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Sefer Bereshis
Parashas Vayigash
by
Rabbi Michael Unger
And do not be upset or angry with yourselves
that you sold me here, for G-d sent me before you to preserve life.
Yosef
tells his brothers not to be upset about selling him as a slave. The simple
meaning of the verse is that since Yosef himself is neither
upset or angry, so there is no reason for his brothers to feel bad
about what they did to him.
The
Or HaHayim goes deeper than this. The reason why Yosef's brothers sold him as a slave was to make sure
that he would never be a ruler that could force them to bow down to him.
Now that they see that as a result of their actions Yosef actually became
the ruler of Egypt and they have become his servants, they
have good reasons to be upset. They realize that there actions were the
cause of there downfall and should be angry at themselves.
Therefore
Yosef tried to convince them that they should look at their actions from a
different angle. Yosef had not become a ruler with political power, rather
a ruler with the task of feeding the hungry. When the brothers sold him as
a slave, their actions paved the way for their own salvation. When the
story is viewed in this way, there is a good reason to be happy.
It
is unusual to take such a frightening story and look at it in a pleasant
way - to the point of convincing the "villains" that they were
wonderful. We should also be ready to examine what others have done to us
as positive in the long run.
When
a Jew repents and asks G-d to forgive him for violations of the Torah, he
essentially asks Him to look at the situation positively in the long run.
It follows that we should forgive others if confronted with similar
arguments.
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