This week’s portion continues
the saga of Joseph and his brothers in Egypt. The verses state:
“Then Yehudah
approached him [Yoseif]… let your servant speak
a word in my masters ears…do not be angry with your servant. My master
asked his servants…We said to my master…And now, when I come to
your servant, my father, and the lad is not with us, etc.”
If we analyze these verses we will
find a number of inconsistent language usages. Why does the verse state, ‘Then Yehudah approached him’ rather than ‘And Yehudah approached Yoseif’. Although the verse is continuing the discussion
begun at the end of the previous portion, why use ‘he (Yehudah) approached him (Yosaif)’
if he was already speaking to Yoseif? Also why do the
verses switch back and forth so often between third person and first person
terminology?
We must first understand that the
Torah is not a collection of Bible stories; it is a lesson plan in how a Jew
should conduct himself with relation to his Creator. The exchange between Yosaif and his brothers and the events surrounding it is
coming to teach us something relevant to our service to Hashem.
The explanation of the verses
mentioned may be consistent with the elucidation of a verse in Tehillim (Psalms: Chapter 110, verse 4) ‘The L-rd hath sworn, and will not recant: `Thou art a
priest for ever”. The establishment of a Priest is a unique courtesy that
Hashem granted to the Jewish people. The priest represents the ability to
address Hashem with the expression “you” which implies direct
face-to-face contact; the speaker is facing the one spoken to and that neither
faces away from each other. This relationship led the Rabbis to establish the
use of “Blessed are You” in the prayer
liturgy because Hashem is always found directly in front of a Jewish person.
Similarly,
a Jew in the midst of prayer should be careful not to turn his attention away from
Hashem. He must direct all his thoughts, his consciousness and his heart to
Hashem in order that he can sincerely utter the phrase “you” before
Hashem. And even if one cannot maintain direct contact with Hashem in every
prayer, he should at least try to visualize himself standing directly before
Hashem.
There are
times when one prays, he feels small and withdrawn and his heart is not in it
and feels that his prayer is deficient. He should still verbalize the words and
this will inspire his heart as the verse states: ‘For this mitzvah
that I am commanding you today; it is not abstruse to you nor is it
distant… For the matter is extremely close to you; in your mouth and in
your mind to fulfill it’. The verse places ‘the mouth’ before
‘the mind’ because the mouth will inspire the heart.
This is what the opening verses are
hinting to; the organization of one’s prayer. “Then Yehudah approached him’; the first step is ‘the
approach to prayer’ and although one is not prepared to express his
prayer in the first person directly to Hashem but only in the third person,
“to Him”, there can also be moments of inspiration, where he feels
the closeness of first person communication. But then he falls back to a
feeling of isolation, third person conversation, “My master asked his
servants” (instead of ‘You asked’)
and back and forth between intimacy and isolation with Hashem. This should not
deter a person from building a relationship with Him. As he works on the
relationship, the relationship will grow until he can achieve the first person
contact that he wishes to accomplish. He will then realize the salvation that
comes from being close with Hashem.
Good Shabbos to all our readers.
