Staying Strong by Rav Moshe Weinberger

From the Fire

Parshas Shemos Staying Strong

By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf

As we transition from Bereishis to Sefer Shemos, the Torah repeats the names of Yaakov’s sons and concludes (Shmos 1:5), “And it was that the descendants of Yaakov who went down to Egypt were seventy souls, and Yosef was in Egypt.” Because we already knew from Parshas Vayechi that the number of people who went into Egypt included Yosef, it is difficult to understand why the pasuk repeats that point here. Rashi, commenting on the pasuk, therefore writes, “Now were [Yosef] and his sons not already included in the seventy? What does this come to teach us? Do we not already know that he was in Egypt? Rather, it comes to teach us the righteousness of Yosef. The Yosef who was a king in Egypt was the same Yosef who shepherded his father’s sheep and retained his righteousness.”

In order to understand Rashi’s comment, we must study the explanation offered by the Alter of Kelm, zt”l. When someone hears something he finds to be completely amazing, he repeats it again and again as an expression of his wonder. So too, the Torah, as it were, continues to repeat the wondrous fact that Yosef remained a tzaddik for so many years although he lived in Egypt, surrounded by intense impurity. That is why the Torah now repeats “and Yosef was in Egypt.”

In order to understand the wondrous stability of Yosef’s righteousness, we must examine the meaning of the word “hayah, was,” in the phrase “and Yosef was in Egypt.”

The Gemara in Brachos (13a) derives the rule that one may not recite the portions that comprise Shema Yisroel out of order from the pasuk (Devarim 6:6), “Vahayu ha’devarim ha’eilah, And these words [of Shema] shall be...” The Gemara derives this rule from the use of the word “hayu, And they shall be” to mean “Vahayu – b’havaisan yahu, And they shall be – they shall remain as they were at the beginning [the words of Shema should be read in their original order from beginning to end without deviation].” We therefore see that the phrase “And they shall be,” which shares the same Hebrew root as the word “hayah, was,” in the phrase “and Yosef was in Egypt” implies that the subject of the pasuk should remain as it always was. Chazal similarly derive that tefillin and mezuzos must be written in the correct order because of the word “hayu, And they shall be.”

This is the meaning of the Torah’s amazement that “And Yosef was in Egypt,” remaining exactly as he was before going into Egypt. His life followed the order he had committed himself to without any deviation.

Let us now understand Yosef’s nature when he descending into Egypt, which he retained despite the environment there.

In the house of Potifar, the Torah (Bereishis 39:3) says, “And his master saw that Hashem was with him,” which Rashi explains to mean that “the name of heaven was always in his mouth.” The Midrash Tanchuma (Vayeishev 8) teaches that “when [Yosef] would go in to serve [his master], he would whisper, ‘Master of the world, you are my trust and my Father. Grant me grace, kindness, and mercy in your eyes, in the eyes of all who see me, and in the eyes of Potifar my master.’”

In every interaction Yosef had, we can see many more examples demonstrating that “the name of heaven was always in his mouth.” When Yosef was tested by the temptation of Potifar’s wife, Yosef said (Bereishis (39:9), “And how can I do this very evil thing and sin against Hashem?!” The Midrash (Bereishis Raba 14:3) expands on that idea,

stating that “[from Yosef’s faithfulness to Hashem with respect to the wife of Potifar] we see Yosef’s faith in [relatively] good times. How do we know that he was as faithful in hard times? As the pasuk (Bereishis 39:23) ‘The warden of the prison did not inspect anything that was in Yosef’s hand because he saw that Hashem was with him.’”

The examples continue. Yosef said to the butler and baker in prison (Bereishis 40:8), “Do interpretations not belong to Hashem?!” When Pharaoh asked Yosef to interpret his dreams, Yosef said (Bereishis 41:16), “It’s not me. Hashem will give an answer that will provide peace for Pharaoh,” (Id. at 24) “Hashem is telling Pharaoh what He is going to do,” and (Id. at 32) “the matter is ready to emanate from Hashem and He is hastening to carry it out.”

Yosef even names his children based on his constant thoughts of Hashem. He named his older son Menashe, saying (Id. at 51), “Hashem has caused me to forget all of my toil and all about my father’s house.” In the following pasuk, he names his second son Efraim, saying, “Hashem has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

In addition, even when Yosef had not yet revealed his true identity to his brothers, he told them (Bereishis 42:18), “I fear Hashem.” And after he had revealed himself, when comforting them regarding what they had done to him, he said (Bereishis 45:5), “Do not be sad or angry, because when you sold me here, Hashem sent me before you in order to sustain you,” and (Id. at 8) “And now, it was not you who sent me here but Hashem.” Finally, in his last moments of life, Yosef told his brothers, (Bereishis 50:25) “Hashem will surely remember you, [and when He does], take my bones up from here.” We therefore see that through his terrible trials and the heights Yosef experienced in Egypt, he remained exactly as he was in Yaakov Avinu’s house. He remained with all of his words and chapters in order. That is why the Torah repeats, in amazement, “And Yosef was in Egypt!”

Yaakov Avinu calls Yosef (Bereishis 49:26) nazier echav, the crown of his brothers. The Hebrew word he uses for crown is nazier, but that Hebrew root word can also mean Nazir, one who takes a Nazerite vow to abstain from grapes and wine. The Torah (Vayikra 27:2) says about the Nazir, “When a person makes a wondrous vow...” The Ibn Ezra explains what makes the Nazir’s vow so wondrous: “The word ‘wondrous’ is used because everyone runs after their desires but this person hems in his desires. Everyone else strengthens the nature with which they were born, but when one creates a new nature for himself, it is a wonder.” Therefore, Yosef, who never wavered in his total dedication to Hashem despite everything around him and went against his nature, was just like a Nazir and remained exactly as he was before. This is a wonder, and that is why he was called nazier echav, the crown of his brothers.

However, everything in holiness has its opposite in imepurity, as it says, (Koheles 7:14) “Hashem created this in balance with that.” The Torah says, (Shemos 1:8) “A new king was established over Egypt who did not know Yosef.” The Midrash in Shmos Raba (Parsha 8) explains why he was called a “new king:”

The Sages explain: Why did they call [Pharaoh] a “new king”? Was this not the same Pharaoh? Rather, the Egyptians said to Pharaoh: “Come, let us enslave this nation.” He said to them, “You are fools! Until now we belong to them. We eat their food. How can we enslave them? Were it not for Yosef, we would not be alive!” Because he did not listen to them, they removed him from his throne for three months, at which point he said to them, “Whatever you want to do, I am with you.” They then returned him to the throne. That is why it says, “A new king was established...”

Whereas Yosef was someone who never veered from his values for a minute, Pharaoh was just the opposite. He buckled in the face of pressure and compromised his basic sense of gratitude in order to

“When one creates a new nature for himself, it is a wonder.”

appease his people. Perhaps this is why the pasuk say that Pharaoh was “a new king who did not know Yosef.” He did not know the wondrous way of Yosef, which is to uphold one’s standards and values regardless of the environment. Instead, after three months of pressure, he became a “new king.”

Our world is no different from Yosef’s. Our own inner temptations and the outside world exert great pressure on us to follow every desire, to eat every food, to click on every link we see, and to read emails and text messages the moment they arrive and not a second later. But just like Yosef, the wondrous crown of his brothers, we too can remain as straight as we were when Hashem created us, as the pasuk says, (Koheles 7:29) “Hashem created man straight.”

Each of us has the choice to be like Yosef or like Pharaoh. May we merit to make the right choices each day and multiply Hashem’s wonders in the world.

Rav Moshe Weinberger, shlita, is the founding Morah d’Asrah of Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, NY, and serves as leader of the new mechina Emek HaMelech.