young soul alta shula sword love the daughter of rabbi yossi and hindus wordlove tonight's class is also dedicated from the brooklyn financial group a representative of the guardian life insurance company of america and the merit of hinda for a complete and speedy recovery and in the merit of shmuley farkas in honor of his 10th birthday on chanaka [Music] it is a story of deep mystery sadness pain drama and extraordinary emotion it is difficult not to read and learn the story each year again and not be overtaken by deep sadness and emotion of how this story evolves until its climax in this week's portion of aygash when joseph who has once been despised loathed hated almost killed thrown into a pit and then sold into slavery by his own brothers has now become the second to the most powerful human being in the most powerful ancient civilization egypt and finally he discloses his identity to his brothers aniosup i am joseph i am your brother whom you have sold into egypt but tonight we want to explore the plot behind the story the scheme behind the successive encounters between joseph and his brothers which leads up to the point of him exposing his identity to them many things happen it's a long dramatic intense narrative filled with enigma and mystery and we want to understand why what is the nature of the story what was joseph trying to accomplish what was he planning to achieve through these successive encounters let's recap the story in brief there is a major hunger and joseph's brothers come down from the land of israel into egypt in order to purchase grain for their family joseph sees them he recognizes them he estranges himself to them and speaks to them very harsh words he accuses them of being spies he imprisons them for three days after three days he lets them free but he holds on to one brother shimon shimon remains in prison and he tells them you go home and bring down your youngest baby brother binyamin benjamin in order to authenticate your version of the story that you're not spy as your innocent men they go back with the grain back to the holy land back to their father yaakov jacob he has the money which they paid for the grain put back in their sacks they come home they open their sacks they realize that each of them has the money with which was supposed to be in egypt they're frightened they're scared they know something strange is happening but they don't know what is happening time passes the food is finished they need to go back to egypt to purchase yet more grain for a hungry family jacob would not let them take benjamin they say we will not be able to purchase any food if we don't have binyamin the viceroy of egypt has told us and made this stipulation yaakov is agitated don't take binyamin binyamin's brother yosef his older brother the two children of rachel of rahul is dead i am frightened to let binyamin travel with you rouven intervenes to no avail yehuda judah intervenes and he promises his father that he becomes the guarantor for benjamin i will make sure to bring him back and finally jacob consents and the entire family all of the children including benjamin come down to egypt this time they're greeted with more warmth and compassion in fact joseph has a meal with them they eat they drink he gives them gifts he gives benjamin even more gifts five times the amount of the other brothers they leave with the grain they leave town back to the land of israel back to canaan a sigh of relief finally this time it ended off peacefully they of course do not know what awaits them because as they're leaving joseph sends a steward after them he had his goblet his majestic silver cup hidden in the sack of benjamin so not only are they carrying the grain and not only do they have the money but they also have joseph's cup and when the steward of joseph arrives and says why did you steal our master silver cup they of course proclaim innocence we never did it and if you find that we are the thieves one of us stole it let him die and we shall be your servants the search happens they begin searching the oldest and they end up with the youngest and of course in benjamin sack there in the grain is hidden joseph's silver majestic via goblet he then says he the thief shall be taken as a slave to joseph you go back to your father in peace you're innocent he benjamin is the thief he becomes a slave of joseph he's told you're free we reach now that moment when they all return to egypt yehuda judah approaches joseph and he presents to him a heartfelt plea for compassion and mercy primarily he evokes the state of jacob who has already lost one child joseph a beloved child who died joseph i cannot go back to my father he says if the second boy of benjamin is gone he will simply not be able to bear the shock and the grief and my father will die let me joseph remain here i will become a slave to you i will replace my baby brother and let him go back to his father this is the moment when joseph can't contain himself anymore he dismisses the egyptians he begins to weep and he tells his brothers ani joseph i am joseph what is the theme of this narrative why was joseph engaging in all of these performances and procedures what was he trying to accomplish what was the point why didn't he just expose his identity to his brothers initially and bring down his father jacob and his brother benjamin to him in egypt and the family would be reconciled why go through this whole extremely interesting engaging mesmerizing journey and plot but why what was the objective what do you think there are those who say it's a tale of revenge they hunted down joseph they persecuted him they made his life miserable he gave them a little bit of the taste of that type of life as maybe simple as that explanation is it's not it doesn't work here besides the fact that in our tradition joseph is at sadiq he's a righteous person he's a holy person he's a great person as we see the way he deals with his brothers and with this whole life experience he's not a man of revenge but there's something else nobody in humash cries as much as joseph abraham cries when his wife dies jacob cries when he meets his wife rochelle he kisses rachel and he weeps there are instances of people crying throughout the bible but the one who weeps most the one who cries most is who joseph the person who went through the most trauma the most painful excruciatingly painful experiences you would expect he would become rough and harsh and tough his heart would turn into stone he does not stop weeping he weeps when he meets his brothers the first time and he doesn't want them to see he goes to a room and he weeps he weeps the second time the torah tells us when they bring down benjamin and he sees benjamin and he again goes into a private place and he weeps he weeps again when he exposes his identity to them he weeps again when he falls on their necks and cries and then weeps again when he falls on benjamin next he weeps again when he meets his father yaakov and then when jacob dies he's weeping again and then when his brothers come to him after their father's death fearing that now he will finally take revenge from them and while he is talking to them he weeps again eight times genesis emphasizes the detail that joseph wept when you're taking revenge you're not crying we know about people who take revenge we know the feeling that overtakes us while we're taking revenge it's not a feeling where you want to cry on the contrary there was determination aggression maybe a little happiness i am now taking revenge he did this to me i will do this to him he tried to teach me a lesson but i will teach him a lesson that is the feeling that comes with revenge with nakama throughout this narrative when you read it closely and carefully it's clear that it was not revenge which was motivating what then was it the 13th century great sage scholar physician leader from spain who wrote a brilliant commentary on hummus gives us another interpretation the ramban believes and you have this in source number one of your curriculum and sources please open up source number one in your curriculum there's a pdf right below the video the ramban believes that it was the dreams that were motivating joseph is says this joseph had two dreams in both dreams he envisioned the reality of all of his brothers prostrating themselves to him all of the brothers were binding sheaves and their sheaves all of them bowed down to his the sun the moon and eleven stars bow down to me and joseph had eleven brothers the second paragraph in the ramban with since joseph sees that ten brothers came down and they all bowed down to him when they came he was the viceroy he was the prime minister but benjamin wasn't there so the dream was not realized the dream was unfulfilled because 10 brothers bowed down but not the 11th therefore he devised a scheme in which they would have to bring down benjamin as well and he would also bow down to him and thus the dream can be realized and the ramban continues it's a long ramban the continues to explain this theme that if not for this explanation there's absolutely no moral rationalization why joseph would keep his father in such a state of mourning and grief and not send the message that he's alive because he needed the dream to be fulfilled yet this requires explanation number one was it really justified on joseph's part knowing the depth of his father's love to him to keep his father in such a state of mourning just that his dream should be fulfilled number two could have he not fulfilled the dream any other way could have he not somehow had his father and brother benjamin come down to egypt and bow down to him so that the dream can be fulfilled doesn't it seem like that through this whole prolonged story joseph only delayed the fulfillment of the dream rather than hastened it there is a third explanation we want to present this evening and in order to understand it let's preface the great question and it's one of the big questions in the story there's so many but one of the great ones is why didn't joseph tell his father that he's alive as duramban asks as i just mentioned when he was a slave in the house of potiphar knew maybe he didn't have the ability when he was a prisoner i understand he didn't have the ability but afterwards he was the prime minister of egypt for years there was seven years of plenty followed by seven by a few years of famine when his brothers came it was deep in the middle of the famine why didn't he send the message all these years to yaakov to his beloved father that he's alive maybe he couldn't go himself but he could send an emissary he could find a messenger a mailman to carry a letter this is a question that is of course asked by many commentators and everybody has a different answer for this there's the ramban's answer i just gave he needed the dreams to be fulfilled first so he needed this whole plot it had to wait he needed his brothers to come down and bow to him and so forth which has its problem its challenges there's another explanation that's brought that joseph thought that jacob was behind the plot jacob wanted to expel him from the jewish people but this has no basis in the narrative because jacob told joseph go out and find out how your brothers are doing that is why he sent him for joseph to think that jacob was behind the plot of expelling him from the abrahamic jewish family seems very absurd but there's another approach and this is the approach we want to develop this evening one of the most potent ideas in the jewish tradition in the jewish tradition is truva truva is translated as repentance and as return it's the idea that every person is capable of making mistakes sometimes bad and tragic mistakes but despite the fact that we're capable of errors that does not spell the end the spear for a human being on the contrary there is the process of healing of recovery of return of mending our mistakes and transgressions and violations and starting a new chapter in our life that's the concept the glorious concept of truth but what is the mechanism of truth how do you do chuva how do i know i have done shiva you have done truva you have repented for a mistake how do i know that i am in the state of recovery and not just in the cycle of mistakes violations and sins the great codifier of jewish law maimonides the 12th century great scholar leader physician sage rabbi codifier from spain and then from egypt gives us the formula open up your curriculum please source number two rambam bayes the beginning of the second chapter of the laws of returns what is complete truth when can we consider the person to have repented in a complete fashion somebody who is given the opportunity to repeat his mistake the same transgression that he once committed he could now commit once again and yet he abstains why because he's a changed person not because he's scared not because he has not the vigor the strength all the circumstances are conducive for him to repeat the crime again and yet he refrains why because something internally changed in him or her and then the rambam continues base the second section the second paragraph and the second chapter of the laws of truth what is truth first he tells us what is complete truth true the gomura but what is truth essentially what are the essential ingredients of chiva believers the sinner must abandon his sin remove it from his mind and resolve in his heart then he will never repeat it again he will never do it again he must also regret and have remorse for the past and the knower of all secrets should testify on him that he will never repeat this sin but sorry but he must confess with his lips and verbally articulate these concepts which he experienced and decided in his heart the rambam here gives us two components to define what is mainstream truth number one you have to regret the past number two you have to resolve never to repeat what you have done in the past it's not enough just to say i feel bad i'm sorry i don't like what i did i made a mistake i sinned it was my fault no you have to also take accountability and responsibility for the future make a decision that i will never do this again that's the second component of truth so it's about the past and about the future and then there is true the gomura complete show is that you actually are given the same circumstances in your life and you prove re in the real way that you will not do it again because you can do it and you still don't now it's not enough just to experience it emotionally the rambom tells us truth is also the need to articulate it verbally there is a great discussion in halachic works and works of jewish law what is the source for this lovely formulation of maimonides where did he get this formulation what is trueva regretting the past resolving for the future to the extent their emblem says that god has to be able to testify that you will never do it again god who knows the future can testify that this person will not engage in this again that is true and what is complete shiva when you actually could do it and you don't you abstain from it so the rambam brings various verses which he interprets and explains to be sources for these explanations but the verses can also be explained in other ways the rambam formulates these elements of children commentators sometimes commentators struggle to know what is the source for every detail that the rambam articulates here concerning it is perhaps possible to suggest that maybe one of the sources or at least one of the sources strengthening the formulation of the rambam what is is not from a verse which describes a law or a mitzvah but it's from a story it's from a narrative may not be the exclusive source but maybe an additional assisting narrative to define what chuva is because the moment we see these three components in rambam about what true is we can clearly understand what was in joseph's mind when he put through his brothers through the very intense and painful experiences which he had them endure during this long narrative something very painful happened in the life of the founding fathers of the jewish people a brother yosef is thrown into a pit and then sold into slavery and his father is told that he was killed he's dead joseph not only survived he thrived from a prisoner he rose to become the prime minister of the superpower of the world at the time egypt as he would tell his brothers again and again in vaingas he doesn't hate them he will not take revenge from them he forgives them he doesn't want them to feel horribly guilty he is not angry fascinating he's not angry he's not upset he's not burning with ire the verse says that when joseph reveals himself to his brothers says there was nobody there no man was there is doesn't only mean physically there was no man there is there was nothing human about what occurred there was not an element of ordinary humanness in that room with joseph at the time because to conceive that a person should be so forgiving and should be so clear and should not retain the bitterness and the resentment and the anger is something unique something extraordinary and why not joseph says you didn't do it you did it but you were messengers of god god wanted me here and that's how he sees it throughout he was healed but he had a question that his brothers survived he survived but that his brothers survive not physically emotionally spiritually psychologically did they come to realize what they have done to themselves to their brother to their father to their family to generations of jews that they realize are they ready to take accountability are they ready to heal can the family be reconciled and truly healed in one word have his brothers don chuva now we can understand the story all of the experiments that happen in this narrative are about the three step program that rambam articulates for truth number one they come down to egypt he speaks harshly to them after they bow down to him he accuses them of being spies one of the worst crimes in the ancient world and in the modern world the punishment for this type of treason is often a death penalty they're imprisoned for three days knowing that the prime minister of the country accuses these ten boys these ten young men as being spies miraglum against egypt this is a crime of gigantic proportions it's no small crime joseph accuses them of a crime that they did not commit they were not spies we know they came to get food hoping that this will remind them of a crime that they did commit they will realize that they did once commit a crime and they will regret it and hence the first stage of truva will occur regret remorse of the past indeed what happens when they go through this process of being accused of spies sitting in prison for three days then being taken out and their brother shimon is left in prison what happens source number three in your curriculums parshas mikhaitz vayimru we are guilty hashem we are guilty it's not that this prime minister is a meshugna he's an anti-semite you know how jews are he's an anti-semite we're guilty hashem we had a brother we saw the distress on the soul when he begged us but we did not listen to him just the first time we learned that joseph was begging them to let them go because in the original story when they sell them we don't hear about this suddenly here we know a detail that we never knew before and we did not listen to mulcain therefore we're experiencing this sorrow this distress this difficult situation and who does joseph leave in prison shimon that's also very significant because when you read the biblical narrative it's clear that shimon is the second of the oldest ruevanee should have put in prison but joseph knew ruevan's relationship to him and joseph may have known that druvain was the one who initially told his brothers don't kill him throw him into a pit and joseph knows they're even wasn't there when they took him out of the pit and they sold him or they allowed him to be sold sells two two interpretations among the biblical commentators if they sold them directly or they allowed him to be sold reuven wasn't there he comes back later in vaiisha we know the narrative so reuben doesn't sit in prison it's shimon who's put into prison tradition also tells us that shimon was this brother who actually physically cast them into the pit joseph hears the remorse the regret and reuven responds to them and he says i told you don't sin against the child and now his blood is being exacted from you step number one has occurred in front of joseph's eyes the brothers realized that a great crime a great mistake a horrible tragedy has occurred has been committed by them phase number two this will not happen in front of joseph's eyes but he will be very well aware whether it happens or it doesn't happen joseph develops a strategy which will determine to him if the brothers have made a commitment for the future not just remorse for the past but resolve for their future actions when he demands of them to bring benjamin back to egypt and if not they should not come back to him asking for more food he knows very well knowing who his father is knowing his feelings of his father knowing his own relationship to his father and how his father loved him and his younger brother benjamin the children of rochelle of rachel he knows that yakov will never let benjamin leave his domain if those brothers don't commit themselves to behave in the future much differently then they behaved when joseph was sent to them he knew that jacob will never let this happen if they will not commit themselves heart and soul to protect benjamin and make sure that he is not lost to the wolves as joseph was once lost the way jacob understood and knew the story and indeed that is what happens jacob says you'll not you're not taking benjamin i've lost joseph i've lost simon he's in prison in egypt i can't lose my third i can't lose benjamin reuven intervenes it doesn't help but then yehudah judah stands up to his father yaakov and he says i will be the guarantor for binyam and you will seek him from my hands i commit myself to bring him back and if not i will have sinned before you all the days of my life and yaakov agrees and benjamin comes down to egypt joseph sees binyamin and this is where he cries for the second time the second phase of truth has just been completed it's clear that they did not only regret the past but they have committed themselves to do everything differently in the future and now there's the third phase through the gomura the complete shiva and here is where joseph devises a master stroke he recreates to the best of his ability all of the circumstances that were in place decades earlier when he was 17 years old his brothers were jealous of him his brothers did not like him his brothers disliked the special multi-colored tunic that jacob gave him as a gift his brothers despised his dreams and they did what they did now this class is not discussing how and why the brothers can hate joseph so much and do what they did to him that is a separate discussion and it requires not one class but many classes it's not our theme this evening but what happened and joseph now sets up a very similar scenario when the brothers with benjamin are leaving he has his goblet his majestic silver cup hidden in benjamin sack and he sends a steward to fetch the thief quote and quote and discover who stole his gree hakkes of his silver cup of course it's discovered in the sack of benjamin and now the offer is made to all of the brothers let him remain a slave here let him remain an evident servant to joseph and you go up in peace to your father here the brothers will have the same opportunity like they had so many years ago benjamin will be left as a slave in egypt just as joseph was sold as a slave in egypt and they will go back to reunite themselves with their father will they let this happen once again as they once did it with joseph or this time it will be different the circumstances are frighteningly similar who is this son it's ben yum and it's benjamin joseph's complete brother the only complete brother both of them are children of rockle these are the boys of leia or bill or zilpah but joseph and benjamin are both the children of rockhold there was friction between the sets of kids between the children of leia and rocco between lee and rachel jacob loved joseph the child of rocco of rachel they had a difficult time with that love that he had to joseph here is benjamin once again a child of rachel joseph's complete brother they can go back to their father and say listen father he's a thief the kid stole the prime minister's silver goblet what do you want from us of course we were planning to bring him back but what are we supposed to do in this kid hatnish kenseigh he takes the cup of the prime minister of the second to the most powerful person in the most ancient of civilizations what are we supposed to do tell us you want it all to shoot we should all die we offered what were they supposed to do they could tell jacob he's a gun if he's a thief he stole the cup there's nothing to do this was now the question on the balance what will happen will they surrender benjamin to a life of slavery in egypt and let themselves go up to their father with grain with money because he put back all the money in their sacks or will they do something differently but wait you can't compare their envy to joseph towards their envy to benjamin joseph they envied because of a multi-colored coat that jacob gave him ah but something happened during the meal before they left egypt what does the torah say in mccain's jacob gave all the brothers gifts and benjamin he gave five times the amount why to be able to create some type of envy once again here benjamin is the youngest kid the youngest should not be getting five times the amount he's the baby he's the messinik and yet he gets five times the amount of the other brothers to the best of his ability joseph set up all of the circumstances that the natural envy that they might have had towards benjamin should be accelerated should be experienced in their hearts and in their minds at that moment and now the question is how will they react this time how will they deal with the potential and the reality of benjamin being summoned as a slave not because of them they're not even guilty he stole a cup they don't know that it was a plot of joseph and how will they respond to this moment what happens a love yehuda yehuda the one who promised jacob that he will bring benjamin back goes over to joseph and he begins speaking to him and he describes to him the relationship between benjamin and yaakov vinaf his soul is intertwined intertwined and interconnected with his soul and yehudah tells joseph the prime minister of egypt that jacob will never be able to survive the ordeal of the brothers coming home without benjamin in jacob's words he says when i come back the lad is not with us our souls are intertwined our father will die and yehuda judah tells joseph your servant became the guarantor for this lad i'm the one who told my father that i for will not bring him back to you i will sin to my father all the days of my life therefore let me become the slave instead of him and let him go back with his brothers how can i go up to my father without benjamin with me how will i be able to look at my father in his face when the child is not with me now let's understand what joseph is hearing this is the same yehuda who years earlier when joseph was in a pit what did you have to say my betsa what prophet is there in us letting him die in a pit and covering his blood let's sell him what money is there what benefit what profit is there in just letting joseph die let's sell our brother same situation decades later his other brother binyamin and what's the same person's response the same person's response when he could have done it very differently was his soul is connected to my father's soul i am the guarantor love ivana how can i go back to my father without a child yes i'm going to sit instead of the land the third dimension of chuva just happened the circumstances were repeated and the same people reacted completely differently now healing is before us so what's the next scene the next scene right after this source number five in your curriculum please open up source number five the lawyer philosophic yosef can't contain himself if i create see you kalish may allah and he says let everybody go take everybody out vladimir not one person was there when joseph exposed himself to his brothers and he began crying by eating joseph began sweeping up joseph tells us brothers i am joseph is my father still living and they can't respond they are dumbfounded they are awestruck neva mi panov they're terrified they can't speak the truth is if you look in the medrash this idea is encapsulated so briefly in the words of the medicine source number six um all the words of judah to joseph until joseph can't contain himself constituted appeasement to joseph to his brothers and to benjamin pierce leosev it was an appeasement for joseph lloyd see how yehuda is sacrificing his soul for whom for the children of rachel he's ready to become a lifelong slave in egypt so that binyamin could go back to jacob pius was an appeasement for his brothers see how he's ready to sacrifice himself for a brother and it was very healing for binyamin it was a message to benjamin i sacrificed i'm sacrificing myself for you i would sacrifice myself the same way for your brother for joseph if i had the opportunity when joseph heard this when he realized the true transformation and metamorphosis that happened now he couldn't contain himself anymore this is the moment the narrative must reach closure joseph tells them it's over i'm yousef i'm here i'm not upset at you god has planned it so god wanted me here i saved the fertile crescent from hunger i will save your family from hunger because i am here because i was sold to egypt and now bring down yaakov here and yaakov of course comes with his family joseph has indeed seen that shiva happened the three step program in rambo milk is true was not studied it was acted out as a rehearsal for the genesis of the jews as a people in the story of joseph and his brothers beginning in vaiisha of continuing in the cates and concluding in vayigas and then way the al-sheikh al-shakhtar this commentary the 16th century sage and great rabbi in safas and safad in the holy land makes another very interesting point he says that specifically the sin of the brothers consisted of five elements five components number one they spoke negatively to him they didn't like him and they spoke it says they couldn't speak to them in peace there were words of conflict and uh and negativity and animosity between the from the brothers towards joseph especially when they heard his dreams the second thing is they tried to kill him they planned to kill him when he was coming to them in shechem they plotted to kill him the third crime was they didn't kill him but they plotted to kill him that's also a sin the third crime was they threw him into a pit the fourth crime was they sold him and the fifth crime the al-shaghwa says was they put their father through a hellish experience of pain and torment when they soaked his tunic in the blood of a goat and they asked their father how can i recognize aksain has is this the coat of your breath of your son and joseph says yes tara if tara of yosef he was devoured by an animal that pain that they gave their fathers was a tremendous crime and the al-sha says that joseph was committed to help his brothers experience shuva and he says that specifically five things happened to help them appreciate and to sensitize them to what they did so that they can be forgiven for their sins he says the first thing he did was he spoke to them harshly when they come to egypt just as they once spoke to him harshly so they can experience the feeling the second thing is he suspects them as spies and he imprisons them and the penalty for espionage is death so they are feeling that they are going to be killed they are going to be executed and this is part of truth it's part of the first process of remorse and regret there's a story about a king who was running away from an enemy and who is pursuing him and he sees the house of some man and the man says come and come and i'll hide you and he hides the king under the bed and the enemy comes into the home and checks out the house to look for the king and the man says no i hate him as much as you do and he is not here i promise you and they search and search and amazon they don't find the king and they let him go and finally when the conflict is over and the king is saved and is restored back to his throne he summons this man and he says i want to reward you how can i reward you he says i was happy to do what i did i just want to know one thing your majesty tell me how you felt when you were lying there under the bed and your enemies were hunting you down in the house and searching in that very room where you were hiding how did you feel and suddenly a pleasant demeanor changed into angry an angry appearance and the king said that's hutzpah that's treason how do you a simple subject have the audacity to ask me how i felt in those terrible moments that is horrible you deserve to die for this hoots but to speak to the king this way and he's immediately taken and imprisoned and sentenced to die in the gallows and he's dressed in the garments of the man who is going to be executed and is taken to the gallows and the king is sitting right there and the man is brought up elevated soon to be hung and he looks at the king and the king looks at him and then the king approaches him and says you're free the man is astounded and astonished what's happening he says the king tells him you asked me a question so i answered you the question there was no way you would understand what i was going through under the bed at those moments any speech or lecture in the world would not explain it to you i needed you to experience it to understand what i went through and thus i did what i did i apologize to you but you asked me to explain it to you so i did and he rewards him and he sends him home with great glory and honor and respect and gratitude to be able to have remorse to be able to regret something you have to be able to experience it on some level so the austria says he had his brothers feel that they're going to get the death penalty because this is what he wanted to do to joseph so they can experience what it feels like and truly do truthful what they did to their brother she accuses them of spies the third thing is they threw him into a prison so he has them arrested for three days so they can feel what it is like to be in a pit the prisons in egypt were in a bird in a pit as it says in vaiisha when joseph was in prison and then the brothers are let out but shimon stays there because jimin is the one who actually threw him into the pit the next thing is they sold him they made money over their brother criminal money of their own brother so joseph accuses them of being thieves or they accuse themselves of being thieves he puts the money back into their sacks they see it they say they were going to be accused of being thieves they're innocent they're not criminals they didn't do anything they didn't steal the money we know that they didn't steal the money joseph had the money put into their packs but by accusing them of something they did not do they might remember something they did do they did want steal money they sold their brother illegally for money and for the aggravation they gave to his father with the bloody tunic he aggravated them with his silver goblet not with a multi-colorful tunic but with a silver goblet to the best of his ability he recreated circumstances that will allow them to really regret what they did this is an extra detail explaining the other small details in the story which we did not address earlier but basically chuva was experienced in this narrative so when the brothers came down to joseph he could have immediately said i'm joseph and sent a message to yaakov i'm here and come back come down to egypt and let us be reunited but joseph understood that this family is broken this family has some very serious challenges this is what happened in the family i was sold as a slave just covering it up just telling yaakov i'm alive i'm here let's come back the family reunited in the presence of jacob they may be quiet everybody may remain silent but the infection is not gone the family is a broken family healing is needed recovery is needed a transformation is needed a new discovery is needed joseph's narrative and strategy allows that to happen it brings out truva it brings out healing in a family until the last stage when yehuda is ready to sacrifice himself so that benjamin doesn't remain a slave and now a new family can be reunited a healed family a wholesome family this is now when the brothers could come together with yaakov and truly experience reconciliation which will continue until jacob's death and after jacob's death why now now it was essential to happen because this is the point when the jews are going to become a new nation they are going to endure exile and then be liberated and they're going to become a nation under god with a covenant towards god and this would become a tremendous foundation in judaism the foundation of shiva before they could become a nation they experience this moment of truth trevor means we fail we make mistakes we transgress willingly or unwillingly sometimes we're guilty sometimes we're not guilty but it's inherent to the human condition that we make mistakes and shruva means that we have the ability to acknowledge to be accountable to regret to resolve for the future and not to repeat it this would be instrumental intrinsic and necessary to the whole future of the jewish people now the family could come into egypt now the family could be reconciled now the family could become a nation a blessed nation if they're fighting if there's a real disunity in its essence there's no hope for this nation now there's hope for this nation and there's also the concept of truva to guide this nation because in life you need not be perfect you need to be accountable good night [Music] you