Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman has been teaching for TorahTutors.org longer than anyone! And whether it’s Tanach, Gemara, or halacha, his students just keep coming back for more.
This week, he shares with all of us an interesting teaching from the Sefat Emet to Parshat Vayigash.
When Yosef “reveals” himself to his brothers, they are shocked into silence:
And Yosef said to his brothers, “I am Yosef. Is my father still alive?” And his brothers were unable to answer him, because they were shocked by him.
Bereishit (Genesis) 45:3
The verb in this pasuk is so meaningful. It does not say “because they were afraid (pachdu) of him.” It says “because they were shocked (nivhalu) by him.”
What shocked them? The Sefat Emet says that they were shocked by their blindness. The brothers were shocked that they had been blind to the greatness of their brother. They were shocked that they could be so oblivious to Yosef’s potential.
The Sfat Emet says that this shock is what the following Midrash is teaching us:
R’ Elazar ben Azarya said: Woe to us from the day of judgment! Woe to us from the day of rebuke! Just as Yosef the tzaddik (righteous), who was flesh and blood, when he rebuked his brothers, they were unable to withstand his rebuke – God, who is Judge and litigant and sits on the chair of justice and judges each and every person, how much more so will all flesh and blood be unable to stand before Him.
Midrash Bereishit Rabba 93:11
When Hashem judges us in the future, we will be shocked, just as the brothers of Yosef were shocked – not merely because of our shortcomings and what we have done wrong, but because we will realize our blindness and all the positive opportunities we missed to do Hashem’s will.
We can all take this message as a reminder to seek out the positive opportunities life gives us – to see what we can do, and get to it!
