Starting with this week’s Parsha, and through the remainder of חומש בראשית, the main character in the פרשיות will be יוסף הצדיק. Why is there such an emphasis on יוסף?
The ספרים explain that יוסף acts as bridge between the אבות הקדושים and the שבטים. While he’s not considered as one of the אבות, he’s also not considered just one the שבטים either. Rather, he’s a different entity, below the אבות, but above the שבטים. It is יוסף who acts as a go-between, from the אבות to the שבטים. As the story of כלל ישראל shifts from the אבות הקדושים towards a nation of 12 שבטים, the story of יוסף serves as the transition between these stages, preparing כלל ישראל for its role in the world.
The מדרש says,
כל מה שאירע ליוסף אירע לציון
Just like the stories of the אבות are harbingers for the future of כלל ישראל, as
מעשה אבות סימן לבנים
, So too
כל מה שאירע ליוסף אירע לציון
The life of יוסף הצדיק also is a harbinger for the future of כלל ישראל. As the מדרש notes, just like יוסף was hated by his brothers,so too כלל ישראל is hated by the nations, and just like he was sold into slavery, so is כלל ישראל thrust into גלות. But why is it that יוסף is the one who reflects on the future of כלל ישראל?
Perhaps this can be explained as follows: A major theme in thelife of יוסף is his great מסירות נפש We find an instance of this early on in the פרשה. The תורה highlights the animosity that the brothers of יוסף felt and displayed towards him. Nontheless, when asked by יעקב to check on the welfare of his brothers, יוסף immediately responds
הנני -“!I’ll go”
Despite knowing that he’s putting himself in a dangerous predicament, יוסף goes, to fullfil the wishes of his father. Later, after being sold to פוטיפר and being confronted by his wife, יוסף הצדיק firmly refuses her advances. Chazal discuss the great difficulty of this ניסיון
בגדים שלבשה לו שחרית לא לבשה לו ערבית
It was a constant and ongoing pressure to succumb. Yet, with great מסירות נפש he withstood the ניסיון.
כל מה שאירע ליוסף אירע לציון
That power of מסירות נפש has been inherited to all כלל ישראל, the spiritual descendents of יוסף הצדיק, and we are meant to follow in his footsteps and utilize מסירות נפש when called for. This is highlighted in the famous words of חז”ל
עני ועשיר ורשע באין לדין….רשע אומרים לו מפני מה לא עסקת בתורה? אם אומר נאה הייתי וטרוד ביצרי אומרים לו כלום נאה היית יותר מיוסף?
Just like יוסף withstood his ניסיון, every single Yid is expected to withstand their own נסיונות, since we have that power of מסירות נפש within us.
As we approach חנוכה, we can gain חיזוק from the חשמונאים, who through great מסירות נפש stood up to the Greeks and the Hellenists to defend Hashem and His Torah. And through their מסירות נפש, the חשמונאים were successful in defeating their enemies and restoring the בית המקדש and the מלוכה.
We’ll conclude with a story that highlights this point, related by Rebbetzin Batya Barg ע”ה, in her book “Voices in the Silence.” She grew up in Kiev, in the 1940’s, under the oppressive Communist regime. Her parents were מוסר נפש to keep all the מצוות, even having a Kosher Mikva in their apartment. Because of their insistence on שבת observance, they were ineligible for work and suffered great poverty. As she describes in her book, ” As a child, I was in a constant state of hunger.”One day at school, a non Jewish classmate friend noticed my lack of food. In a gesture of kindness, she offered me half of her sandwich.” Here, Batya “, she said, cutting her sandwich in two.” You take half of it.” Batya looked hungrily at the food. The sandwich consisted of 2 slices of white bread, smeared in mayonnaise, with thick slices of salami, a hungry child’s dream. And yet, in an act of great מסירות נפש, in spite of her great hunger, this young child uttered the word that every Yid, a descendent of יוסף הצדיק, knows to say…
“No!”
כל מה שאירע ליוסף אירע לציון!
Weekly Parsha Shiur 