Today is the last day of Chanukah and thought I could post something funny, but in reality this weeks Parashah “Vayigash”, gives us the key to self redemption and this cartoon has the key word which is “Guilt”. When we feel guilty about something there is no way in the world that we can ever come to terms with ourselves. At the end of last weeks Parashah “Miketz”, Joseph is reunited with his brothers. They have come down to Egypt to buy food because of the famine. Joseph immediately recognized them but they don’t recognize Joseph, who is now the Viceroy of Egypt the most powerful man in the world after Paraoh. Joseph decides to put his brothers to a test and makes them go back for his brother Benjamin who his father Jacob had not sent with them because he was afraid that something could happen to him. Joseph puts Reuven in Jail for three days while the other brothers bring Benjamin. When the brothers come back he treats them to a meal and then he sends them back full of food and puts their money back in their backpacks and then tells his servant to put his silver goblet in Benjamin’s backpack. When they are on their way out of Egypt, they are stopped by Joseph’s guards because they claim that someone stole the silver goblet. When they find it in Benjamin’s backpack there is a confrontation which is the climax of a very elaborate process that Joseph set in motion to determine if the brothers had passed through their previous “hatred” of him. Joseph puts the brothers to a test to see if they will abandon Benjamin ( Rachel’s younger son) the way they did with him. When the brothers stand up for their little brother and are willing to sacrifice themselves so he would let Benjamin go that is when Joseph steps up and says “Ani Joseph”, “I am Joseph”. The brothers all embrace and cry a lot. Joseph wanted to put the brothers through a similar test of what had happened to him so the brothers could repent and do Teshuvah. This was not a revengeful act, on the contrary, Joseph wanted the brothers to be able to redeem themselves from their past. Joseph says to them ” what happened to me was meant to be but that it came through you that you have to fix.
