"And Judah approached him" (Genesis 44:18), The story of Joseph and his brothers is a message for generations – Parshat Vayigash from Rabbi Menachem Azulai shlit"a (may he live long and good days)

"I am Joseph." The True Tzaddik (righteous person) is revealed. The Tzaddik Yesod Olam (the Tzaddik who is the foundation of the world). Joseph is everything, he is the root of all; from him, all the abundance is drawn into the world. Joseph succeeded in hiding his light and his power. The verse says Joseph was "beautiful of form and beautiful of appearance" (Yaffe Toar V'yaffe Mareh) – the first letters of this phrase in Hebrew spell "Yatom" (orphan). The great Tzaddik is an orphan; he is completely hidden, and nothing is known of him (from the Chumash "Heichal HaBracha").

The Power of Truth

What a wonderful thing truth is. There is nothing more beautiful than the truth. And how much power it possesses! When a person walks with the truth, he will see Siyata D'Shmaya (Heavenly assistance) at every step and turn. Why? Because Hashem yearns for the truth, and the more authentic a person is, the more he merits that the light of Hashem shines within him.

When Judah approached to lay out his claims before Joseph, what did he have to say that had not already been said?

What could he possibly innovate? After all, everyone already knew everything.

He simply repeated in detail the entire chain of events without adding anything new. "Rather, this is the power of truth and its depth. One does not need to innovate anything within it, but only to draw it out and present it as it is—everything that was already said and everything that is known. You take and connect one thing to another and present them together, and behold, they are like new, conquering the heart and humbling the listener" (Sefer HaParshiyot).

Judah does not despair, even if he sees that everything is blocked and there is no opening for salvation. He trusts in the truth; he takes it and presents it before Joseph because he knows he has nothing else but the one and only truth, and from it, rescue and salvation will emerge.

A person goes through what he goes through; he has ups and downs. Suddenly there is some relief and also understanding, and he wants to say thank you to Hashem. In another area, it is still very difficult for him, and he wants to ask Hashem to help him more there. This is how he arrives at his "hour" at night, in the field (performing Hisbodedus, secluded prayer), lifting his eyes to the heavens and telling Hashem everything. He isn't innovating anything to himself, and certainly not to Hashem before whom everything is revealed, but it does him good. It makes him happy because this is his truth at this moment, and he said it in an organized way; it settled his mind.

Sometimes a person prosecutes himself because, according to his own "truth," he is flawed and very distant, and through this, he despairs and distances himself even further. Is this truth? If it distances you from Hashem, it is not truth! Through the truth, it is impossible to become distant. Truth only brings one closer. Instead of blaming yourself, strengthen yourself!

You belong to the Holy Torah. You belong to Judaism. If the learning isn't going well for you, or praying with proper concentration (kavanah) isn't working, or you stumbled here and there—you still belong to the Holy Torah! You have many holy mitzvos (commandments)! Even if you aren't so special, even if you are the simplest Jew who just lives according to the Torah, you have so many mitzvos in the simplest things. How you put on and tie your shoes, how you perform Netilat Yadayim (ritual hand washing) when you wake up, or trim your nails, or touch a covered place on the body—you too belong to the service of Hashem! You too have a mission to fulfill here!

Every single person has a different part in creation that he needs to rectify (tikkun), and he is responsible for that part. If he doesn't do it, no one else will do it in his place; the damage will remain. Even though there are others more righteous than him or more brilliant than him, they cannot do it in his place. Only he can do it because he received this specific portion of Divinity. He cannot run away from it; it is his tikkun, it is his path, and this is what he must rectify.

We want the absolute truth. We search for the absolute truth that belongs to us, in this moment and every moment and every hour. We want to know every moment what Hashem wants from us at that time, in the context of our mission toward ourselves and toward those who surround us.

What disturbs us? What confuses us? What distances us from the truth? Our sense of self (yeshus), the ego, the honor—all the things that turn us into angry, dissatisfied, resentful, or deprived people. When we struggle with them, neutralize them, and succeed in casting them away, we then merit immense joy. We merit a touch of that wonderful verse of King David in Psalms: "And I will rejoice in Hashem."

Do you want closeness to Hashem? Be a person of truth. Distance yourself from falsehood to the furthest extreme. "Hashem is close to all who call Him, to all who call Him in truth" (Psalms 145).

Falsehood and truth serve within us in a mixture. Just think, in a single day, how many questions were we asked where we weren't precise? How much did we change? How much did we evade? And how many times did we explicitly say something incorrect? And if it's like this in one day, then what about two days... a week... and more than anything, we lie to ourselves. That we are learning enough, that we know enough, that we are right.

Do we look first at ourselves and our own flaws and deficiencies before we attack the other person for their flaws and deficiencies? If we looked at ourselves with the eye of truth, we would see that we are no better; we would be able to see the justice of the other person as well. Truth is the foundation upon which the entire building stands. Hashem yearns for the truth. That we should not exaggerate, that we should not inflate, that we should be precise. To the furthest extreme. That we should educate our children to tell the truth. That they should not fear our reaction as parents. Because if they fear, they arrive at falsehood, as Rebbe Nachman says in Sefer HaMiddot: "Falsehood comes through taking upon oneself the fear of human beings." This is true between parents and children, and it is also true between spouses. When one fears the reaction of the other, they get used to lying. But when they feel they can tell the other person everything, because even our mistakes are accepted with understanding and forgiveness, then they get used to telling only the truth.

Truth is joy. When a person speaks the truth, he immediately feels Hashem. Joseph could not restrain himself any longer and he revealed himself to his brothers: "I am Joseph." And he added, "And now, do not be grieved." Now, when the truth is revealed, there is no more sadness, no more anger, no more wonderment, and no more fears. There is only joy.

When a person is connected to his truth, he lives in joy. He knows what his level is; he doesn't climb too high. The Torah explicitly warns: "Distance yourself from a false matter!" Distance yourself from the lie. Falsehood is such a terrible thing, more than anything else. When a person merits to check every single thing before it leaves his mouth, what a great thing that is!

It is told of the holy Shelah (zt"l) that he had a student who would not utter a single word from his mouth without thinking and checking if it was the absolute truth. He would check everything before saying it. The holy Shelah asked him how he merited such a trait of truth that was permeated into his very bones. The student told him that he and all his brothers received this trait from their father, who always warned them to speak only the truth. He would make a condition with them: "If it happens that you did something not good—you broke something, destroyed something, committed a transgression G-d forbid, etc., anything—come and tell me the truth, and I will not punish you! And not only will I not punish you, but I will forgive you with complete forgiveness, and I will give you a prize for telling the truth, and I will also help you fix what you damaged. On the other hand—pay attention! If I ever catch you lying, any lie whatsoever, for whatever reason, I will punish you with such severe punishments and I will not forgive it at all! Because the most important thing is that you always tell only the truth!" And so, they became accustomed to always speaking only the truth!

A person is in darkness, he feels bad, he has completely lost his joy—what is the advice that Rebbe Nachman gives him? To speak a word of truth. A simple, true sentence like "Father, have mercy." "Father, I can't take it anymore." "Master of the World, until when?"

There are descents in life, but Hashem promises us that even in the descents He is with us, seeing us, feeling us, accompanying us, not leaving us for a moment. From the Parsha: "I will go down with you to Egypt and I will also surely bring you up" (Genesis 46:4). It is brought in the holy books that this verse hints at all the ups and downs that pass over a person. And if he remembers that Hashem is with him every second, even when he is at the peak of darkness—if he remembers, then it becomes easier for him. Then he begins to understand that everything is the mercy of Hashem, who wants to bring him closer to Him, that everything happens in order to heal him, to rectify, to refine, to wash, to purify—that is the only goal of the suffering he undergoes. That is the truth.

Everything stands on the truth. This is the foundation of the Torah, the foundation of Emunah (faith), and the foundation of the entire world. The truth. From here, everything is built. And what is the truth? That Hashem does everything.

Joseph tries to calm his brothers: "It was not you who sent me here, but G-d" (Genesis 45:8). You didn't send me to Egypt. Hashem sent me. Calm down. Hashem does everything. And not only does Hashem do everything, but everything is for the good! "For G-d sent me before you to preserve life" (Genesis 45:5) so that I could provide for you during the years of famine.

We came here to understand that there is a Master of the World and He determines everything and does everything, and everything we merit to do is because He gives us the strength to do it. That is the truth. The opposite of this is the lie of "my power and the strength of my hand have made me this wealth." When a person understands this truth, he frequently turns to Hashem and asks Hashem to help him with everything.

We forget, but Joseph did not forget. Even when he was in prison for 12 years and even when he was king over all of Egypt for 80 years, he constantly remembered Hashem and mentioned Hashem.

And how is it that a person succeeds even without turning to Hashem? Such a person loses all connection with the Creator and lacks the pleasure and joy that belongs to one who believes and is attached to Hashem. This is in this world, and who knows what he loses, G-d forbid, from his portion in the World to Come.

"Truth is something we mention at least three times a day: 'True is our King, there is nothing besides Him' – without Hashem, I am nothing. Everyone who wants the truth must do a soul-searching (cheshbon nefesh) and ask himself: Can I do anything without the Holy One, Blessed be He? Can I succeed in anything without Hashem? The answer is no! If so, what is in my hands to do? Only to pray for every single thing and to give thanks for every single thing. And just as it is in physical matters, so it is in spiritual matters. Every spiritual virtue is entirely from the hand of Hashem. And every spiritual failure or deficiency is because more prayer is needed, more desire is needed—apparently, the vessel you built to receive the abundance is not yet complete" (from "HaMevarech Et Ammo Yisrael BaShalom").

When Joseph decides to reveal his identity to his brothers, he commands, "Take every man out from me." I want to remain alone with my brothers. Only when everyone leaves does he say: "I am Joseph"!!! Why? What was the reason he sent everyone out? The holy Rashi explains: lest his brothers be embarrassed in front of those present, therefore he sent them out. This is the beauty of Judaism. The main thing is not to hurt, not to shame, to protect the honor of the other. The main thing is to forgive. Like Joseph the Tzaddik. Despite everything his brothers did to him—stripping his clothes off him, closing their hearts to his crying and pleas, throwing him into a pit full of snakes and scorpions—he forgives. "I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt." Why did he add "your brother"? Isn't it enough to say "I am Joseph"? Rather, he wanted to say: even though you sold me into Egypt, I remain your brother; there is no resentment in my heart, no anger, and no hatred.

Between man and his fellow (Bein Adam L'Chaveiro) is above all; this is the truth of Judaism. It is brought in the name of the holy Baal Shem Tov (zy"a) that it is worth it for a person to live eighty years just so that he might do, even once, a favor for a Jew—even a physical favor, even a small favor, almost worthless and insignificant. Even that will be recorded in the book of memories. We need to relate to others, to show them a shining countenance, to bring them closer, to pray for them, to make them happy—at least as much as we can, and what we cannot do physically, then at least in the heart.

They tell of Rabbi Yeruchem Leibovitz zt"l, the Mashgiach (spiritual supervisor) of the Mir Yeshiva, who was traveling on a train. At the moment the carriage doors were locked, one glove slipped from his hand through the window and fell onto the platform. Rabbi Yeruchem could not manage to get off the train and take the glove because the train had already started moving. In a decision of only one second, he removed the first glove and threw it out... for he himself would no longer be able to enjoy or use a single glove, but at least now, whoever finds the two gloves together will be able to enjoy and use them.

The magnitude of the love that Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri, the elder of the Kabbalists (zy"a), had is difficult to understand. He would pray at the Kotel (Western Wall) during Sukkot, and from the Sukkah to the Kotel would take him an hour, because people would approach him for blessings. Even though he was 90 or 100 years old, he would bless everyone and show a shining face to everyone. After his passing, they found dozens of volumes full of names and requests. His son related that everyone who came to him, he would record their name, the date they came, and the request. For what purpose? So that he could pray for them again and again. He had such a love for Israel (Ahavas Yisrael) that it is impossible to describe.

Unity, love, and peace—this is what Hashem wants from us. The story of Joseph and his brothers is a message for generations; it is a story that comes to teach us how not to bear a grudge, how to forgive, how to judge favorably, and even how to love the one who made a mistake and hurt us.