On the weekly Torah Portion
And you shall tell my father of all my honor in Egypt (Gen. 45:13)
"Tell my father not to worry," Joseph requested of his brothers. "All the honor and respect heaped upon me by the Egyptians has not had a negative effect. It has not made me lose the humility necessary to worship G-d properly." (Gedolei Hachasidut)
And he saw all the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him (45:27)
Rashi comments that with these wagons Joseph alluded to the very last subject in Torah he had learned with his father Jacob before being sold into slavery, that of the egla arufa (beheaded heifer). When Jacob saw the wagons (agalot--the same root word as egla), he realized that his son was sending the message that he had not forgotten all that he had learned with his father so many years ago. We see from this that seemingly insignificant actions of the righteous are fraught with meaning and serve as lessons and examples for those who take heed. (Maayana Shel Torah)
My lord asked his servants, "Do you have a father or a brother?" (44:19)
Judah tried, with this statement, to disprove Joseph's contention that the "stolen" cup magically told him everything. "If your cup is really magic and you already know all about us, why did you ask so many questions about our family?" claimed Judah. (Sefer Darush)
Here is seed for you; and you shall sow the land (47:23)
The righteous Joseph, the spiritual leader of every generation, gives each of us the encouragement and strength we need to worship G-d. But we must not rely solely on that which we receive from the tzadik; we must also sow the seeds we are given. (Lubavitcher Rebbe)
