And he said, I am Yosef your brother - whom you sold to Mitzrayim. (45:4) And now do not be distressed. Is Yosef trying to become friends with them or not? Sounds like he is trying to remind his brothers of the terrible thing they did – selling him.
And what does Yosef mean - and now do not be distressed? Yosef is not reminding his brothers of what they did to him. Yosef is telling his brothers - don’t be afraid of what has become of me - don’t worry about who I am. now do not be distressed, I have not changed - I am still the same Yosef whom you sold twenty years ago. Its true that I was away from Yaakov all these years – I have been on my own in a strange country - but I am still the same Yosef. (Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk)
Reprinted from this week’s whY I Matter email compiled for the Young Israel of Midwood in Brooklyn by R’ Yedidye Hirtenfeld.
