|
Return
to D'var Torah Menu
Miketz: At
the end
Genesis
41:1-44:17
1 Kings
3:15-4:1
1
Corinthians 2:1-5
This week our Torah portion takes us to two years after the
wine steward of Pharaoh remembered Yoseph and he was brought before
Pharaoh to give an interpretation to the dreams that Pharaoh had. Yoseph
tells of seven plenteous years and seven years of famine.
Yoseph is then made second in command (viceroy) of Egypt.
He marries Asenath, daughter of Poti-phera priest of On, and has two sons,
Mennaseh and Ephraim.
The good years pass and the bad years come. The famine goes
throughout the land and into the promised land. The brothers come to get
grain/food for their home in the land of their fathers.
They do not recognize Yoseph, but he does recognize them.
Yoseph designs a plan to set everything into place for his brothers and
father's safety in the land.
Yoseph was raised as a spoiled favorite child of Jacob, yet
despised by his brothers. Here was his chance to get even with them. He
could have taken advantage of his new powerful position to take revenge
upon his brothers; instead he tests them before he releases them and shows
his true identity. Instead of ordering their deaths, he struggled with
forgiveness and eventually was reconciled to them and his heart full of
forgiveness towards his brothers.
Yoseph struggled in his days of slavery and imprisonment
with his feelings of rejection by both men and G-d. Yet in the end he
never stopped trusting G-d. He learns that trial and tribulations still
occur to faithful people and that thru these trials good can come out of
it as we see later when Yoseph rescues his family from certain death from
famine in the land and he brings blessings to his family.
As the book of Revelations states in chapter 14:5, “And in
their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the
throne of G-d.”
Also in Psalms 34:1-3; it states, "I will bless the Lord at
all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall
boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord
with me; let us exalt His name together.”
This Torah portion is almost always read during the feast
of Hanukkah. The holiday is a remembrance of the weak overcoming the
strong like the miracle of the Macabees!
We all have gone thru struggles. Like Yoseph, hopefully we
will see the hand of G-d in our struggles and see the positive effects in
our lives as we live for G-d.
SHAVUA TOV
Rabbi Z.
Return
to D'var Torah Menu |