The Depth of the Rebuke: The Secret Behind the Cry of Yosef HaTzaddik

Lesson No. 43 | 18 Tishrei 5756, 3rd day of Chol HaMoed Succos - Yahrtzeit (anniversary of passing) of Rebbe Nachman, in the Yeshiva

Why did the brothers' souls fly away (why were they so terrified) specifically when Yosef asked, "Is my father still alive?" After all, they had already told him that Yaakov was alive! Through the explanation of the Beis HaLevi, the depth of Yosef's rebuke is revealed, exposing the true motives for his sale. This is the power of the true tzaddik—to illuminate for a person the root of his actions and bring him to complete teshuvah (repentance).

The holy brothers were certain that they had acted according to Halachah (Jewish law). When they sold Yosef, they did not think there was any flaw in their actions. From their perspective, Yosef was considered a rodef (a pursuer seeking to harm them), and they judged him in their Sanhedrin (rabbinical court) according to Torah law. They did everything according to Halachah and did not think for a moment that there was a flaw in the sale itself; rather, they understood that they had committed some other severe sin for which they were now being held accountable.

The Question That Terrifies the Soul

When the brothers went down to Egypt for the second time, Yosef inquired about their father's welfare. He asked them:

"And he asked of their welfare, and said: 'Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he yet alive?'"

The brothers answered him: "Your servant our father is well, he is yet alive," and they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves as a sign of gratitude that the Egyptian ruler was inquiring about their father's welfare. But when Yosef revealed himself to them, he cried out a cry that shook their world:

"I am Yosef; is my father still alive?"

The Torah testifies that at that moment: "And his brothers could not answer him, for they were terrified at his presence." The Gaon Rabbi Yosef Dov (Yoshe Ber) of Brisk (the author of the Beis HaLevi) asks a tremendous question here: Why is the rebuke hidden specifically in the words "Is my father still alive?" Why did their souls fly away? After all, everyone thinks the shock was simply from the revelation that he was Yosef. Furthermore, why did he ask, "Is my father still alive?" when he had already asked them earlier, and they had answered him twice that he was alive!

Yehuda's Cry: We Do Not Compromise on Father's Pain

To understand this, we must observe the course of the trial that preceded the revelation. Initially, Yehuda ruled as the head of the Sanhedrin that whoever was found with the goblet in his sack would die, and the rest of the brothers would become slaves. Yosef, on the other hand, presented a more "merciful" position: only the one in whose hand the goblet was found would be a slave, and the rest would go free.

Suddenly, Yehuda overturned the entire trial. He was ready to destroy Egypt, to fight against the whole world, just so that Binyamin would be released and he would remain a slave in his place. Why? Because Yehuda argued:

"And his soul is bound up with his soul... It shall come to pass, when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die."

Yehuda cried out: This is not a game! Father will die of grief! We will not compromise even a hairsbreadth when it comes to our father's pain. For father, we will destroy the entire world! We will fight the whole world, but we will not compromise on our father's pain.

The Piercing Rebuke: Where Were You for Twenty-Two Years?

Here lies Yosef's terrible rebuke. The Beis HaLevi explains that Yosef was essentially saying to them: "Now you have mercy on father? Now you care about his pain? When you sold me, father died for twenty-two years!"

Yosef exposed the bitter truth to them: "The Shechinah (Divine Presence) departed from him, and he cried endlessly. Where was your mercy then? Your personal biases were at work here; your cruelty was at work here. Because of your personal bias, you sold me for twenty-two years, and now you come to show mercy for father?"

At that moment, the brothers realized the magnitude of their mistake. They grasped that if they truly had mercy on their father, they never would have sold Yosef. The hatred and jealousy toward Yosef had driven them out of their minds, to the point that they forgot they had a father in the world. They convened a Sanhedrin and issued Halachic rulings, but it all stemmed from personal biases. When they heard the words, "Is my father still alive?" their souls flew away, because they suddenly saw their own falsehood.

The Power of the True Tzaddik

From this realization, their teshuvah (repentance) was accepted, and in the merit of this, the Nation of Israel was established. This is exactly the concept of drawing close to the true tzaddik. When a person comes to the tzaddik, the tzaddik opens his eyes and shows him where his mistakes and personal biases are hiding.

A person might think he is acting for the sake of Heaven, but in the presence of the tzaddik, he remembers all his flaws from the day he was born. His soul is shaken, and he washes away his sins in rivers of tears. Only through shattering this self-deception is one's teshuvah truly accepted, and one merits a good year and the complete Geulah (Redemption).

Part 1 of 3 — Lesson No. 43

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