Two
years after the chief butler’s dream, Pharoah himself has two
strange dreams. In the first dream, he sees seven lean cows devouring
seven fat cows; still they remain lean. In the second dream, he saw
seven thin ears of grain swallowing seven full ears of corn and still
remaining thin.
Pharoah is disturbed by these dreams and nobody can interpret them.
The butler then remembers Yosef and his amazing ability. Yosef is
summoned before Pharoah and tells him that only Hashem can interpret
dreams. Nevertheless, Pharoah insists and Yosef proceeds to tell Pharoah
about his dreams. The first dream means that there will be seven years
of prosperity and growth for the kingdom. This will be followed by
seven years of famine. Yosef urges Phaorah to appoint and administrator
to oversee the storage of food during the seven full years. Yosef
is quickly appointed Viceroy, second only to Pharoah, at the age of
thirty.
Yosef is married and has two sons named Menashe and Ephraim. Yosef
begins storing food and quickly acquires great wealth for Pharoah.
During the years of famine, Yosef now sells back the food to the people
and the kingdom survives.
Meanwhile, Yaakov and his brothers have moved on with their lives.
The famine hits Cannan and Yaakov sends his brothers to Egypt for
food (not knowing that Yosef is now Viceroy). His youngest son, Benyamin,
is left at home for safety. Yosef quickly recognizes his brothers,
but they do not recognize him. Yosef pretends not to know them and
acts harshly toward the, accusing them of being spies. They explain
that they were just sent by their father to buy food and that their
youngest brother is at home. Yosef asks them to prove themselves by
sending one brother back to bring Benyamin before Yosef. The remaining
brothers are sent to prison. After three days, all are released except
Shimon, who is told to remain as a hostage, until the others return
with Benyamin.
The brothers now realize that they are being punished for their actions
against Yosef many years before. The brothers did not know that Yosef
spoke their language, so he understood everything they said to themselves.
Yosef, sensing their regret, leaves the room and weeps in private.
Yosef jails Shimon and secretly has the brothers sacks filled with
grain and places money inside them as well. As they travel home, they
discover the money and are afraid that they will be accused of stealing.
They relate to Yaakov all that has happened, but he refuses to let
benyamin go with them. Yehudah personally pledges to take of Benyamin
since there is no other alternative. Benyamin is now allowed to go
with his brothers.
When they return to Egypt, they are taken to Yosef. He gives them
food and wine but secretly places a valuable vessel in Benyamin’s
sack. When the brothers try to leave, the vessel is discovered and
Benyamin is accused of stealing and thrown in prison. Yehudah protests
and offers himself instead of Benyamin. Yosef refuses and holds Benyamin
prisoner while the others were free to leave.
 |
|
And
they said to one another: We are verily guilty
concerning
our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when
he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is come upon
us this distress |
The concept of
teshuvah is a hallmark of Judaism. Having regret for one’s actions
is only the beginning. The Rambam writes that the true test of teshuvah
occurs when one is confronted with the same temptation again and resists.
While interpreted to mean “repentance”, teshuvah really
means “a return”. The prophet declares, ‘Shuva Yisroel’(
Return, O Yisroel…) extorting the people to return to the ways
of righteousness and Hashem.
The Rambam states if Yosef had revealed himself too soon, complete
teshuvah would not have been possible. By showing that they would
not let there father’s remaining favorite son to be held captive,
they will have passed the test of true repentance. As the Rambam writes
in Hilchot Teshuvah:
“Anyone who makes a verbal confession without resolving in his
heart to abandon his sin is like one who takes a ritual bath while
grasping a defiling reptile. The bath is useless unless he first casts
the reptile away.”
However, there is more to teshuvah. On Yom Kippur, a Jew confesses
his sins before Hashem and prays for forgiveness. As the Rambam writes:
“Repentance and Yom Kippur effect atonement only for sins committed
against G-d…sins committed against a fellow man, are never pardoned
until he has asked forgiveness from his neighbor.”
The power of teshuvah is great indeed. The Rambam says: “Let
not the repentant person imagine that he is far removed from the merit
of the righteous on account of the iniquities and sins he committed.
This is not so. He is tenderly loved by the Creator as if he had never
sinned. Besides, his reward is great, since he had tasted sin and
got rid of it by suppressing his evil impulse. The sages said: Where
the repentant sinners stand, the thoroughly righteous cannot stand;
that is, their merit is superior to that of persons who never committed
a sin, because the repentant had to exert greater effort in suppressing
their impulse.”
It is also forbidden to remind a person about their past transgressions
after they have fully repented. If G-d forgives them, they should
not longer be embarrassed by what they did. This is covered by what
the Torah says in Vayikra (25:17): “You must not vex one another”.
Teshuva is above time and space. It can be done at any time and any
place. True teshuva can wipe away a lifetime of evil. Mitzvot are
limited in time and space. If I forget to put on tefillin today, I
can’t make up for it tomorrow. As the sages say, “Great
is teshuva because it can annul a divine decree of death”. Yosef’s
brothers demonstrated great remorse and will eventually be forgiven
in the next parsha. Yehudah, becomes the embodiment of royalty (the
House of David); Levi, is the ancestor of Moshe and Aharon; and King
Saul is a descendant of Benyamin.
