BS”D

Vayigash – Courtrooms of the Heart

Dr M Bank

A Guten Erev Shabbos. This week’s parsha is parsha Vayigash. I would like to give this shiur the name Courtrooms of the heart. We need to look in Maseches Sotah daf Hes amud alef and beis. We see at the end of days, in the next world there is a remez, that each man will be given a case to judge; what appears to be a very simple, easy, plain case to judge. It depends how he looks at it. He finds that the person did what they were supposed to have done, there are no extenuating circumstances, they are guilty and should be punished to the full extent of the law. So the Mishnah suggests that the way they decide the case, H’shem will decide their entire life’s judgement. We know this to be the case, which is why the Torah says Ahavta Lerecha kamocha, we are commanded to dan bechaf zechut, rachmanim bnei rachmanim, that we are merciful children the son of merciful ones. We should perform tzedaka in the world, without ever in the end going against the mishpat, the law, chas veshalom, but first should always come rachamim, tzedaka and chesed. Busha (modesty), chesed and rachamim are the way of Am Yisrael. These are the qualities of our forefathers. Another klal gadol betorah is Maase Avos Siman Lebanim, that the ways of the father are a sign for the children. What the fathers accomplished we will inherit. The tests that were made for them we will graduate in.

In the parsha, Yehuda was quite keen to have his brother thrown in the pit. Eventually he comes to Yosef, not knowing that it is Yosef, obviously and speaks in his ear probably the most passionate and compassionate appeal in the life of the entire family. We see that had this happened 22 years before, it would have made a world of difference. He would have persuaded his brothers to show this tremendous kindness to Yosef, instead of speaking harshly, and should have been dan lechaf zechus, in some measure, found something to appeal to the brothers and also for the brothers to find a window of hope and opportunity to try and save their brother. Instead it was a court of din that sentenced him to death. Then they decided that instead of the blood being on their hands they threw him into the pit. Then it was decided, instead of throwing him into the pit, that foreigners take care of him. So, they sold him into Egypt and into slavery. The tremendous irony of al this is that they were sealing their own fate. In all of world history, we know that there is an opportunity for Moshiach to come in one of 2 ways – either on a white cloud or on a wild donkey. Each one of us receives judgment exactly the way we dish it out. If a person acts with ruthlessness and din, it may come upon him that his life is like riding on a wild donkey, trapping around the edges of a very high mountain. He doesn’t know moment by moment whether he will live or perish. For someone that is rachman ben rachman, a merciful person the son of a merciful person, then it may be that this world for him is like a voyage on a white cloud. Did anybody ever notice a white cloud? So, it is also very modest. He doesn’t make it known to everybody that he is traveling quietly with H’shem through this world. He is not looking for the kavod, taivah and gaivah and he is judging everybody with an ayin tov. This is what it says in Pirkei Avos, that the ayin tov is equivalent to all the good midos. To be dan lechaf zchus. A person should always think, maybe there is a reason why something happened. Maybe they had a terrible life. Maybe they suffered tremendously. Maybe something can be done to be metaken (repair) this before it is too late. So, a person always needs to open the window of opportunity for rachamim. Certainly if H’shem does, then we should. H’shem is merciful, Hanun veRachum, erech apayim, oseh chessed lealafim – doing kindness for thousands of generations, although he does bring the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons for 2 or 3 generations, which means that anybody who turns their back on H’shem and His Torah, they don’t have a third or fourth generation. Look at the tragedy of assimilation – all those people that somewhere in the family tree, someone made a decision to turn their back on Torah. They child was a tinok she’nishba, and their children didn’t even know better. So it doesn’t last 2 or 3 or more generations. A person who turns his back on H’shem, it lasts unless, somehow through infinite miracles and mercy, kiruv is done and in our generation we are experiencing something that never happened in the history of the world. The Teshuva movement, the spiritual wave of Teshuva that is sweeping across the world. A silent wave that is catching the whole generation and miraculously, institutions like Dvar Yerushalayim are islands like the Garden of Eden for a person to recuperate, reinvigorate and to be reinvigorated, so that they can go forward with all the strength and blessings of Torah in the future. Without it, prognosis is 0. So, we have these islands of hope in an ocean of catastrophe. If a person is smart, with all the heart, all their might and all their soul, they grab onto the etz chayim, and they hold into it for dear life.

So wee see in this parsha, Yehuda approaches the Viceroy, Yosef, and says, 'Oh my lord, let your servant, I pray you, speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not your anger flare against your servant…”; so he is already saying as a premise, please have mercy on us. “Don’t let your anger overwhelm you” for if he does, there is no chance of surviving the situation “for you are even as Pharaoh himself”. So it is a good assessment. Yehuda understands that he is standing before what would probably be the mightiest human being on the surface of the earth, that whatever this human being says is an absolute in human courts. ‘My lord has asked his servants, saying: Have you a father, or a brother? And we said to my lord…’, lord here is in a physical sense, the one that has the power over us, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young child of his old age; his brother is dead…’. So all of a sudden, to Yosef, this is a massive revelation. For 22 years or so, there was no way he knew why they did not come looking for him. Now this was a revelation. Yehuda says that they suspect that their brother is dead. That’s why nobody came looking for him. Not only that. Now, for the first time, Yosef can understand why his father did not come looking for him. So we understand a very deep insight into why Yosef was provoking their anger and putting them at a harsh din, saying ‘you are spies, you came in through ten gates. You came to spy out the land to see the weakness and to cause damage to us. So, they were under a terrible din. Everything they did was under the microscope now. The didn of the mightiest person on the surface of the earth. They had provoked, without looking for it, his entire wrath. This was entirely measure for measure, the wrath that they had brought upon their brother. ‘This younger brother is alone, left from his mother, and his father loves him’. So now we see for the first time, that the sons describe Binyamin as the one that Yaakov loves and they don’t resent this love. As a matter of fact they are quite happy that their father should give extra-special attention to Binyamin, because the older brother experienced the tragedy and through that they experienced the suffering of their father, and it was too much for them. ‘Then you said to your servants: Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes upon him. And we said unto my lord: The lad cannot leave his father; for if he should leave his father, his father would die’. So this is a curious statement. Where is this statement when they judged Yosef? Where was the compassion for their father when they decide to put him to death? Where was their compassion for their father when they threw him into the pit with snakes and scorpions? Where was their compassion for their father when they sold him to Egypt? Where was their compassion for their father for the 22 years that their father suffered believing that he would go to the grave without ever seeing his son again. It is a tremendous catastrophe. It is one thing for a son to bury a father. That is part of the way H’shem created the world. But it is not for a father to bury a son. That is not one of the emotions that H’shem created this world for. For a tzadik on the level of Yaakov, how could he live with the tragedy that his son, who was due to be the leader of the nation in Galus, had perished at the hands of wild animals? ‘The lad cannot leave his father; for if he should leave his father, his father would die. And thou said to your servants: If your youngest brother does not come down with you, you shall not see my face again’. This is a tremendous sentence that we see that later on, Pharaoh, the arch enemy of Moshe Rabbeinu, says to Moshe Rabbeinu before the tenth plague “Get out of here, if I see you face again, you will surely perish”. So it turns out that measure for measure, curse for curse, the Pharaoh himself and the nation suffered tremendous afflictions. So everything in this world is a mirror. The way a person dishes it, he gets dished. He gets served exactly mida for mida. It is up to him. Sometimes we can’t understand why something is happening in our lives. We have to reflect deeper. If we still don’t understand we have to reflect still deeper. If we want a better life, we have to treat other people better. Ahavta leReecha Kamocha. It is not a great mitzvah to love a person that it tremendously successful, a person of affluence, influence, a person that is world famous. The real measure is to treat a person who doesn’t have any of those measures, to have the kind of rachamim and the kind of ahava for him that we would have for somebody that is very powerful and very effective in his power in this world. When we see each one of Am Yisrael as the sons and daughters of H’shem, and we reflect accordingly and see ourselves as being an example, as the son of the King, and that every midda and maala that we are involved in, we are representing H’shem in this world, that we behave according to the Torah of H’shem with rachamim and ahava, then the other nation of the world will see the brochos and the miracles and they will understand what a wise nation this is. Not because we a truly wise, but because H’shem’s blessings are showered upon us. ‘We cannot see the man’s face if our brother is not with us’. ‘Your servant, our father…’. This is potentially a very difficult statement. ‘…Said to us: “You know that my wife bore me two sons; and one went out from me, and I said: alas he is torn to pieces; and I have not seen him since”’. This is exactly word for word quoting now. Yosef has a second revelation, not only did he die, but the story was given to Yaakov by the brothers, that he was torn to pieces by a wild animal. So they had said something even deeper. They did not have to answer for what they did because they said it was a wild animal that did it. So, measure for measure, they were now being exposed to a wild animal. The Viceroy was behaving like a wild animal to them. There seemed to be nothing rational they could say that would appease him or get them off the hook. ‘and if you take the second one too from my presence…’ says Yaakov ‘and disaster will fall upon him…’. If disaster falls upon Binyamin the ‘you will bring down my old age in evil to the grave’. In other words, the last thing that is keeping Yaakov alive is the younger child of Rachel. We see the tremendous importance of these two sons in world history. It says that throughout Galus, Moshiach ben Yosef will have to take care of Am Yisrael. We see that at this very first stage, Yosef was blessed with all the kemach. He not only looked after Am Yisrael, but he also took care of Egypt and the whole world. All the kemach of the whole world was being supplied by Yosef because of his tremendous blessing. Through his blessing the whole world was being blessed. He had to bring Binyamin down to Mitzrayim and he knew this would not bring his father to the grave, even though they claimed it would. He knew that by bringing Binyamin down to Mitzrayim, his dream would be fulfilled. How so? Because the 11 brothers would have to bow down to him. It was not his ego that required it, has veshalom. It was the nevuah, that H’shem had revealed to him. It has to be part of history that they accept his rulership so that the nation can continue, so that divine destiny that H’shem had decreed for world history has to continue. But he has to look at his power either to take revenge, or to acknowledge that everything is from H’shem, and in so doing, be grateful to H’shem for all the good that H’shem is bestowing, even though it may look initially like evil, it may look like tragedy, it may look lie something that is out of control and totally not to be understood. In the end it is revealed in one second, like a bolt of lightening on a pitch black night, the whole world lights up from one horizon to the other. Everything is clear in that second, that it is all from H’shem. The brothers went through this tortuous experience. They had to experience the tremendous darkness so that when the revelation came it was clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was all from H’shem. Hiding behind the curtains of world history is H’shem. Even though sometimes we may feel it is Hester Panim, that His face is hidden through some of the darkest moments, there is no question about it, that when the light of Geula comes, the dawn of redemption, that all of a sudden, all of that suffering and all of that travail, all that agony will be understood, for infinitely greater reasons.

So the father warned the sons, should they take Binyamin with, they will run the risk of bringing their father to the grave. Yehuda now takes responsibility for the first time in his life of what he was meant to be at the beginning of his life. He was meant to be the bechor, the one who felt for his brothers. Of course Reuven was initially, but by default it went on to Yehuda. ‘Now if I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us; seeing that his soul is bound up with the lad's soul; it will be, when he sees that the lad is not with us, he will die; and your servants will bring down the old age of your servant our father in sorrow to the grave. For your servant…’ this is Yehuda speaking ‘took responsibility for the lad for my father, saying: If I do not bring him back to you, then shall I have sinned to my father for all time’. This is a tremendous revelation, that he is ready to risk his life no only in this world but also in Gan Eden. He is willing to take the full wrath for all his actions during his entire life, and the death of his father upon himself, that he has full and independent responsibility for his father’s well being. All those years before nobody took responsibility, nobody thought about it, nobody could have imagined what they were doing in a fleeting moment, that there would be repercussions throughout world history. This scapegoat Yosef would be the first example of a Jewish scapegoat in world history. Just like Yosef was sent to Azazel so to speak, to Egypt, so the other goat was shechted and the blood but on the jacket which is a remez of the paroches on Yom Kippur. The blood that was shed was sprinkled, ehad lemala, ve’sheva lemata. This is a remez of deep spiritual levels. If we try with all our heart and all our might, with all our ability, to serve H’ we can tikun the death sentence. We can survive another year if we truly regret all those things that we may have not done in accordance with the ratzon (will) of H’shem. ‘So therefore, please, let your servant remain’ this is Yehuda speaking let him remain ‘instead of the lad’. He will be wiling to spend the rest of his life in jail so that the nation can go forward. ‘As a servant, a slave, to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brothers back home. For how can I go up to my father, if the lad is not with me? lest I look upon the evil that will fall upon my father’. This was too much for Yehuda. He would rather sacrifice his own life, rather than let what happened before happen to his father again. He would rather die than see his father die from the agony. He would rather die than see his brother enslaved. This was a tremendous tikun. For Yosef, this is the remez that they were truly rachmanim bnei rachmanim. ‘ Yosef could not restrain himself before all those who stood before him; so he called out: Remove everyone from before me.' And no-one remained with him, while Yosef made himself known to his brothers’. We have to explore this on many levels. We will get back to this in a few moments. What we have to understand at this moment, according to the measure which one measures out his actions, so the heavenly Courts will measure it out for him in return. This is in Maseches Sotah, Daf 8b, the Mishnah. ‘According to the measure with which one measures out his actions, with it the Heavenly tribunal measure for him in return’. This is the principle of midda keneged midda, measure for measure. H’shem treats a person in this way so that they know that their reward or punishment was directed by Divine Providence. Also, when a person sees another suffering measure for measure for that sin, he will be more careful with his own actions. Furthermore, when a person suffers measure for measure, he is more easily able to determine which misdeed he committed to cause that particular punishment and it makes it easier for him to make an adjustment, teshuva and correction (brought in Nefesh HaChaim and the Sichos Mussar of Rav Chaim Shmulevitz 5732). So we explore the treatment of the Sotah. The Mishhna says, ‘She adorned herself for the sin, with beautiful clothing so H’shem disgraces her accordingly. She disgraces herself with the sin, Hakadosh Boruch Hu revelas the sin to everyone, publicly. She sinned with the thigh first and then with the stomach. Therefore the thigh should be struck first with the punishment and then the stomach. The rest of the body does not escape this punishment either. The whole body experiences this catastrophe. H’shem causes the thigh to extend and the stomach to distend. Thiis is the beginning of the curse. Since her whole body derived pleasure, her whole body is stricken after she drinks the bitter waters with the name of H’shem inside. She not only caused a desecration of Shem H’shem, but this Shem H’shem will come to destroy her. Rav Yosef said that even though the exact measure of the Court imposed corporal punishment have ceased to exist since the Beis HaMikdash, burning, stoning, beheading and strangulation, no Sanhedrin may sentence a person to death unless the Great Sanhedrin is functioning in the Chamber of Hewn Stone in the Temple. When the Temple was destroyed, the earthly court could no longer function. Of course we have Batei Dinim today but not for capital punishment. ‘Rav Yosef said, and Rac Chisda also taught in a Baraisa, on the day that the temple was destroyed, even though the Beis Din Hagadol ceased to function in the temple, the four types of execution had not ceased. Surely they have ceased? Even though the Temple does not exist! The baraisa means that even though the Courts do not exercise capital punishment, the Divine equivalent of these four types of execution have not ceased. A person deserving the death sentence of stoning either falls from a roof, or is trampled by wild beasts. In the punishment of stoning a person is first thrown from an elevation to the ground. If he survives stones are thrust upon him until his bones are crushed and his neshama leaves his body. In post temple times, Divine Providence brings about a parallel punishment by causing one deserving of skilla to be killed by falling and crushed or by being thrown to the ground and trampled by wild animals. So we can contemplate all the “accidents” that happen when people are driving on Shabbos is skilla, the most severe form of the death sentence. It turns out that, ironically, of all the days of car accidents on the road in Israel, the day least traveled, Shabbos, is the highest day of car accidents with deaths. So, it is a tremendous message that speaks to each and every person as they Has VeHalila throw caution to the wind. They are throwing their lives into terrible danger. It continues, one who is deserving of death by burning falls into fire or is bitten by a snake. The snake kills him by burning internally. One who is liable to death by beheading is either handed over to the authorities, to be killed. The authorities did that by chopping his head off. Or bandits come upon him and kill him, who kill with the sword (Rashi to 37b). One who is liable to death by strangulation either drowns or does of quinsy, a throat disease that shuts down the breathing, the airways. These four types of death penalty are executed by Beis Din Shel Maala but not by Beis Din Shel Mata. In Pirkei Avos it says that war comes to the world because of the death sentence that is not exercised by the earthly courts. Plagues also come to the world because of the death sentence that is not exercised by the earthly court. Many things bring tremendous tragedy upon the world if the earthly courts are not executing justice. The Mishnah on daf 9b brings historical examples of punishment meted out measure for measure. ‘Samson followed his eyes…’. Samson was one of the greatest leaders and judges. His mistakes were not those of a base person, but must be understood in the context of the exalted status of this great Jewish leader. Shimshon’s true motives in marrying a Philistine woman are discussed in the Gemora. Samson was punished because in a small measure, he was influenced by personal desire (Radak, Shoftim 34, 4). Since his mistake was caused by his eyes, he was punished measure for measure. The Philistines teased him and gouged out his eyes. Avshalom was glorified by his hair. His vanity led him to attempt to take the throne from David Hamelech, his father. His hair was long because he took the oath of a nazir. He was hung by his hair (Shuel II, 18,9). Avshalom cohabited with ten of his father’s concubines, so ten of his father’s servants circled him and killed him. Because he stole three things, the heart of his father, the heart of the court and the heart of Israel, three lances were thrust into him. We see that measure for measure can be terrifying.

But just as a person can be exposed to din, a person is also rewarded measure for measure for good. Miriam waited one hour for her brother Moshe when he was thrown in the river in a small teiva in which he was found by the daughter of Pharaoh. Miriam was constantly guarding him, in case the little cradle overturned as it says ‘And his sister stationed herself from afar’. So the whole of Bnei Yisrael delayed for her 7 days in the Wilderness. As it says, ‘The nation did not travel until Miriam was brought in’. The respect for Miriam was a reward for her having waited for her brother Moshe. We often do not know why we are going through difficulties. In the next world we will get reward measure for measure for having excelled in an area that we may never have had an opportunity before. Rachamim, Ahava, Chessed, Tzedaka this are all of infinite value.

Yosef merited to bury his father and none of his fathers was greater than he. Before he died, yaakov requested of Yosef that he bury him in Maaras Hamachpela in Eretz Yisrael. Yosef personally carried out this last request and arranged for him to be buried in Eretz Israel in one of the greatest funeral possessions of world history. He himself led the funeral procession. Yosef’s stature at the time was greater than that of all his brothers. He was the Viceroy of Egypt. Yosef wet up with chariots and horsemen. Yosef was rewarded measure for measure for his good deed. Who was treated with as much honour as Yosef? Moshe Rabbeinu was the one that took care of him. Since Yosef accorded his father great honour, he was attended to by possibly the greatest Jew in world history, Moshe Rabbeinu. As it says ‘Moshe took the bones of Yosef…’. How could Moshe Rabbeinu be rewarded? He was attended to by HaKadosh Boruch Hu Himself as it says ‘H buried him in the valley’. That is not Moshe alone. It is said that H’shem attends to all the righteous after they die as it says ‘your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of H’shem shall gather you in’. However, H’shem does not occupy himself with their bodies, unlike with Moshe Rabbeinu where H personally buried him. Until today nobody knows where the kever of Moshe Rabbeinu is so that nobody can desecrate or worship it. Moshe Rabbeinu was too great for such tragedies.

Now we contemplate what had been accomplished by Yehuda with his few words, that had not been accomplished until then and what we learn about it for world history and for kiruv – reaching out to all our brothers, spiritually and physically from the bor of Mitzrayim causing us to become Lev Ehad veGuf Ehad, and in so doing, bringing about the final redemption. This is pidyon shevuim in a spiritual sense of every last Jew, be it Jonathan Pollard languishing for 22 years plus in the land of the free or be it Ron Arad, trapped by the arch enemies of Am Yisrael, maybe even Amalek himself. All the other spiritual and physical prisoners of Am Yisrael that are trapped in their own Mitzrayim. We see an incredible insight into what is coming at the end of days. We see an incredible insight in the Haftora of Sukkos (Zecharia 14.1) ‘Behold, G-d’s awaited day is coming. Your spoils will be divided in your midst. I shall bring all the nations to Jerusalem to wage war against you. The city will be conquered, the homes plundered, and the women violated’. This is a tremendously confusing Haftora that we read on Sukkos. What does this mean? This is relevant to our days. The war of Gog and Magog, the war that will result in the final redemption and a messianic era, in the Haftora on the first day of Sukkos and Chol Hamoed Shabbos, reveals that it is related to Sukkos because the prophecy that those nations would survive the war will join together to celebrate the Sukkos festival, and according to the Nemukei Yosef, the victory over Gog and Magog will take place in the month of Sukkos. According to rav Hirsch, Gog is also a remez to Gag, roof, in contrast with the weak unstable covering of foliage. Those who assert their immunity and consider themselves safe through sturdy walls and high towers, delude themselves into thinking that they are safe and secure against the din of H’shem. They think that they have immunity in their own might and can take fate in their own hands. The war of Magog, the one who fell from the roof and Gog – ‘gag’, the one dominating the roof of world history. All the great towers will collapse and only the Sukka will remain, the Sukka of H’ in which we find sanctuary and sanctity in the protection of H’. So we see a tremendous insight here. H’shem will gather all the nations to Jerusalem, the shivim zeveim, 70 wolves, who will gang up against Israel. There has never been a time of world unity against Israel like today. The whole world seems to be against Israel. The United Nations are not united in anything except their hatred of Israel. Even those who play act that they are friends of Israel, secretly bear their hatred. ‘Behold, G-d’s awaited day is coming. Your spoils will be divided in your midst. I shall bring all the nations to Jerusalem to wage war against you. The city will be conquered, the homes plundered, and the women violated. Half the people will go into exile…”. So a Gadol HaDor was asked which half? The answer is unknown. It is only known to H’. What is known is that those that cry out to H’shem and serve H’shem with a pure heart will survive the great and awesome day. As it says in Yoel, 3,5 …Whoever shall call on the name of the L-RD shall be delivered; for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those that escape, as the L-RD has said, and among the remnant those whom the L-RD shall call”. How many people today know the G-d of Avraham, Yitzhak and Yisrael that they are willing to cry out personally?

So when we look at the haftora, we understand that the mountains and cliffs shall topple. Every wall and migdal built on the faith that they will protect their inhabitants, representing faith in their own hands, will all topple and collapse. They will collapse. “I will become sanctified and known in the eyes of many nations. They shall know that I am H’shem”. Tremendous fury will be poured out on the world. The remaining half will not be cut off from the city. Half the city will go into exile. That is a frightening question. This represents a terrifying aspect of Am Yisrael. The head of the PLO recently said that he will bring proof that Am Yisrael are not worthy of Eretz Yisrael. He said, if you are willing to divide Yerushalayim, the city that you call most sacred, then Shlomo Hamelekh will testify against you, just like he testified against the mother that said, divide the child. He said that you are not the mother of this child. Anybody that wants to divide the holy city is not the child of H’. They will suffer for that infinitely.

Be’Ezras H’shem Am Yisrael will do Teshuva before it is too late. Be’Ezras H’shem we will see the Geula Shleima and the shleimut of Yerushalayim and we will inherit the Yerusha, the Yerusha Shalem, Yerushalayim, and we will all do Teshuva. As it says”the rest of thepeople will not be cut off from the City. H’shem will go out and wage war against those nations that have come to wage war against Israel. He will war on that day the battle. His feet astride on the mount of olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. It will be split in the centre, east and west making a huge ravine. Half the mountain will move north, half south. Then we will flee. It continues with incredible insights. And it shall come to pass on that day, that fresh water shall go out from Jerusalem: half toward the eastern sea, and half toward the western sea; in summer and in winter shall it be. ‘And H’shem shall reign over all the earth; and on that day H’shem will be One, and His name will be One’. The entire area will be reduced to a plane south of Yerushalayim. The city will rise high on its original site, from the gates of Binyamin to the inner gates. From the towers of Hananel, the royal wine cellar, there will dwell within her. Destruction shall be no more. Yerushalayim shall dwell secure.

The brothers were revealed, for the first time in their lives, like a flash of lightening on a pitch black day – Yosef could not hold himself back any further. In Taam VeDaas, Rav Shternbuch’s sefer on parshas hashavbua, Rav Shternbuch explains it as follows;

“Yosef’s behaviour at this moment is a further demonstration of his righteousness. As long as he thought the brothers deserved punishment, he afflicted them. Yosef could see that they had not done teshuva in their hearts. They needed further exquisite pain to realise that it was all in H’shem’s hands and that what they had done to Yosef was coming to bear upon them. They admitted that this had come about because of what they did to Yosef all those years ago. H’shem was revealing to them through Yosef as a vehicle this tremendous agony until they reached a ground zero point of truth where they could come to the realization that they had to do Teshuva. At that moment when they had done Teshuva in their hearts, when they were ready to sacrifice their own lives so that their father shouldn’t perish, so that their brother shouldn’t be enslaved and captured, so that they shouldn’t be put through the agony that they put their father and brother through before. At the moment that they came to that realisation that they were willing to give their lives for their father and for the unity of the family, at that moment Yosef decide that the time had come to reveal himself. He was careful to remove all the bystanders to save the brothers undue embarrassment. This was despite the years of suffering he had gone through in slavery, imprisoned, tortured, trapped, because of them. He didn’t have one thread of resentment or revenge in his entire existence. This is what made him Yosef Hatzadik. Yosef said to them, and this is a remez to Yom Hadin in Shamayim, everything that we thought was hefker, everything that we thought maybe wasn’t noticed, we will experience be’ezras H’shem only good things, but the clue is that after the brothers thought they had murdered their brother and sold him into slavery, after all they had gone through, and now they were trapped by the mightiest man in the world. They were giving all kinds of appeals, all kinds of excuses. This mightiest Viceroy of Egypt, as powerful as the Pharaoh himself, turned around to them and said, “You claim that you are so righteous that you care for your father, that you care for your brothers, that you acre for your youngest brother, “Ani Yosef” - I’m the one that you wanted to murder. I’m the one you threw into the pit. I’m the one you sent to Egypt. I’m the one that sat in prison. I’m the one that was nearly murdered in Egypt. And you ask me for mercy? Yosef didn’t have to say this even. The mere fact that he spoke without any of the hatred was a sign that he really was a tzaddik. The Chafetz Chaim wrote that at the end of days when H’ says Ani H’ it will be sufficient to make us tremble with infinite fear of the terrible awareness of what we didn’t accomplish in our lives.

May we accomplish everything in our lives, may we reach our potential, a complete Teshuva. May we come back to Torah, Eretz Yisrael and Olam Haba beOlam Hazeh. Then Yosef asks the greatest question, he says, “is my father still alive?” Why did Yosef ask if his father was alive?” Rav Sternbuch explains “Hadn’t the brothers already said so many times already? This question hinted at Yaakov’s suffering. He experienced death at every moment. Yosef forgave the brothers for the suffering they had caused him, but not for the suffering they had caused their father. Yosef hinted that it was surprising that Yaakov had survived all these years of suffering in order to spur the brothers to repent for the trouble they caused their father. In fact, Yehuda had already revealed the great infinite regret for this in his previous words that he was ready to sacrifice his own life so that his father should never have to go through this experience again. Yosef was afraid that yaakov may have actually perished along the way. Perhaps the brothers were pretending to be still alive to provoke Yosef’s mercy, so he asked them one last time, about Yaakov, after he had revelaed who he was. Now you can tell me, is he really alive? The ultimate question is, is their father in heaven alive in their hearts? Have they really done Teshuva gamur. The brothers couldn’t answer him. This is going to be din in Shamayim. The Midrash says, woe to us on the day of Yom Hadin Hagadol. Woe to us on the day of rebuke. Even Bilam, the wisest prophet in world history of the Goyim, could not stand up before the rebuke of his donkey, his donkey rebuked him. He was left speechless. As it says, when the donkey was beaten, it turned around and spoke to him. That did not shock him. What the donkey said shocked him. The donkey said, did I ever do this to you before? And he answered, no. The donkey had never stopped. It had served him for all those years faithfully. Yosef was the smallest of the tribes, yet his brothers could not stand before his rebuke, as it says, his brothers could not answer him because they were shocked. It says that their neshamas left their bodies. They died a million deaths. When H’shem comes and rebukes each person according to his level, as it says, “I will rebuke you, and lay out your deeds before your very eyes” how much more so will we be left speechless for all the things we could have done good in this world. The Midrash means that in each of these situations no argument will be required. The mere revelation of the facts in this world will suffice to instigate infinite shame and behelem, confusion. Similarly, H’shem’s mere appearance make us painfully aware that it was inadequate in this world. The Baal Shem Tov comments on the verse, ‘H’shem is a G-d of revenge, the G-d of revenge will appear’ that H will appear. His appearance will be the greatest revenge, against the wicked, not against the righteous. For the righteous it will be a glory, that the neshamas will eternally encircle and celebrate the goodness of H’shem. The shame and the suffering that the wicked will experience when they compare their lowly deeds to the glory of H’shem will be indescribable. That will be their Gehenom. That will be their ultimate agony. More than any physical agony will be the spiritual agony of somebody that turned his back on Torah.

May we all know only the good, the blessings, the Teshuva gamur of H’shem and his Torah, and may we all see the Geulla Shleima, Moshiach Tzidkeinu, the Beis Hamikdash bimheira veyameinu, with Moshe Rabbeinu and Aharon Hakohen, Kol Am Yisrael, Kol Hatzadikim of all the dorot (genrations) serving H’shem perfectly, bimheira veyameinu. May we all experience Shabbat Shalom.