Dear Reader,Welcome to the short,
practical Lelamed Weekly Dvar. As the long-awaited book version
of these Dvars nears its release, it's nice to glance back at
some of the oldies but goodies, of which this Dvar is one of.
Enjoy..
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Parshat Vayeshev relates a seemingly disturbing series of
events. After telling us that Yosef snitched on his brothers, it
says that Yaakov loved Yosef more than all the other brothers
and that's why he made him a striped shirt. Then it says of the
brothers could no longer tolerate Yosef, and didn't believe his
dreams of them bowing to him. First, why did Yaakov love one son
more than the others? Second, why couldn't the brothers tolerate
Yosef only after his father made him the striped shirt? Lastly,
why did Yosef insist on telling his brothers his dreams, when he
must have sensed that they didn't want to hear them?
Rav Kaminetsky explains that Yaakov had taught Yosef all that
he'd learned in the Yeshiva (school) of Shem and Eiver where he
studied, and where Yitzchok AND Avraham studied as well. The
main strength of that school was that they taught Torah that
could survive in negative environments. Avraham used it to deal
with the rest of the world, Yitzchok used it to deal with
Yishmael, and Yaakov used it to deal with Lavan and Esav. Now
Yaakov was teaching it to Yosef, and the brothers were worried.
Were they as bad as Esav or Lavan? Why would Yaakov have to
teach Yosef that Torah? Little did they know that Yosef would
need it to deal with Egypt, and all the trials he would face
there. Yaakov loved Yosef more because he learned more, and
WANTED the other brothers to be jealous (that's why he made him
the shirt), so that they'd want to learn it too! But instead
they became jealous for the wrong reasons. It was THEN that
Yosef tried to tell them that they shouldn't be jealous, because
he had to learn for his OWN sake, because he'd have to be a
leader in a foreign land (as the dreams with stocks suggested,
since there were no stalks where they lived). But the brothers
had let themselves be blinded by hate, and couldn't see the
truth, as obvious as it may have been.
There's an important lesson in all of this, and that is that
jealousy can be used in a good way, as Yaakov TRIED to do. But
if we're not careful, we could miss the whole point, and end up
doing things we shouldn't. The first test is to ask ourselves if
we want something because we need it, or simply because someone
else has it. We should be jealous of things we can learn and
grow from, like Torah knowledge, good character traits, and even
courage and persistence. Everyone has qualities we can and
SHOULD be jealous of, as long as we use it NOT to prove
ourselves, but to improve ourselves!