Thursday, December 17, 2020

in no hurry to leave

Chazal tell us that Yosef had to spend 2 extra years in prison as punishment for asking the Sar haMashkim to remember him.  

The entire story of the conflict between Yosef and his brothers was a necessary lead up to Yaakov coming down to Mitzrayim.  When Yaakov tells the brothers to go down to Egypt, he says רְדוּ, which, as Rashi points out, is gematriya 210, the exact number of years that Klal Yisrael would spend in Egypt from the time Yaakov and the shevatim got there until they leave.  This was all predicted to happen in bris bein ha'besarim, when Avraham was told that his children would have to suffer in galus.

How then can there be 2 "extra" years thrown into the mix?  Even if Yosef might have gotten out of prison sooner, the whole chain of events of his becoming viceroy, the famine that would bring the brothers down to Egypt, their reconciliation with Yosef, the arrival of Yaakov, etc. could not have happened sooner because otherwise the count of 210 years would be thrown off.    

R' Shaul Yisraeli explains that we see from these parshiyos that what happens to the individual is not predetermined by the broader strokes of history.  There is a cheshbon for the yachid, for each prat, that is distinct from the cheshbon of what happens to the klal.  Had Yosef not erred, he would not have had to spend that 2 extra years in prison.  Hashem would have reworked things to find another way for the 210 or 400 years of galus to work out.  

2) When the time came, "va'yiritzuhu min ha'bor, " they rushed Yosef out of the pit.  Seforno comments:

כדרך כל תשועת ה׳ שנעשית כמו רגע, כאמרו ״כי קרובה ישועתי לבוא״ (ישעיהו נ״ו:א׳), וכאמרו ״לו עמי שמע לי... כמעט אויביהם אכניע״ (תהלים פ״א:י״ד-ט״ו), וכך היה ענין מצרים, כאמרו ״כי גרשו ממצרים״ (שמות י״ב:ל״ט), כאמרם זכרונם לברכה ׳שלא הספיק בצקן של אבותינו להחמיץ עד שנגלה עליהם מלך מלכי המלכים הקדוש ברוך הוא וגאלם׳ (הגדה של פסח). וכן אמר לעשות לעתיד, כאמרו ״ופתאם יבוא אל היכלו האדון אשר אתם מבקשים״ (מלאכי ג׳:א׳).

Yeshu'as Hashem is instantaneous -- a person can go in a moment from being a slave in prison to being uplifted to sit with kings.  

I did not see it in Bad Kodesh, but I saw quoted b'shem Rav Povarski that it seems that Yosef himself was in no rush -- "va'yiritzuhu," they had to push him along and hurry him.  It reminds me of Megilas Esther, where we are told "va'yavhilu l'havi es Haman," they had to rush to get Haman ready for the party.  You would think that anyone stuck in prison would run out of there once they had the opportunity, but apparently not Yosef.  

We see this same behavior from Yosef time and again.  When he was first thrown in prison in last week's parsha, the Torah tells us (39:20) וַיִּקַּח֩ אֲדֹנֵ֨י יוֹסֵ֜ף אֹת֗וֹ וַֽיִּתְּנֵ֙הוּ֙ אֶל־בֵּ֣ית הַסֹּ֔הַר...וַֽיְהִי־שָׁ֖ם בְּבֵ֥ית הַסֹּֽהַר.  The statement וַֽיְהִי־שָׁ֖ם בְּבֵ֥ית הַסֹּֽהַר is not just a matter of physical location -- we already know from the beginning of the pasuk that Yosef was sitting in prison -- it is a statement of attitude, that Yosef accepted his fate, that this is where Hashem wanted him.  He did not waste time thinking about fruitless avenues of escape.  Earlier in the same perek we have (20:2) וַיְהִ֕י בְּבֵ֖ית אֲדֹנָ֥יו הַמִּצְרִֽי  Here again, it is not just location, but attitude that the Torah is conveying.  Yosef accepted where he was as the place he should be, the place Hashem wanted him to be.  And so in our parsha, even with the prison gates open, Yosef did not rush out like a man who had suffered years of injustice and did not belong in prison.  

Once out of prison, wouldn't any prisoner immediately want to shed his prison garb and return to normal dress, get a normal shave and haircut, etc.?  Rashi comments on וַיְגַלַּח֙ וַיְחַלֵּ֣ף שִׂמְלֹתָ֔יו that Yosef did it מפני כבוד מלכות.  He was not interested in the external trappings of what he might be wearing except as needed to fulfill the task at hand (see Gur Aryeh).  

2 comments:

  1. -- (part 1) "...the count of 210 years would be thrown off"

    no. not if the count began >"from the time Yaakov...got there"<


    -- "2) ...Yosef accepted...that this is where Hashem wanted him"; "Yosef accepted where he was as the place he should be"

    in contrast to the idolators of 39:11b -- v'ein ish mei'anshei ha'bayit sham ba'bayit.

    how can a portable idol faithfully determine a believer's place, when it can't even determine its own?!

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  2. R. Yisraeli's answer seems poshut. Had Yosef not incurred two more years of prison, perhaps he would have been released back to Potiphar's service, and then two years later Pharoah would have had his dream.

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