The Descendants of Yishmoel’s Testimony:
Sefer Maaseh Hatzadikim relates that a man named R’ Chaim Weber a”h was walking home from the mikvah one Friday when he saw an Arab merchant trying to sell a very old Jewish book. He purchased the book for one zloty and looked at the tile page, where he saw that it was a copy of Rabenu Bechaya’s commentary on Sefer Iyov.
He began reading the introduction and saw that Rabenu Bechaya writes that the Elifaz who is mentioned in Sefer Iyov (2:11 and other places) is either Elifaz the son of Esav or a descendant of his who bore his name. He grew up in the home of Avrohom Avinu, where he was taught some true ideas.
R’ Chaim was surprised to see these words and wanted to discuss them with the Rebbe of Kaloshitz zy”a. However, he did not get a chance to do so. That night, which was Parshas Vayeishev and Shabbos Chanukah, a large crowd attended the Rebbe’s tish. The Rebbe got into a discussion with the melamdim about how to translate the names of the spices that were being transported by the caravan of Arabs. He spoke about this at length – to the puzzlement of the crowd – until he quoted Chazal’s words that Hashem orchestrated for them to be carrying good-smelling spices so that Yosef would not suffer from a bad smell.
The Rebbe concluded by saying that the reason Hashem specifically sent Yishmoelim was also for Yosef’s benefit. These Yishmoelim were descendants of Yishmoel, the son of Avrohom, who would discuss the good ideas and lessons that had been passed down to them from Avrohom’s home. Hearing familiar ideas certainly brought a lot of pleasure to Yosef as he was being taken to a foreign land.
