Vayigash
ויגש אליו יהודה ויאמר אליו בי אדני ידבר נא עבדך דבר באזני אדני ואל יחר אפך בעבדיך כי כמוך כפרעה (מד, יח).
And Yehudah approached [Yosef] and said to him, “Please, my master! May your servant speak a matter in the ears of my master and your wrath shall not flare towards your servants, for you are as distinguished as Pharoah.”
As a means of probing this verse, I would offer the following exposition of the mishnah in Avos* which states: ר' ישמעאל אומר הוי קל לראש ונוח לתשחורת והוי מקבל את כל האדם בשמחה, R. Yishmael says: Be light-footed unto a leader, pleasant unto a youth, and receive every person joyously.
Let us begin with an explanation from the Olelos Ephrayim** in a well-known passage in Berachos***. Prior to the Exodus, Hashem requested of Moshe, דבר נא באזני העם וישאלו איש מאת רעהו ואשה מאת רעותה כלי כסף וכלי זהב, Please speak in the ears of the nation that they shall Egyptch man from his fellow and each woman from her fellow gold and silver vessels****. The Talmud explains that this was presented as a “request” from the nation to Hashem, as the Jews would have been reluctant to be weighed down by the large quantities of wealth during their trek out of the Egypt. The obvious difficulty with this is: Is anyone really reluctant to be overloaded with vast wealth?
The Olelos Ephrayim therefore renders this passage homiletically. The Torah is a road – a way that guides a human being to ever ascending heights along the mountain of Hashem until he reaches the summit of personal perfection. As Tehillim***** asks, מי יעלה בהר ה' נקי כפים ובר לבב, Who may ascend upon the mountain of Hashem? One of clean hands and a pure heart. One engaged in a physical mountain climb carries with him only the barest minimum necessary for his ascent, as every additional bit of weight will slow his progress. As such, he would never be found with elaborate garments, heavy foods, or precious metals. Similarly, one endeavoring to scale spiritual heights much abandon these luxuries, as their base effect on him will hinder his soul from developing its latent sublimeness.
As such, the nascent Jewish people, who were just starting out on their journey of self-growth were averse to “weighing themselves down” – spiritually, that is – with riches and garments. Hence, Hashem needed to implore upon them to voluntarily saddle themselves with this seeming handicap.
There is, however, another detail to add about a Jew’s complex relationship with wealth. Another mishnah in Avos****** instructs: כך היא דרכה של תורה פת במלח תאכל ומים במשורה תשתה וכו' ואם אתה עושה כן אשריך וטוב לך. אשריך בעולם הזה וטוב לך לעולם הבא, Thus is the way of Torah: you shall eat bread with salt, drink water by the measure… and if you do so – “Fortunate are you and goodly shall it be for you.” “Fortunate are you” – in This World; “And goodly shall it be for you” – in the World to Come. What does “and if you do so” add?
I believe that this teaches that if one accustoms himself to a lifestyle of privation for the sake of Torah – which, initially, is the ideal state for growth – his subsequent upgrade to one of affluence will not detract from his spiritual ascent.
We can now explain the mishnaic text that we began with. הוי קל לראש, when you begin (ראש) your spiritual journey, see to it that your load is as light (קל) as possible. If you are successful at that and become accustomed to the ways of Torah, then ונוח לתשחורת, it will be beneficial (נוח) for you even if you merit wealth (תשחורת). ******* When a person reaches this pinnacle of self-sufficiency, capable of contending with deprivation and affluence, his inner tranquility will express itself in perfect good cheer for every person – הוי מקבל את כל האדם בשמחה. As the Sages remark********, when there is material plenty, others simply appear more pleasant.
Another possible explanation takes us to a verse in Tehillim*********, גאלת בזרוע עמך בני יעקב ויוסף סלה, You redeemed with [Your] arm Your nation, the sons of Yaakov and Yosef, selah. Why is Yosef of all of the brothers singled out here? And speaking of Yosef, we find that his mother stated two reasons for the choice of his name – אסף אלקים את חרפתי, G-d has gathered in my disgrace; יוסף ה' לי בן אחר, May Hashem add for me another son**********. Why?
The Yad Yosef *********** offered the following thought on a mishnah in Avos************. ולא כל המרבה בסחורה מחכים ובמקום שאין איש השתדל להיות איש, Not all those who engage excessively in commerce will grow wise; in a place where there is no man, strive to be a man. Commerce and wisdom demand contradictory natures. The former is largely dependent upon social engagement, while seclusion is typically more conducive to the pursuit of the latter. (As the verse says, לתאוה יבקש נפרד, *************which we can render one who has a longing for wisdom – should seek to be secluded.) It was to this distinction that the Talmud alludes to with the instructions הרוצה להחכים ידרים והרוצה להעשיר יצפין, one who wishes to become wise should incline [his position during prayer] to the south, one who wishes to become wealthy should incline to the north. ************** The south was viewed in talmudic times as inhospitable due to the hot climate of the equator, it therefore symbolized solitude; hence, to achieve wisdom one should “face south.” To achieve wealth, one should gravitate to the north, where others are found. Thus, Avos teaches, since commerce demands sociability, which is an obstacle to wisdom, במקום שאין איש השתדל להיות איש, one should strive to be a man (i.e., to be present) in a place where other men are not found.
I would add to this a tongue-in-cheek thought of my own. There is an injunction regarding Pesach of לא יראה לך חמץ, chametz may not be visible to you.*************** The Sages infer שלך אי אתה רואה אבל אתה רואה של נכרי ושל הקדש, it is your chametz which one may not see, but you may see that of a gentile or the Temple. I take this as an observation of human nature: a person doesn’t see his own faults, rather those of others. Who in particular does he strive to find failings in? Strangers (“the gentile”) and the righteous (“the Temple”).
Along these lines, someone pointed out the inherent quandary of those who seek to undermine the reputation of the righteous. Typically, these scoffers while away their time in frivolity. As such, upon whose merit does the world stand? If the righteous are frauds and the scoffers are up to no good, what keeps the world going? It is to this point that the mishnah speaks: במקום שאין איש, if there are no righteous around, because you have discredited them, השתדל להיות איש, it would be incumbent on you to assume that role…
This may also be one meaning of the verse כי אדם אין צדיק בארץ אשר יעשה טוב ולא יחטא, for there is no righteous man in the land who will do good and not sin. **************** Why is the future tense of אשר יעשה used instead of the past tense? Perhaps it should be read as follows: If, as you the scoffer claim, “there is no righteous man in the land,” then it is upon you to be the one “who will do good and not sin.”
In this light we can offer a second approach to the mishnah in Avos. הוי קל לראש, it used to be that you had some justification to take life lightly (הוי קל) and be derelict in your growth, because you were adjacent to a righteous person (לראש) who was, so to speak, doing it for you. However, now it is upon you to be pleasant to Heaven in your spirituality (נוח) since you have torpedoed the tzaddik’s reputation (תשחורת), and a void remains.
Rochel may have intended as such when she named Yosef. As a righteous woman, she assumed that all of the failings of society were associated with her new son. אסף ה' את חרפתי. Consequently, she felt it her place to request another son, one whose righteousness would uphold the world. יוסף ה' לי בן אחר. Thus, the first reason precipitated the second.
Now, the Sages***************** say that Moshiach will not arrive before the arrogant are eradicated. It follows גאלת בזרוע עמך בני יעקב ויוסף סלה. What prevented him from arriving before now? The arrogant. As such his arrival is achieved through the quality of Yaakov, that of the “heel,” a symbol of humility. A consequence of this humility is the aforementioned habit of assuming all wrong to be your own fault; hence Yosef, who represents this attitude. (This can also be alluded to in the words אלה תולדות יעקב יוסף, ****************** the Yosef-quality is a derivative of the Yaakov-quality.)
I have previously quoted the interpretation, attributed to the Besht*******************, of the names of the first four sons of Yaakov: 1) The name Reuven, ראובן, as the Talmud explains********************, is derived from ראו מה בין בני לבין בן חמי, see the difference between my son and the son of my father-in-law, i.e., mitzvos performed for the sake of their being noticed by others. 2) The name Shimon, שמעון, is derived from שם, reputation, i.e., mitzvos performed to gain a good reputation. 3) Levi, לוי, from the term לויה, escort*********************, i.e., mitzvos performed to get into the right company. 4) Yehudah, יהודה, from the term הודאה, thanksgiving**********************, i.e., to elicit praise from others. According to the thought at hand, Yosef, who takes responsibility for all failures, is the antithesis of Yehudah.
Thus, a dynamic of self-development is occurring in the beginning of our passage. ויגש אליו יהודה, what had heretofore been a conduct of publicizing one’s good deeds in the pursuit of honor (יהודה) now approached him (ויגש אליו), i.e., Yosef, the quality of self-effacement. This aligns with the symbolic approach to this passage taken in the midrash*********************** and the Zohar************************ that Yehudah and Yosef represent two worlds which achieve their perfection through their harmony.
(We find this quality of Yosef’s displayed by Moshe as well. As the Alshich explains in his commentary there*************************, during the inauguration of the Mishkan, Moshe attributed everything that went wrong to his own failings and everything that went right to the merit of the Jewish People. Yosef and Moshe are thematically connected, as we see in the verse ויקח משה את עצמות יוסף עמו, Moshe took Yosef’s bones with him.**************************)
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* 3:12.
** 45-46.
*** 9a.
**** Shemos 11:2.
***** 24:4.
****** 6:4.
******* See Sukkah 4:9; Bartenura, ad loc.
******** Bereishis Rabbah 89:4, cited in Rashi, Bereishis 41:2.
********* 77:16.
********** Bereishis 30:23-24.
*********** Mikeitz, 68a.
************ 2:5.
************* Mishlei 18:1.
************** Baba Basra 25b.
*************** Shemos 13:7.
**************** Koheles 7:20.
***************** Sanhedrin 98a.
****************** Bereishis 37:2.
******************* See Vayeishev.
******************** Berachos 7b.
********************* As per Bereishis 29:34.
********************** As per ibid., 35.
*********************** Bereishis Rabbah 93:2.
************************ Vayigash, 206b.
************************* Vayikra 9:4.
************************** Shemos 13:19.