Investigating the Hidden Aspects of Our Personality

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah

The sale of Yosef by his brothers is recorded for eternity as a sin. On Yom Kippur we read that the Ten Martyrs received their cruel punishments for this deed, even though over 1,000 years had passed. However, Rashi (37:33) relates that before raising a hand against Yosef, the brothers formed a beis din and judged him guilty of trying to push them out of the House of Yaakov. Their claims against Yosef were so strong that Hashem Himself agreed to be part of this beis din. If so, why is the sale of Yosef deemed such a great sin?

Perhaps some will answer that Hashem in fact did not agree that Yosef should be sold, and He agreed to complete the brothers’ beis din only to enable them to exercise their free will. This is in line with the Torah principle, “in the way a man wishes to go, he is led” (Makkos 10b). However, Midrash Tanchuma (Vayeshev 4) and Rashi (37:14) make clear that this was not the case. Hashem’s guiding hand was behind the entire affair. The sale of Yosef was part of Hashem’s plan that the Bnei Yisrael eventually go to exile in Egypt in order to fulfill what He had promised to Avraham (Bereishis 15:13). Bereishis Rabba (84:14) adds that even the hatred the brothers felt for Yosef was put by Hashem into their hearts.

In light of the above, why are the brothers criticized for selling Yosef?

Explains Rav Gedalia Shor: Despite what seems like Hashem’s intervention (putting feelings into the brothers’ hearts that led them to the sale of Yosef), the initial bad midda of jealousy came from the brothers alone. Hashem allowed this jealousy to develop, and placed the brothers in a situation that would lead them to sell Yosef. Nevertheless, the sin is attributed to the brothers, because their initial jealousy was the basis upon which everything else transpired.

This explanation reveals a principle that can explain other mysterious statements of Chazal. In Avoda Zara (4b), Chazal state that Klal Yisrael at the time of the Sin of the Golden Calf was not fit to commit such an error, nor was Dovid fit for the act he committed with Bas Sheva. Rather, Hashem “caused” these sins to happen to teach us that it is possible to do teshuva even after major errors. The mystery of this Chazal is that Hashem seemingly deprived Dovid or Klal Yisrael of their free will, which contradicts one of the main pillars of emuna!

Rather, in normal circumstances, Hashem would have given Dovid, or Klal Yisrael, the Divine assistance they needed in order to overcome the yetzer hara to sin. In these two cases, Hashem withheld that in order carry out part of His divine plan. Nevertheless, the sins did not occur out of thin air, they originated from the bad midda that did exist within Klal Yisrael or within Dovid.

The lesson for us should be: Look how destructive even the smallest trace of any bad midda can be. Look what happened to a slight presence of jealousy among the brothers. Left unchecked, any bad midda can lead people to the worst sins.

We also learn from the brothers that it is possible to have bad middos and not even know about them. Rav Yechezkel Levinstein notes this from the fact that the brothers didn’t think they had sinned. Even when they expressed remorse (42:21), it was only for not having had pity on Yosef, but not that they had actually done anything wrong. The lesson for us is that we have to search out our traits of character and locate the middos that need work.

Similarly, in Yevamos (62b) the Sages record that the 24,000 talmidim of Rabbi Akiva were stricken by a plague and died in a very short period of time. Chazal say that this was because they did not treat each other with the proper respect, and in Bereishis Rabba (61:30),  it states that they were envious of their fellow talmidim’s successes. Still, neither the talmidim nor even Rabbi Akiva himself detected this negative trait. Rabbi Akiva surely would have told his talmidim had he noticed this.

If they failed to locate their bad middos, how can we ever hope to? The answer is that theirs was a most minute form of envy, whereas we may well possess full-blown bad middos and yet we are still unaware of them! It’s up to us to investigate ourselves, and one of the most effective ways to do so is to speak out one’s issues with his rav or mashgiach.

Toward the end of his life, Rav Elazar Menachem Man Shach no longer said his weekly shiurim in the Ponovezh Yeshiva. Even though he was still Rosh Yeshiva and from his place in Ponovezh was turned to by all segments of Klal Yisrael as the gadol hador, he felt it necessary to travel to Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv with a personal question in halacha.

“I’m no longer saying my shiur. Is it forbidden for me to receive a salary from the yeshiva?”

Rav Yitzchak Zilberstein notes that when Rav Shach asked this question, it was a mystery to all those around him. How could there be any doubt that he still deserved a salary? After all, he was still the rosh yeshiva and active in all matters of the yeshiva. Not to mention that he had served the yeshiva faithfully for decades and was still a presence and important example for the bachurim. Nevertheless, Rav Shach suspected that perhaps he was biased. He refused to rely on his own judgment and wanted to speak the matter over with the posek hador.

May we be zoche to identify and work on our bad middos!