RABBI YAAKOV ASHER SINCLAIR (Ohr.edu)
“Yosef’s brothers perceived that their father was dead...” (50:15)
It’s amazing how much we need approval
I recently got a new car. It’s all-electric, all ‘whistles and bells,’ and does absolutely everything thing for you. It turns the headlights on when it’s dark, tells you when you need air in the tires and even warm itself up for you before you get in on a cold day. The only thing it doesn’t do is make you a cup of coffee, but I’m sure they’re working on that.
One of the features that was new to me is that, if you have the electric key in your pocket, your mere approach to the car releases the lock on the door and all the light flash.
The other day, I was crossing the road to take out the trash and I came within a few feet of the car. The lights flashed; the door locks opened with a welcoming clunk, and the side mirrors flipped out like a pair of ears of an old canine friend.
I had this unmistakable feeling, absurd as it was, that the car was smiling at me, and gave me a fleeting moment of happiness. I caught myself and thought, “Wow! If being recognized by an inanimate object can bring a smile to my face, how much more does the recognition of a human being lift our spirits?”
“Yosef’s brothers perceived that their father was dead...”
With Yaakov’s death, the brothers sensed that Yosef’s attitude to them had changed. He no longer invited them to dine with him as he had done during their father’s lifetime. They thought his latent resentment was now surfacing, but they were wrong. The Marahal explains that with the death of Yaakov, Yosef knew that the persecution of the Jews could start at any time. An invitation to the palace could be construed as the Jews seeking power and influence. So, to minimize this latent antisemitism, Yosef stopped inviting them.
Yosef knew that his actions might be misinterpreted by the brothers, but to be a leader of the Jewish People means knowing when to override the natural sensitivity that a brother has toward his siblings for the greater good of the Jewish People.
