(2) This, then, is the line of Jacob: Yosef was 17 years old, and he would shepherd his brothers with the sheep; he grew up with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah the wives of his father, and Joseph would bring their bad reports to his father.
(3) And Yisrael loved Yosef from all of his sons, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many threads/colours.
Behold, one needs to remove from those who mistakenly think that the deeds of the tribes of G-d, and that their holy father, a man of G-d! We should not be amazed that someone so holy to G-d like Josef would testify in vain, or bring bad reports to their father. How could their father accept it? How could these holy brothers hate their brother, and be jealous of him until literally bringing him to the gates of death, throwing him to a pit of vipers and scorpions and when they took him out, they sold him to the Yishmealites - could men of truth like this act in such a way?
(ה) ויבא יוסף כו' דבתם רעה כו'. בודאי לא הי' יוסף הצדיק מבעלי לה"ר. אך כי הצדיק באמת אין יכול לסבול שמץ דבר. וכענין שנא' באליהו קנא קנאתי כו'. ולכן הבינו השבטים דכך האמת כי לא הי' באפשרי להתקיים אם הי' יוסף אצל אביו היו הם נדחים ח"ו כי יוסף הצדיק הי' נבדל מכל עוה"ז. כענין שכתוב נזיר אחיו. וגם נקרא בן זקונים. פי' שנולד בקדושה שלא ידע משמץ רע בעולם. לכן לא הי' יכול לסבול מעשה אחיו. אף כי היו צדיקים ג"כ. והי' מוכרח שיהי' במצרים ואח"כ ידע והבין שגם אחיו הם צדיקים:
For sure, Yosef the righteous wouldn't tell Lashon Harah against his brothers. However a true righteous person is not able to bear even a speck of something (incorrect or impure).
The other brothers felt it was impossible to live together with Yosef, because while he was with his father, they too were being pushed away G-d forbid, as Yosef himself was completely seperate from all elements of this world. This is established in the blessing in which Yosef is termed a "Nazerite" amongst his brothers.
He was also called a son of Jacob's old age - he was born in complete purity, and didn't know or comprehend any elements of badness/physicality in this world, and was therefore unable to bear the acts of his brothers, even though in reality they were also righteous. He was therefore forced to go down into Egypt and only afterwards knew and understood that his brothers too were righteous.
|It definitely appeared to Yosef that the brothers were weak in 3 things (bullying the younger tribes, eating meat from a live animal and immoral behaviour), and it was placed upon him to improve them, in as much as he is the Tzaddik who is the basis of the entire world.... if he had reproved them as he should have, they would have shown him that he had made a mistake in judging them harshly, and if he was right, they would have repented.
However, because he felt himself to be the smallest of the tribes (his playmates were the sons of Bilha and Zilpa), he didn't feel qualified to reprimand his elder brothers. The Zohar states that someone who has the ability to rebuke and doesn't has a blemish in terms of their speech and he will receive nega'im (Tzaraas) like those received for Lashon Hara. This blemish led him into a greater mistake by telling his father the faults of the brothers in order that their father himself should straighten them out. Even though he had good intentions, nonetheless this was a blemish according to his spiritual level.
This stopped the silver chain that established their unity and established seperation, and in turn caused jealousy and hatred.
"And the eyes of Leah were weak, and Rachel was beautiful."
It appears on the level of remez" that it is known from the holy books that Rachel is called "the revealed world", and Leah is called "the hidden world.
In order to understand this concept we need to refer to the service of G-d. The first step should be that a person accepts upon himself the yoke of heaven and that He is essentially the rule of the world. this is a revealed act, as it is widely known that the world must have a ruler. This is the external world.
After a person accepts upon himself this yoke, and desires to serve Him like a servant to his master, than G-d brings such an individual closer into his sanctuary, and there that person will feel embarrressed and submissive to Him (when he realises the depth to which he/she hasn't taken this yoke in its entirity onto themselves. this in turn leads him to Teshuva, which is internal and is therefore the internal world.
This is essentially what Josef does - he forces them into a state of Teshuva of repenting in front of G-d by realising that they didn't know the totality of what they were doing. The "revealed" pushing the "hidden" into repenting
(ה) וַיַּחֲלֹ֤ם יוֹסֵף֙ חֲל֔וֹם וַיַּגֵּ֖ד לְאֶחָ֑יו וַיּוֹסִ֥פוּ ע֖וֹד שְׂנֹ֥א אֹתֽוֹ׃ (ו) וַיֹּ֖אמֶר אֲלֵיהֶ֑ם שִׁמְעוּ־נָ֕א הַחֲל֥וֹם הַזֶּ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר חָלָֽמְתִּי׃ (ז) וְ֠הִנֵּה אֲנַ֜חְנוּ מְאַלְּמִ֤ים אֲלֻמִּים֙ בְּת֣וֹךְ הַשָּׂדֶ֔ה וְהִנֵּ֛ה קָ֥מָה אֲלֻמָּתִ֖י וְגַם־נִצָּ֑בָה וְהִנֵּ֤ה תְסֻבֶּ֙ינָה֙ אֲלֻמֹּ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם וַתִּֽשְׁתַּחֲוֶ֖יןָ לַאֲלֻמָּתִֽי׃ (ח) וַיֹּ֤אמְרוּ לוֹ֙ אֶחָ֔יו הֲמָלֹ֤ךְ תִּמְלֹךְ֙ עָלֵ֔ינוּ אִם־מָשׁ֥וֹל תִּמְשֹׁ֖ל בָּ֑נוּ וַיּוֹסִ֤פוּ עוֹד֙ שְׂנֹ֣א אֹת֔וֹ עַל־חֲלֹמֹתָ֖יו וְעַל־דְּבָרָֽיו׃ (ט) וַיַּחֲלֹ֥ם עוֹד֙ חֲל֣וֹם אַחֵ֔ר וַיְסַפֵּ֥ר אֹת֖וֹ לְאֶחָ֑יו וַיֹּ֗אמֶר הִנֵּ֨ה חָלַ֤מְתִּֽי חֲלוֹם֙ ע֔וֹד וְהִנֵּ֧ה הַשֶּׁ֣מֶשׁ וְהַיָּרֵ֗חַ וְאַחַ֤ד עָשָׂר֙ כּֽוֹכָבִ֔ים מִֽשְׁתַּחֲוִ֖ים לִֽי׃ (י) וַיְסַפֵּ֣ר אֶל־אָבִיו֮ וְאֶל־אֶחָיו֒ וַיִּגְעַר־בּ֣וֹ אָבִ֔יו וַיֹּ֣אמֶר ל֔וֹ מָ֛ה הַחֲל֥וֹם הַזֶּ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר חָלָ֑מְתָּ הֲב֣וֹא נָב֗וֹא אֲנִי֙ וְאִמְּךָ֣ וְאַחֶ֔יךָ לְהִשְׁתַּחֲוֺ֥ת לְךָ֖ אָֽרְצָה׃ (יא) וַיְקַנְאוּ־ב֖וֹ אֶחָ֑יו וְאָבִ֖יו שָׁמַ֥ר אֶת־הַדָּבָֽר׃
And Yosef dreamed a dream which he told to his brothers, and they continued to hate him more.
(6)And he said to them: Please listen to the dream that I have dreamed.
(7)And behold we were gathering sheaves within the field, and my sheave got up and stayed up. And your sheaves got up as well and bowed to my sheaf.
(8)And his brothers said to him: Are you going to rule us if you already govern us? They continued to hate him for his dreams and his words.
(9) And he dreamed another dream and he told it to his breathers; and he said: I dreamed another dream, and behold! The sun and the moon and the stars were bowing to me.
(10) And he told it to his fathers, and to his brothers, and his father rebuked him: What is this dream that you have dreamed, should I and your mother and brothers come and bow down to the ground in front of you?
(11) His brothers were jealous of him, and his father guarded the matter.
This dream shows how Josef was connected with his father. Even though he was young and callow, in his dream he dreamed the dream of Jacob. ...
Jacob saw a ladder with its feet on the ground and its head in heaven which shows a connection between the physical and spiritual world.
Joseph saw the same thing - tying sheaves together is in essence connecting things together.
The sheaf standing up which was fallen on the ground is like the ladder straining all the way to heaven.....
המלוך תמלוך עלינו אם משול תמשול בנו, יש לפרש שאמרו לו מה שאמרו בגמרא על הממונים על השררה וכי שררה אני נותן לכם עבדות אני נותן לכם שצריך הממונה ושורר על ישראל להיות עבד נאמן לעשות ולהשגיח על ישראל באמונה ויוסף כאשר סיפר להם החלום חשדו אותו ששמח במדרגה זו ולזאת אמרו לו המלוך תמלוך עלינו אם משול תמשול בנו אדרבה אתה צריך להיות אז עבד נאמן לנו לכן ויוסיפו עוד שנא אותו כנ"ל:
We can explain that they said to him as follows: those who are appointed with being rulers are told "have I given you rulership? I have given you servitude". This means that anyone who is appointed as a ruler over the Jewish people needs to be a servant to do and take care of the Jewish people with faith. When Yosef told them the dream they suspected of him being happy about this ideal of his being in control of them, and they said to him: "How is it possible for to rule over us if you govern us; au contrare you need to be a faithful servant to us, and therefore they hated him even more.
(ה) מאלמים אלומים בתוך השדה בתרגום מאסרין איסרין. וי"ל כי שדה פי' הפקר כמו עשו איש שדה. וזה הי' עבודת השבטים לחבר הכל להשורש חיות השי"ת שיש בכל דבר. ושיתברר זה שיהי' הכל מחובר ומקושר ומדובק לשרשו. אף דברי העוה"ז שנראין נפרדים והפקר כשדה. [והוא בחי' ספירת העומר] וקמה אלומתי כתב במדרש שתיקותי' דאימי' כו' כי זה בחי' רחל ובני' שתפסו בחי' שתיקה כמ"ש במדרש. כי זה פי' שתיקה כמ"ש גוף טוב כו'. זה שהאדם יודע שאינו יכול לעשות עפ"י שכלו ורצונו כלל רק להיות בטל להשגחה עליונה. ולכך לא אמרה שהיא לאה. ע"י שראתה שכן רצון עליון:
The field is an ownerless place like Esau "is a man of the field". This was the work of the sons of Jacob to connect everything together back to the source of all energy- the Almighty which exists within every single living being, and it becomes clear the purpose of everything in this world.
However, the world itself appears to be seperate and ownerless like a field (this is the same idea as the counting of the days of the Omer).
Yosef said my sheaf rose and the medrash explains this as being the silence of my mother. This is based on the idea that there is nothing better for the body than silence - i.e. that a person knows that he cant do (or say) anything according to his own will, just to be completely nullified against the rule of the Almighty. It is for this reason that Rachel kept quiet when she was being swapped for Leah, because she understood that this was ultimately the will of the Almighty.