ועתה לכו ונהרגהו ונשלכהו באחד הבורות ואמרנו חיה רעה אכלתהו, (37:12) ונראה מה יהיו חלומותיו
“And now, come and let us kill him, and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, ‘A wild beast devoured him.’ Then we will see what will become of his dreams.” Chazal tell us that undoubtedly the shevatim were great and holy people. How are we to understand this Posuk, that they were literally prepared to kill Yosef, and that they sold him?
There was a master plan in place, and Klal Yisroel needed to go down to Mitzrayim. They needed to be slaves there, to leave Mitzrayim, and be zoche to receive the Torah hakdoshah. Hakodosh Boruch Hu had foretold this to Avrohom Avinu, and it was what Klal Yisroel needed in order to receive the Torah Hakdoshah, the most precious thing in the world. Why did Yaakov Avinu send Yosef to check on his brothers, when he knew that they hated him and it would be very dangerous for him? The answer is, it didn’t make sense. This was what was needed and thus it happened. The brothers needed to sell Yosef so that Yaakov and his family would end up in Mitzrayim, and that would set up their ultimate redemption from Mitzrayim.
If we are saying that the brothers did not have bechirah, choice, in selling Yosef, then why was there such a severe punishment for doing so? The test for the holy brothers was how they would deal with it after they sold him. When Binyamin is accused of stealing Yosef’s goblet, he takes them to task – and says how dare you accuse me, when you were the ones who dipped Yosef’s tunic into blood so that our father would think he was dead. That was the sin of the shevatim. They were very holy individuals, but on their level, they should have overcome it. They should have admitted to their father what they did. Perhaps it would have caused Yaakov to go down to Mitzrayim earlier, and the entire process of receiving the Torah would have happened earlier.
The upcoming Yom Tov of Chanukah is all about pirsum hanes, publicizing the miracle. We are to publicize the great miracle Hakodosh Boruch Hu performed, and we must know that He is running the world. If chas v’sholom we sin, we must not try to sweep it under the rug, for that makes things worse. Yehudah taught us how we are to act after “sinning.” Yehudah sinned with Tamar, yet we don’t see anywhere that he was punished. He was not punished, for that was not his test. His test was after; to see how he would deal with it.
The light shone brightly from Yehudah, and he said, צדקה ממני – Tamar is righteous; I am the one. He admitted to his act, and he passed his test with flying colors. When it came time for Yaakov to send someone down to Mitzrayim to prepare for Klal Yisroel going down, he sent Yehudah to set up a Yeshivah. It was Yehudah who understood that one can only have the proper resolve, and know how to act, if he is connected to the Torah hakdoshah. Chanukah is a time to connect the torah hakdoshah, to our mitzvos and to all of our actions. May we be zoche to see the true light, the ohr haganuz, with the coming of Mashiach, במהרה בימינו אמן.
