Bs”d
Parshas Vayaishev (5776)
by Mordechai Dolinsky
Perhaps the greatest difficulty I ever encountered in the Chumash appears in this parsha. Yaakov, after witnessing the awesome hatred the shvatim had towards Yosef, nevertheless sent him on a suicide mission, and so it surely was. As it turned out when the encounter took place the shvatim implemented exactly what was expected. What was especially difficult to understand was that there was absolutely real reason to send Yosef. The greatest פלא was how and why Yosef subjected himself to this. Does kibud av stand above such a situation?
The brothers were jealous and had the great animosity for the special attention, admiration and love that Yaakov showered on Yosef but the truth was that this was not all small personal favoritism in any way. It was absolutely only for Hashem and Klal Yisroel. For the borthers it was a nisayon and it was possible for them to rise to the challenge. Yaakov had the greatest opportunity to prove this and it was so important for them to understand that it wasn’t a personal favoritism that he sent Yosef to prove this. There was no way in the world he could have done this in a better way. If there was a single drop of petty favoritism on Yaakov’s part it would have been totally impossible for him to send Yosef.
This seems to me as a דבר אמת and I thank Hashem for the insight.
Have a wonderful Shabbos and a significant, meaningful, freiliche Chanukah.