[Avodah] Yosef and his brothers [was: Fables and Lies}

[T613K at aol.com]

R' Saul Mashbaum writes:

>>It is precisely at this point, that the brothers, still in  Egypt, but 
realizing what awaits them when they return to Yaakov, say "Aval  asheimim anachnu 
al achinu, asher rainu et tzarat nafsho, b'hitcan'no aleinu  v'lo shamanu, al 
ken baa aleinu hatzara hazot."<<
 
>>>>>
This reminds me of something striking that I always think about this time  of 
year, when we read the whole Yosef story. That is, when Yosef is set upon by  
his brothers, put in a pit, and then sold -- the Torah doesn't say a peep 
about  how Yosef reacted to all this at the time, whether he said anything, 
fought back  or what.  He's just -- silent.  The emotional tone of the  sale is 
flat.  That's how the brothers feel, that's how the reader  feels.
 
 
Only years later, when the brothers say this, "We are guilty about our  
brother, because we saw the /suffering of his soul/ when /he pleaded with  us/ but 
we didn't listen" -- do we get a glimpse of the emotions and drama of  the 
events that had occurred years earlier.  Now we first hear about the  young boy 
crying and pleading with his older brothers, the terrible tza'ar he  felt.  
Only at the same moment that the brothers finally feel what they had  suppressed 
all those years -- sorrow and compassion and regret for their  brother's pain 
-- do we, the readers of the Chumash, first get a sense of  the fraught 
emotions of that event, the sale of Yosef.  




--Toby  Katz
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