2020/5781
In this Week's Parashah, the Torah narrates the selling of Yoseif by his brothers due to their strong envy of him. Due to the constant jealousy that the brothers felt because of his relationship with his father and which was then brought to the extreme by Yaakov’s gift of a beautiful colored coat, (almost) all of the brothers planned to throw him in a pit and eventually sell him to the Yishma’eilim. However, this was not the case for the eldest brother Reuvein: “VaYishma Reuvein VaYatzlihu MiYadam VaYomer Lo Nakenu Nafesh,” “But when Reuven heard it, he tried to save him from them. He said, “Let us not take his life” (BeReishit37:21). The Torah and our sages (Berachot 7b and Makkot 10a) hold that he originally intended to protest selling Yoseif to the Yishma’eilim due to the pain it would cause his Elderly father Yaakov Avinu. In fact, even after selling Yoseif, Reuvein still lamented this decision due to his father’s emotional suffering.
This begs the question: Where was Reuvein when his brother was being sold? If he opposed this decision so much, then wouldn’t he have taken action to stop it? The answer to this question lies in the writings of previous generations of great Rabbanim. Many explain that while the brothers were jealously planning to sell off their younger brother, Yoseif, Reuvein was weeping and fasting for repentance in complete solitude. He knew this wasn’t the first time he went ahead and violated his father’s honor as he had previously sinned by sleeping with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, thereby disrespecting his father. Since he was spending his time atoning for his wrong deeds instead of going back to his brother to get Yosef, he missed his rightful chance to go and save his brother from being sold to Egypt.
Reuvein gives us a clear perspective on how a person should set his/her priorities and concerns. Due to Reuvein’s preoccupation with crying in act of atonement, Yoseif was sold outright to the Yishma’eilim and taken as a prisoner to a new place he had never experienced before. If Reuvein were responsible and went to take action by stopping the sale, Yoseif would have been saved and the whole account of how Yoseif was sold and taken down South to Egypt would have never happened to begin with.
What we can learn from this is that while a person must be concerned with his own spiritual means and must work on his personal hardships and needs, this should never detract from helping his/her fellow when desperately in need. Whether the struggle of another person is spiritual or physical we must always put aside our undertakings to elevate ourselves in spirituality to help save our fellows from potential threat or danger.
The Alter Rebbe, the first rebbe of Lubavitch, took this message to heart as we see in his renown story of the wood on the eve of Yom Kippur. The story goes that as the Alter Rebbe’s Chasidim were waiting for him to start davening on Yom Kippur night, he walked into the woods. Where did the Rebbe go during the holiest time of year the Chasidim wondered? They soon realized that their respected Rebbe had gone to chop wood to use as a fire for a widow who had just given birth and was already mother to five children. The Alter Rebbe recognized that this was a situation of Piku’ach Nefesh where the woman’s life depended on his help and assistance more and so he did what needed to be done just like Reuvein should have done but failed to do.
What has kept our people running for thousands of years is the love that we show each other especially in times of need. Not only do we hear this in old stories like the ones of the Alter Rebbe, but we can see it right in front of our eyes! Just look how the State of Israel was born with each person fighting for each other as brothers and sisters. Today, we continue to support organizations helping those in need and those fighting for us in both Israel and everywhere. May this lesson be an eternal blessing for the Jewish people as it has done so since Avraham Avinu four millennia ago.