Living Bitachon
Now, among the many areas of life where people are living with a stony heart, without softening their hearts to the great ideals, one of the most important ones is bitachon, reliance on Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
You might have learned about the fundamental principles of bitachon; you know it, you say it. But is that enough? The fact that you say it? You can even be a good darshan; you can make drashahs like I’m saying to you right now. So what if I’m saying it? It doesn’t mean that I’ve assimilated it; it doesn’t mean that it’s become part of my personality.
That’s what it means leiv ha’even. A person has a mind, yes; he knows all about it. But it hasn’t penetrated his personality yet. He hasn’t softened his stony mind enough to feel bitachon in a way that it becomes part of his personality.
Planning a Prison-Break
Now the Medrash Rabah (89:1) at the beginning of Mikeitz talks about this problem. It's talking there about Yosef Hatzaddik, how he was sitting in prison. It wasn’t his fault and he was waiting to get out. And he tried. When he interpreted the dream for one of his fellow prisoners he said, “Remember me when you get out. Remember me and see that I get out of here because I don’t belong here. I’m an innocent man.”
But the man went out and nothing happened. א זָכַר שַׂ ר הַמַּשְׁ קִים אֶת יוֹסֵ ף וְל – the wine bearer didn’t remember Yosef, וַ יִשְׁ כֵ חֵ הוּ – and he forgot him. He didn't remember him means he didn't put it into his mind; once in a while, at the beginning, it occurred to him but he kept on postponing. “I’ll do it but now is not the right time. Later.” And finally וַ יִשְׁ כֵ חֵ הוּ – he forgot all about it.
Stopping a Prison-Break
So now Yosef was sitting in prison and time was going by. Days, weeks, months, and Yosef was still waiting for the good news. Eventually two years went by and וַ יְהִ י מִ קֵ ץ שְׁ נָתַ יִם יָמִ ים – it was at the end of two years and finally things began to move.
Now the words ‘And it was at the end of two years,’ seem conspicuous for those familiar with lashon kodesh. We would have expected the more familiar phrase, וַ יְהִ י אַ חֲ רֵ י שְׁ נֵי שָׁ נִים, ‘And it was after two years.’ And the Medrash makes note of this unusual phrase and tells us that there must have been an ‘end’ to something here. וַ יְ הִ י מִ קֵ ץ means that the end of a certain period of time had arrived. And that’s something the Sages want us to understand.
An End to the Stone
And so they apply to our story a possuk in Iyov, a mysterious possuk, that we're going to study: קֵ ץ שָׂ ם – Hashem made an end ... אֶ בֶ ן אֹ פֶ ל – to the stone of darkness (28:3) and they say that it’s talking about our protagonist, about Yosef’s stony heart. Yosef Hatzaddik? A stony heart? What does that mean?
You know Yosef left home at the age of seventeen. He was a yeled zekunim, a child of his father's old age, and the Targum says he was a chakim, a wise child, because of that. You know, if your father is already an old father when you’re born, that's the best father to have. If you have a young father of nineteen, let’s say you're the first child, so your father doesn't know much yet. As he grows older he becomes a better father. But if he fathers you at the age of sixty then you have a better father, no question. And Yaakov was already well on his years when he had Yosef so he was the best kind of father.
But despite all that he put into his son, Yosef after all was only a young man of seventeen years. Seventeen is not thirty and Yosef needed a lot of training yet; and therefore when he was in prison he made an error.
The Error of Reliance
Now we call it an ‘error’ only relatively; for us it wouldn't be called an error. But for a great man like Yosef Hatzaddik, on his madreigah it was called an error.
What was the error? He said to the sar hamashkim, “You should remember me.”
“You should remember me”? A sin?! What’s such a big sin? Even a small sin, it doesn’t seem to be.
And the answer is that there's a sentence that the Navi Yirmiyah said: אָרוּר הַגֶבֶר אֲשֶׁר יִבְטַ ח בָאָדָם וְשָׂ ם בָשָׂ ר זְ רֹעוֹ – Cursed is the man who puts his trust in human beings, וְשָׂ ם בָשָׂ ר זְ רֹעוֹ – and he makes his strength in flesh (17:5).
Human Beefs
What are human beings? Human beings are only meat. If you pass by a butcher shop, will you put your trust in a side of beef? A sar hamashkim is a side of beef, that’s all. And Yosef made an error by putting his hope in a side of beef.
Now there was nothing wrong in trying to get out. Certainly he should try; he must! But it depends how much he relies on it. It depends on how much your heart is actually softened to the ideal of true bitachon, of genuine reliance on Hashem. And Yosef’s heart needed some more softening. To a certain extent Yosef was וְשָׂ ם בָשָׂ ר זְ רֹעוֹ – and he made his strength in a piece of meat.
Beefy Senators
It’s a lesson that a person has to learn over and over again. You can’t know it too much. Nobody can help you. And therefore when you have, let's say, a banquet of a certain institution and a gentile senator comes down and says a few kind words about the Jewish people and all the people there applaud warmly; their hearts melt with happiness. They know at least there’s one good goy in the government who is for them.
Oh no! That’s a very big error! First of all, he doesn't even mean it. There's no question that he’s insincere. He walks out and he says ‘Hah, I gave those Jews a good time tonight.’ He doesn't care a lick for the Jews. It's just a bought favor. It's a compliment that you pay for; you'll have to give votes for that. But even if he was a good goy, lu yetzuyar, imagine he's a very good goy. You're making a big mistake if you put your trust in him – even a little bit.
Leaning on the Cupbearer
And that’s what happened with Yosef. When the sar hamashkim left the prison to resume his office as the cupbearer to Pharaoh, to a certain extent Yosef's prayers went along with him. Yosef was always praying to Hakadosh Baruch Hu; but now when Yosef Hatzaddik saw that the sar hamashkim was flushed with gratitude – after all, it was Yosef who got him out of that hole – and as he was leaving he said ‘Rely on me. Rely on me,’ so Yosef caved in a little bit – he relied on that. Oh, that was a big mistake!
Now, Yosef didn't rely on him. It's certain that Yosef didn't put his trust in this man alone; he relied on Hakadosh Baruch Hu. But a little bit he was leaning on this goy; a little bit of his confidence in Hashem went out the door with this man, this piece of meat.
And so Hakadosh Baruch Hu said, “Yosef, you left home too early. You were only seventeen. Your education is not completed, and I must teach you a little longer. You still have a stony heart. You’re lacking a little bit of sensitivity to the great principle of bitachon that nobody in this world can help you. Of course halevai our hearts at the age of a hundred and twenty should be as soft as Yosef's at the age of seventeen. But compared to what Yosef was supposed to be, it was considered a stony heart. And so Hakadosh Baruch Hu said a little more waiting, a little more training, he needs.
Day by Day Disappointments
Now it didn't happen at once. After the first day Yosef was hoping he’d get good news from the palace. But the day passed and nothing happened. He went to the overseer of the prison. Any news? Any letters for me? No letters today.
The next day, no letters. Days passed by. And every day Yosef was disappointed. His plans, his hopes, his reliance on the sar hamashkim, were being frustrated.
Little by little it dawned on Yosef that the whole thing was only a dream, that the sar hamashkim is just a piece of side beef. Months passed. A year passed. And now Yosef was telling himself, “You deserve a kick, Yosef. You should kick yourself! What do you mean by putting your trust in human beings?”
And every day he spoke it over to himself until finally he gave up any shadow of hope that help would come from his plan. At the end of two years it was erased from his heart completely. His hard heart, so to speak of course, was now softened; Yosef had come back to 100% emunah and bitachon: “Only Hakadosh Baruch Hu can get me out. Whatever will happen; if it’ll be the sar hamashkim or something else, it’s not that. Nothing will help except Hashem.”
The Great Chemist
The Medrash says Hakadosh Baruch Hu measured out the two years like a chemist in a laboratory. A chemist doesn't just dish out something; he doesn’t take a bucketful of a certain material and pour it into a bucket. No; he measures it with exactitude; he uses a vessel that has gradations carved into the side. It has to be precise. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu was שָׂ ם קֵ ץ; He made a limit to how much time, how much disappointment in his plan, Yosef needed in order to soften his stony heart that relied on man. וַ יְהִ י מִ קֵ ץ שְׁ נָתַ יִם יָמִ ים – And finally, when it was the end of two years and Hashem saw into Yosef’s heart that he had become exceptional in bitachon, that he had purified his heart, now things began moving.
The Ancient Peirush
That’s what it states in Dovid Hamelech’s peirush on Chumash. People don't know that but Tehillim has excellent peirushim on Chumash. Not the peirushim on Tehillim but Tehillim itself is a wonderful peirush on Chumash.
Look in Tehillim kuf hei and he describes how Yosef was in the prison: עִ נּ וּ בַ כֶ בֶ ל רַ גְ לוֹ – they afflicted his feet with iron chains in prison, בָא בַרְ זֶל נַפְשׁוֹ – his body came into metal. That means he was tied down with metal chains in the dungeon. Until when? עַ ד עֵ ת בֹּא דְ בָרוֹ – until the time when Hashem’s word came, אִמְרַ ת ה' צְרָ פָתְ הוּ – the word of Hashem had purified him (Tehillim 105: 18-19).
What does it mean the word of Hashem ‘purified him’? The word of Hashem set him free, that’s all. Where does ‘purify’ come in here?
The answer is Hashem kept him in jail two more years. That was His word. All those days waiting; days of disappointment in man, disappointment in plans gone awry, that’s what purified Yosef from his little bit of non-bitachon. And now, all of a sudden, וַיָּבֹא אֶל פַּרְ עֹה – he’s standing before Pharaoh (Mikeitz 41:14). He’s thirty years old and he’s talking to the king. Now thirty years is nothing yet; there are many thirty year
