The Secret of the Rebuke: Why Did Yosef Ask, "Is My Father Still Alive?"

Lesson No. 293 | Motzaei Shabbos Kodesh Parashas Bo, the eve of 11 Shevat 5761 - Melaveh Malkah for the Shaarei Torah Yeshiva Gedolah at the home of the Rav (continued from No. 292)

The teaching of the Beis HaLevi reveals the depth of Yosef's rebuke to his brothers. Through the question, "Is my father still alive?", Yosef proved to them the contradiction in their behavior, bringing them to a true recognition of their sin and to complete teshuvah (repentance).

When Yosef saw that the brothers went out through ten different gates, he understood that they had accepted his approach and regretted their actions from the depths of their hearts. They reached true remorse when they realized how their own methods had led them to such severe mistakes, and from this, Yosef saw that they had done true teshuvah (repentance).

The Path to Complete Teshuvah

The "Beis HaLevi," Rabbi Yehoshua Dov Ber of Brisk, explains that the entire episode with the goblet was designed to bring the brothers back in complete teshuvah (repentance). Yosef decided that now was the time to bring them to true repentance.

Regarding the verse, "And his brothers could not answer him, for they were confounded before him," the Midrash Tanchuma says that their souls flew from them. The Beis HaLevi explains that this was their true teshuvah (repentance), because at that moment they saw their entire mistake. Until that point, everything was, from their perspective, a dispute in halachah (Jewish law) and legal rulings. According to their ruling, they had decided that Yosef was considered a "rodef" (a pursuer) who wanted to kill them, and based on the principle, "If someone comes to kill you, rise up early to kill him first," they ruled that he deserved to be sold as a slave.

"Rabbi Yochanan said: Woe to us from the Day of Judgment, woe to us from the Day of Rebuke. When Yosef said to his brothers, 'I am Yosef,' their souls flew from them."

The Rebuke Behind the Question

The Beis HaLevi asks: What is the meaning of the question, "Is my father still alive?" After all, the brothers had just told him, "And the youth is not with us, and his soul is bound up with his soul, and it will come to pass, when he sees that the youth is not with us, that he will die." The entire discussion revolved around the fact that their father was alive and they feared for his life! Furthermore, Yosef himself had already asked them earlier, "Is your elderly father well? Is he still alive?" If so, why is he crying out to them now, "Is my father still alive?"

The Beis HaLevi explains that Yosef's question was actually a piercing rebuke: "You essentially murdered our father! It is one thing that you sold me as a slave, and I spent a year with Potiphar and twelve years in prison, inside a pit without even a ray of sunlight. But where was your mercy for our father?"

Yosef continued to rebuke them: "You claim now that you have mercy on our father. Yehudah cries out, 'How can I go up to my father if the youth is not with me?' Where was your mercy back then? Is this having mercy on our father, that for twenty-two years he sits on the ground and weeps, dressed in sackcloth and ashes, and the Shechinah (Divine Presence) has departed from him? Is this a life for our father? How could you sell me and not have mercy on him?"

The Collapse of the Justifications

Yosef exposed the internal contradiction in their righteous judgment: "You believed that Binyamin stole the goblet. You even struck him on the shoulders (and in the merit of this, he merited that the Holy Temple would be built in his portion, as it is written, 'and He dwells between his shoulders'). Even though you are certain that he stole it, you argue that he must be released solely out of mercy and love for our father. If so, where was your love for our father when I did absolutely nothing wrong to you?"

Until that moment, the brothers were convinced that they had acted according to the law. They thought that Yosef was persecuting them, making false and blood-libelous accusations against them, claiming that they were eating limbs from a living animal, and therefore he deserved to be sold. But the moment Yosef made them realize their mistake and showed them that they had caused a spiritual blemish through the sorrow they inflicted upon our forefather Yaakov, all their justifications collapsed.

The Gaze of the Tzaddik

Yosef's rebuke proved to them that they were essentially guilty of murder, and this guilt would accompany them for all generations if they did not do teshuvah (repentance). When they saw and understood this, their souls flew from them.

The Beis HaLevi explains that at that very moment, they performed their true teshuvah (repentance). They accepted upon themselves the agonies of death and felt such profound sorrow. As it is explained in the holy books regarding the concept, "He set his eyes upon him and turned him into a heap of bones" — when the tzaddik sets his eyes upon a person and shows him where he truly caused a spiritual blemish, his soul flies from him out of sheer sorrow, and through this, he achieves complete teshuvah (repentance). In this way, the sin of Yosef's brothers was atoned for, and may we merit, with Hashem's help, the complete Geulah (Redemption) speedily in our days, Amen.

Part 2 of 4 — Lesson No. 293

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