This Lelamed Dvar is also available in your local App Store (iTunes and
Android). I hope you enjoy and share this Dvar...
In this week's Parsha, Vayigash, Yosef finally reveals himself to his
brothers, after making sure they didn't harbor any resentment. As Rabbi
Haber points out, what's more amazing is that Yosef forgave his brothers,
after being stuck in a dangerous pit crawling with poisonous snakes,
screaming out for help while catching a glimpse of his brothers sitting
down to break bread, ignoring his pleas for mercy. If one's brothers sold
them as a slave, would they ever be able to forgive them, kiss and embrace
them, and adhere to all the families' laws and customs after they caused
you such profound pain? Yosef did all of these things. He didn't
assimilate; he didn't become an anti-Semite. He defied every law of human
nature. How?
Rabbi Haber goes on to explain that Yosef was empowered by one sentence:
"You didn't send me here, G-d did" The fact is they did send him there, but
from Yosef's perspective that was something THEY had to deal with. As far
as Yosef was concerned, it was all an act of G-d. He was not the judge, he
was a brother and he was a Jew. He would act like a brother and he would
act like a Jew.
We can learn SO much from Yosef today, if we could just memorize and adapt
one line into our lives - "it wasn't you that sent me here; it was G-d" -
we'd all be closer to all our "brothers", and we'd all be better Jews.
Shlomo Ressler
Quotation of the week:
"Today is one day, or day one. You decide."
This Lelamed Dvar is also available in your local App Store (iTunes and
Android). I hope you enjoy and share this Dvar...
_______________________________________________
In this week's Parsha, Vayigash, Yosef finally reveals himself to his
brothers, after making sure they didn't harbor any resentment. As Rabbi
Haber points out, what's more amazing is that Yosef forgave his brothers,
after being stuck in a dangerous pit crawling with poisonous snakes,
screaming out for help while catching a glimpse of his brothers sitting
down to break bread, ignoring his pleas for mercy. If one's brothers sold
them as a slave, would they ever be able to forgive them, kiss and embrace
them, and adhere to all the families' laws and customs after they caused
you such profound pain? Yosef did all of these things. He didn't
assimilate; he didn't become an anti-Semite. He defied every law of human
nature. How?
Rabbi Haber goes on to explain that Yosef was empowered by one sentence:
"You didn't send me here, G-d did" The fact is they did send him there, but
from Yosef's perspective that was something THEY had to deal with. As far
as Yosef was concerned, it was all an act of G-d. He was not the judge, he
was a brother and he was a Jew. He would act like a brother and he would
act like a Jew.
We can learn SO much from Yosef today, if we could just memorize and adapt
one line into our lives - "it wasn't you that sent me here; it was G-d" -
we'd all be closer to all our "brothers", and we'd all be better Jews.
Shlomo Ressler
_______________________________________________
Quotation of the week:
"Today is one day, or day one. You decide."