Stories Of Greatness

Throughout the entire parshah, we continuously read how Yosef, the favored son of Yaakov Avinu, suffered horrible humiliation, debasement, and extreme degradation. From the moment he was whisked away from his home and family to the abject slavery of an Egyptian master, finding himself thrown into jail for no fault of his own, it would have been logical for Yosef to become absorbed in his own pain, angry at the world. But Yosef did not become bitter. He remained sensitive to others and to his Divine mission in life. Not only did he perceive the anguish of Pharaoh’s servants, but he also reached out to help them. To Yosef, the fact that Hashem had arranged for him to notice someone in need indicated that it was his duty to help.

The following story is told over in chasidishe circles and has been handed down for generations. A local villager once traveled to the Polish town of Zidichov, to see the tzadik, Rav Tzvi Hirsch Eichenstein zt”l, with an urgent request. He was not a wealthy man, but an opportunity to lease a small inn near the city of Helmutz just presented itself and the local poritz was awaiting his decision. What would make this deal truly profitable, he told the Rebbe, was if he could dig a well of water behind the inn and use it for his guests, as well as to sell water to the local populace. As of now, if anyone needed water in the area, they had to travel into town. The question was where to dig and if he would find water.

What is hashgachah pratis? Sometimes it is Hashem protecting an individual from harm in ways he never saw coming.

The Gerrer Rebbe, Rebbe Yisroel Alter zt”l (the Beis Yisrael), once commented: “When I was a young child growing up in Ger (Gora Kalwaria), my cheder rebbe used to teach us the story of how Yaakov gave his brother Eisav a soup made of lentils in exchange for the b’chorah (birthright). He would explain the pasuk, “And Yaakov gave Eisav bread and a soup of lentils, and he ate and drank and arose and left,” as follows: Va’yochal – and he ate, without washing his hands for N’tilas Yadayim; va’yeisht – and he drank, without making a brachah on his drink; va’yakam – and he got up, without reciting Birkas HaMazon; va’yeilach – and he left, without kissing the mezuzah. This is the correct way to teach children, for it instills in them an aversion to following the wicked ways of Eisav and draws them to the proper manner of mitzvah observance.

The Zohar states that 974 generations of souls were reincarnated in Lavan’s sheep. Before Yaakov’s arrival at Lavan’s home, they were trapped by the Sitra Achra. Yaakov rescued these souls by implanting emunah into them in the form of the rods that he placed in the water, and when the sheep gazed at the rods, the souls inside them were transformed with purity.

The Gemara (B’rachos 26b) tells us that Avraham Avinu established the t’filah of Shacharis (the Morning Prayer) based on the pasuk, “And Avraham arose early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Hashem.” It was Avraham who introduced the notion of daily prayer to the world. T’filah is a very powerful tool. It connects us to Hashem in ways beyond our comprehension. How careful we must be when we daven that we focus on the words and actually talk to Hashem, rather than be busy with everything else around us. If we focus on Hashem, He responds in ways beyond our wildest dreams.