Part I. Loyalty to a Master
From Loyalty to Freedom
In Medrash Shir HaShirim (1:1), we are given an insight, an unexpected insight, into one of the important factors that led eventually to Yosef’s rise to power in Mitzrayim. And the surprising statement of our Chachomim is as follows: Rabi Pinchas said in the name of Rabi Shmuel bar Aba, “Anyone who serves his master properly, he goes out to freedom.”
Which means, if you are loyal to your employer, then someday you’re going to become independent; you’ll be rewarded with more opportunities to accomplish. And from where do we learn that? From the story of Yosef Hatzaddik.
What’s the story of Yosef? There was a certain day, when Yosef came to his master’s home to work, and there was nobody else in the house (Bereishis 39:11); everybody, even all the servants, had taken the day off. Now, that’s a strange circumstance because Potiphar’s home was a big house that was always full of people. It was a busy place, always humming with servants at work. So what happened today that nobody else was around?
The Egyptian Festival
And so our Sages tell us that this certain day was a special festival day. Once a year there was a very big celebration in the land of Egypt. It was called the day when the theater of the Nile was being presented. It was a certain holiday when the nation assembled to give honor to the Nile River because that was the source of all their sustenance.
The Nile rises every year in the summertime, flowing over the banks of the river and spreading out over the surrounding land. Way up in the highlands of Ethiopia, the rainfall increases and the rushing waters fall into tremendous gorges, creating a powerful rush of water that overflows the Nile a thousand miles away. And then, when it subsides, it leaves over a rich, fertile loam that makes that wide strip of land alongside the Nile an agricultural cornucopia for Egypt.
Not only Egypt, in ancient times it also sustained many of the surrounding countries because Egypt exported its Nile-grown grain to the surrounding countries too. And so the Nile, not only fed Egypt but it made it wealthy too—it was the breadbasket of the entire region and the engine of prosperity for Egypt. And therefore, in honor of the Nile which rose and performed its functions dutifully every year, the people gathered to celebrate. It was a happy celebration that everybody participated in.
True Loyalty
But Yosef, not. Why? Because he was loyal to his tasks. There was always a lot of work to catch up on and so he refused to go. Everyone went to see the festivities; everyone else was happy to have an excuse to leave work.
But Yosef, his heart told him that it was more proper to stay at work.; “I have a master, and I have to be as loyal as I can to him.” And so Yosef stayed home to do his work (ibid.).
Now, that’s quite an example of loyalty to a job. We’d all like to have an employee with a middah like that. An employee who feels that it’s his duty to be an oived Hashem by being loyal and honest to his place of work, absolutely it’s praiseworthy! But what the Chachomim tell us is that not only was it a commendable middah, but they apply to Yosef the possuk in Mishlei (22:29): Have you seen a man who is diligent in his labor? He will stand before kings. It’s such an important middah that it’s the reason why eventually Yosef was released from servitude to become the mishneh lamelech under Pharaoh.
Crocodile Alcatraz
You’ll tell me that there was a lot of time in between this day and the day Yosef finally arrived in Pharaoh’s palace? After all, he was thrown into prison first. Well, Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s ways are not that simple—there always are some more elements in the story. And the only route to the palace was through the prison because it was there that there were people who would introduce him to Pharaoh, and therefore that was part of the plan to free him and bring him to power.
Why not? I myself would gladly go to Alcatraz for ten years if I could come out as mishneh lamelech. I don't know how many years I have left, but if I was a young man I'd go to Alcatraz for ten years if I could come out and become president of the United States. I would try it.
And so Yosef’s years in prison were also part of the plan. But even though there was still a long road from the house of Potiphar to the palace of Pharaoh, the Chachomim want us to know that when eventually Yosef was appointed second in command to Pharaoh, it was because of the loyalty that Yosef had shown his boss, Potiphar, that it happened. That, they say, was what made Yosef worthy of freedom and glory.
And that’s a puzzle to us. Because what’s so important about loyalty to a job that Hashem takes special notice of that? What’s so exciting about a conscientious worker that he should find such especial favor in the eyes of Hashem?
The Gra’s Chiddush
Now, in order to understand the answer to this puzzle we have to first study a statement from the Gra, HaGaon Rabbeinu Eliyahu m’Vilna, in the sefer Even Shleimah. It’s the very first statement in that sefer and it goes as follows: The entire service of Hakadosh Baruch Hu depends on improving the character, because the qualities of character are like a garment for the mitzvos and for all the general principles of the Torah.
Now that’s a statement that sounds quite important — “all of avodas Hashem depends on middos” — but not because of how we generally think, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants a nation of people with excellent character bein adam lachaveiro. That’s true, too but it’s not what the Gra is saying here. He says that we have to acquire good character “because the qualities of character are like a garment for the mitzvos and for all the general principles of the Torah.”
It means that our entire relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, all of the mitzvos that we perform as Jews, all of the Torah we learn, and all of the principles that we attempt to live by, whether we like it or not, are clothed in the traits of character that we have already acquired.
One Set of Middos
Now, that statement is quite a chiddush because we’re accustomed to thinking of middos as belonging to the realm of bein adam lachaveiro. But we’re learning now that you cannot separate between these two realms. The area of middos, of character, and the area of avodas Hashem are not two separate things; because a person has only one set of middos, and therefore the same relationship you have with people, towards people, will be your relationship with Hashem.
The basic personality of a man depends on the traits of character that he possesses; that’s who you are, whether you’re dealing with a person or you’re dealing with Hashem. And therefore if a person is healthy in his middos — healthy in his anivus, in his menuchas hanefesh, his zerizus, his savlonus, his achrayus and loyalty — so he’ll also be healthy in his relationship with Hashem. But if he is ill in his middos, then whatever he talks, whatever he does, he’s going to talk and do with the wrong crooked middos—even to Hashem. And whatever he may claim, however much he’ll deny it, it doesn't matter.
Empty Gratitude
Let’s give an example, a common example maybe. Here’s a boy who comes home from the yeshivah, and his mother made supper for him. So as he gets up from the supper, does he say thank you to his mother? After all, it took her some time to prepare that supper. Did it enter his mind that he should say thank you to his mother? No. It doesn’t even cross his mind.
But he’s a frum boy so he says, “He makes a big bracha to Hashem. You have to know it’s empty! He’s thanking Hashem without any heart of gratitude at all! Only he’s a frum boy, so he’s doing Him a favor; he’s making a bracha. But he doesn’t have any gratitude to Hashem! And it must be so, because his mother’s right there and she worked two hours over the gas range, she was makriv herself as an olah temimah on the fire of the gas range for him, and he doesn’t say a big bracha to his mother? So how can it be that he’s saying a big thank you to Hashem? To someone who is right in front of you, you have no gratitude but to an invisible Hashem you’re overflowing with gratitude? It’s not sincere at all.
Recognizing the Cook
Oh yes, you’ll say, “When it comes to the Creator, how can I ignore the fact that He creates food? Certainly when I ate that apple, I recognized the hand of the Creator! Of course, I’m grateful to Hashem for the apple He gave me.” No, don’t deceive yourself. If you don’t feel humbled in front of your mother who was cooking in the hot kitchen, then you’re not humbled before Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
That’s what Chazal say if a person is ungrateful to his fellow man, suppose he’s not grateful for a favor that people do to him, he’ll be ungrateful to Hashem too. Why is that? Because it’s impossible to departmentalize that and say, “To people I’m not grateful, but to Hashem I’m grateful.” And so it’s only the boy who practiced up on hakaras hatov, on saying thank you to his mother—“Ma! It’s a great supper! Baruch Hashem, my mother is a good cook”—once you’re able to be grateful to your mother and to your wife, then when you’ll say, so we can suspect that you mean it. But if you didn’t thank your mother or your wife or the cook in the yeshivah, and now you say birkas hamozon, you have to know it’s nothing but an externality, a formality. You had no intentions of thanks. You’re denying your fellowman’s benefits, so it’s impossible that you’re appreciating Hashem’s benefits.
One Big Compartment
And that’s how it is with all of our character traits; the acid test of your relationship with Hashem is your middos with people. Otherwise, you’re full of baloney. You can't be good with Hashem if when it comes down to brass tacks, you're not good with people around you.
Don’t deceive yourself and say, “Although maybe I am not such a fine person in my dealings with others, at least my relationship with Hashem is in good order.” It’s impossible. That’s what the Gra is telling us in his opening statement in the Even Sheleimah; it's sheker v’kazav because the way you are with people is the way you are with Hashem. It’s impossible for a person to departmentalize his character.
