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Parshat Vayechi

By: Michelle Berman

This week's parsha, Parshat Vayehi, tells the story of the last few days of Yaakov's life. Yaakov blesses his children and grandchildren with the inheritance of Eretz Yisrael and the tribes of Israel are established. When Yaakov dies, Yoseph and the other brothers bury his body in Canaan alongside the other forefathers.

Upon returning from Canaan the pasuk states, "Yoseph's brothers perceived that their father was dead and they said, ‘perhaps Yoseph will nurse hatred against us and then he will surely repay us all the evil that we did him'" (Bereshit 50:15). There are two things in this pasuk that the mifarshim find problematic. The first question raised is, why does it say that the brothers only now perceived that their father was dead—did they not just have a seven day mourning period for him? There second issue is: Yoseph already forgave his brothers in Parshat Vayigash. Was there a specific reason to think that Yoseph's was going to rethink his previous forgiveness?

One explanation for this is given by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch His explanation is that when the father and mother are still alive, there is a bond that holds the family together. There may be differences between the children but their common love for their parents keeps them together. After the death of the parents, the bond breaks and the children no longer have that force holding them together. Once Yaakov died, there was no longer a bond between Yoseph and the brothers. When the pasuk says "Yoseph's brothers perceived that their father was dead," it does not mean that they all of a sudden realized their father was literally dead. Rather it means that they realized that the force that their father created between them was no longer there. And this is why they worried that Yoseph would hate them. They new Yoseph had forgiven them when Yaakov was alive, but now that he was dead, and there was no bond between them, was he going to hate them?

Another explanation is given in a Midrash quoted by the Chezkuni which says that when Yoseph and the brothers returned from burying their father, Yoseph went to the pit in which his brothers had left him to die. Yoseph's motive for going to the pit was to praise God and thank Him for saving him from the pit. However, when the brothers saw Yoseph standing by the pit they thought "Perhaps Yoseph will nurse hatred against us". The Midrash finds Yoseph's actions faulty. It is common for a wealthy person with power to forget about God and only want more wealth and more power. Although Yoseph seams to be doing the right thing and remembering God for having taken him out of the pit he did not think of his brothers feelings. He did not think of how his brothers might feel if they were to see him standing next to the pit and this is why his brothers proclaimed, "Perhaps Yoseph will nurse hatred against us".

These answers together help us fully understand what is meant by the passuk "Yoseph's brothers perceived that their father was dead and they said, ‘perhaps Yoseph will nurse hatred against us and then he will surely repay us all the evil that we did him'" (Bereshit 50:15). Of course the brothers new their father was dead but it was at this moment that they realized that the bond between them, the force holding them together, was broken. They also knew that Yoseph had forgiven them for what they did to him, but when they saw Yoseph standing before the pit they worried that maybe now that their father is no longer alive Yoseph will take his revenge.

There are two important messages that can be learned from this. The first is that although it is true that a father and mother keep the bond between the families together, that does not mean that after they die that bond has to be broken. Yoseph didn't want revenge on his brothers, even though his father died; he still felt love for his brothers and didn't want to harm them even though they tried to kill him. The second message that can be learned here is that even though Yoseph was trying to thank God for having saved him from the pit, he should not have gone to the pit when he knew his brothers were near by. There is a time and place for everything and you have to always remember to think of others and their feelings.

Michi comes to AMIT from Scarsdale, N.Y. and plans to attend NYU in the fall. Her favorite part of Midreshet AMIT is the wonderful daily chesed that she does with the kids at Beit Hayeled.

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