The Time of Revelation Had Arrived:
Yosef spoke harshly to his brothers numerous times, but only now was he unable to bear it. What happened now that he suddenly couldn’t bear?
Sefer Yashrish Yaakov answers by saying that it is known that the 22 years that Yosef was separated from his father were a measure-for-measure retribution for the 22 years Yaakov separated himself from his father, Yitzchok. However, in his great mercy, Hashem counted these 22 years in a very exacting way, and made sure they ended at the earliest moment. Thus, when the exact end of the 22 years was approaching, Hashem made Yosef unable to bear it for a moment longer, and he felt an urgent need to reveal his identity.
One’s Sustenance is Prepared for Him:
Rav Shloimke of Zhvil zy”a related that his father, Rav Mordechai of Zhevil zy”a, supported his sons for a number of years after their marriages. One day shortly after his wedding, Rav Shloimke thought to himself: I have a Father in Heaven. Why do I need to accept support from a human being? He then stopped accepting financial help from his father.
Several days passed and there was no bread left in his home.
And Yosef could not bear all those standing around him. And he called out, “Send out everyone from before me...” (45:1)
He then thought: It seems that Hashem has decreed that my parnassah should come through my father. He sent his wife to his father’s house, and she was given one ruble to buy food.
Rav Shloimke related, “Right at that time, two chasidim of my father came to see me, and one of them took a ruble out of his pocket, intending to give it to me as a chasuna present. At the moment my wife walked into the house with the ruble my father had given her, the chasid put his ruble back in his pocket, without realizing that he hadn’t given it to me. I took this as a clear sign from Shomayim that Hashem had prepared a ruble for me and taken it back. He was showing me that I must believe that everything comes from Him!”
Eyes Lifted to Hashem:
While Rav Mordechi of Lechovitch zy”a was learning under Rav Shlomo of Karlin zy”a, he was extremely poor. There was no bread in his home, and even the water was frozen from the cold, as he had no firewood to heat the house. Despite the hardships, his wife never complained.
One day, a relative came to visit them. When he saw how they were living, he ran to the bais medrash and asked Rav Mordechai,” How could you allow a woman and her children to starve? How can you sit here in peace when Jewish children are crying from hunger?”
Rav Mordechai answered, “You are right to cry to me, since they depend on me. But I am just flesh and blood. How can I help them? But also am right to sit and learn in peace because I depend on Hashem, so I don’t have to worry about anything.”
Salvation in its Time:
The Ponovizher Rov, Rav Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman zt”l related as follows:
When I was appointed Rov of the city of Ponovezh, I had the ambition to elevate the chinuch institutions in the city. I was not satisfied with just the Talmud Torah building that I had established, so I also added a Yeshiva Ketana and Yeshiva Gedolah and a school for girls. The educational institutions that I had established were scattered around several rented apartments, and I decided to purchase a large piece of land and house all the educational institutions on it.
I learned that the town priest wanted to sell a forest he owned for a bargain price of 25,000 rubles, but the money had to be in cash. I tried to ask him to wait a few months until I could collect the money, but he did not agree. He said that the forest is worth 100,000 rubles, and he is ready to sell it for 25,000 only on condition that he receives the money immediately.
I had 5,000 rubles from the dowry my father-in-law had given me, and my wife agreed to dedicate it to the holy cause. I brought the money to the priest and made an agreement with him that if I brought the additional 20,000 rubles in three months, the forest would become mine, and if not, these 5,000 rubles would be lost for violating the agreement.
I went to the homes of the wealthy men in town, but the Satan was working against me and none of them donated at all. Everyone dodged me for various reasons and said that they could not give me money now. There were those who promised me that in six months they would give me a few thousand rubles, but I needed the money immediately.
Meanwhile, my father-in-law and mother-in-law found out what I had done. They visited me and severely scolded me for squandering my own money for this cause.
I left the house and waited until their anger passed.
I returned at 2am, assuming they would have left by then and the rest of my family would be asleep, but that was not the case. Two of the town’s richest men were sitting with them in my house, waiting for my arrival. They told me that they were going to marry their children soon and they wanted to entrust with one-third of the dowry – 10,000 from each of them.
I asked them if I could use the money for the public’s needs and return it in six months, and they agreed willingly. I went to the priest’s house, paid the amount I owed him, and established the educational institutions. 2,000 thousand students were educated there in Torah and yiras shomayim.
A short while later, the two mechutanim came to tell me that the shidduch had been cancelled and they wanted their money back. I told them that we had agreed that I could use it for six months, and they admitted that we had. During those six months, I successfully raised the money I needed to pay them back from local donors, and I paid the money back in full.
