Our Parsha sees the culmination of the rivalry between Yosef and his brothers th

at began in Parshat Vayeshev. In Vayeshev, the Torah relates in perek 37 pasuk

18 that: ‫ותימהל ותוא ולכנתיו םהילא ברקי םרטבו קחרמ ותוא ואריו‬. The brothers saw Yosef fr
m.
My Rebbe, HaRav Mordechai Machlis shlita, comments on this verse that the proble
m with Yosef’s brothers was that “they saw him from a distance”. They didn’t get to kno
w Yosef well. Their relationship was distant and therefore, estranged. This em
otional distance enabled them to hate him and conspire to kill him.
In fact, the source of all hatred is distance. The further away one is from his
fellow, the easier it is to find fault and to hate. The closer you come to ano
ther the more you realize that there is to love. I was taught by our madricha S
ophie Golding that Rav Kook teaches that there is baseless hatred but there is n
o such thing as baseless love. There are always reasons to love someone, you ju
st have to make the effort to find those reasons.
Similarly, in Parshat Balak, Bilaam attempted to curse Bnei Yisrael but ended up
blessing them. Frustrated, Balak brought Bilaam to a different place where ‫הארת והצק ספא‬
of them but not all of them. Rav Machlis teaches that Balak was teaching us the
secret of cursing. If you want to curse someone, you can’t see all of them – their
totality. When you see the totality of the individual, inevitably you will fin
d inner beauty and redeeming qualities. Upon doing so, cursing them or hating t
hem becomes impossible.
On Friday night, we look into the light of the Shabbat candles and begin Kiddush
. Some have the custom of beginning with the complete pasuk of ‫ו השע רשא לכ תא םיקולא אריו‬
s Creation and behold, it was very good. After each day, Hashem looked at the c
reation and saw that it was good. Only when Hashem looked at the creation as a
whole does the Torah say that it was very good.
Bigotry, racism and antisemitism are all rooted in ignorance. Once you get to k
now the other, no matter their nationality, race or creed you can no longer hate
them. The Nazis needed to remove Jews from public life and force them into ghe
ttos before they could annihilate us just as racism in America were predicated u
pon segregation.
In this weeks parsha, Vayigash, we read about the reconciliation of Yosef and hi
s brothers. ‫ ושגיו ילא אנ ושג‬- Yosef says to them, come close to me and they came close. I
t that this was not merely a directive to approach him, rather, the tikkun for t
he brothers hatred. The source of their sinah was distance so Yosef understood
that the rectification was ‫ילא אנ ושג‬. Yosef pleaded with his brothers to become close to h
nce they became close all hatred melted away.
Similarly, in our Haftara, Yechezkel prophesizes about the future dissolution of
the ancient rivalry between Malchut Yehudah and Malchut Yosef (Yisrael) and the
unity of our nation in the times of our Geula. ‫ץראב דחא יוגל םתוא יתישעו‬. Parshat Vayiga
lose to those with whom we are distant and to become closer to those with whom w
e are already close. May Hashem fulfill the nevuah of Yechezkel immediately. ‫ןוצר יהי ןכ‬.
Shabbat Shalom!
Elie Mayer