There is a פסוק that we say at the end of bentching which I never understood. I always meant to look into what the מפרשים said but never had a chance. And one day during bentching as I reached this troubling Pasuk, Hashem threw an idea into my head that ended up developing into this dvar Torah.
That Pasuk is נער הייתי גם זקנתי ולא ראיתי צדיק נעזב וזרעו מבקש לחם. My question with it was the obvious, how on earth can we say that there was never a tzaddik who was poor and destitute enough that both he and his children needed to beg for bread. There are hundreds if not thousands of cases in every society of every generation in history of righteous people that were poor. R’ Hirsch says that it means there was never a tzaddik that is truly left destitute, since Hashem set a failsafe in the form of the mitzva of charity. A Jew will always get salvation either openly from Hashem or indirectly through his fellow Jews.
But one day during bentching I had an idea pop into my head. I said to myself, Yosef was someone who was called a נער, interesting. Maybe this is Yosef’s Pasuk, or at least a Pasuk describing his experience, and as I expanded this, I discovered what I think is an interesting way to read this Pasuk and one that reads into the entire פרק 37 where this Pasuk comes from. Yosef is described as a נער, and he has a point in his life where he is defined – or rather undefined – because of his זקן, not זקן in the literal translation of elderly, but זקן meaning beard. רש”י tells us that when the brothers came to Mitzrayim, Yosef recognized them since they had beards when he left, and they didn’t recognize him since he didn’t have a beard when he left but when they saw him in Egypt he did have one. So, he was the נער that could also say “זקנתי”. And did he ever see a צדיק that was potentially left destitute? נעזב? It just so happens that he did. Yehuda recaps for Yosef in this week’s פרשה what they had said in last week’s פרשה, that Binyomin can’t come down to Mitzrayim because if he leaves Yaakov would die, לא יוכל הנער לעזב את אביו ועזב את אביו ומת. But now, Binyomin is there with them, which means that as far as everyone is concerned Yaakov has been נעזב, and Yosef is the only one that knows the truth that in fact Binyomin is in good hands.
He is one who can say נער הייתי גם זקנתי ולא ראיתי צדיק (יעקב) נעזב וזרעו מבקש לחם. And obviously all of this is happening while the tzaddik’s children are coming to Egypt to search for bread, וזרעו מבקש לחם.
The פסוק that we are discussing comes from פרק 37, and I think if we read the פרק with this understanding of the נער הייתי verse in mind, we’ll see that the whole פרק can be a reading of the story of the brothers and Yosef and it can help us understand how Yosef got through this trying ordeal.
I am going to quote from the פרק and describe how it think it shows the story of Yosef, but I will skip the Pesukim that I don’t see the message overtly described to keep this somewhat short. But if you have the time to go through the entire פרק I think you’ll see this storyline in all the פסוקים.
| א’ לדוד אל תתחר במרעים אל תקנא בעשי עולה:
ב’ כי בחציר מהרה ימלו וכירק דשא יבולון |
1. To Dovid; don’t wonder about those who do evil [when they are successful], do not be jealous of those who commit sins: 2. For like grass they will be cut down and like vegetation they will dry out: |
What is interesting is that from the brother’s perspective Yosef was a רשע, which is why they sold him, while from Yosef’s point of view his brothers weren’t necessarily רשעים but he definitely does not seem to view them in the best light. And I think both the brothers or Yosef could have said this speaking about the other. But then the Pesukim go on to describe how the correct thing to do is to sit by quietly
| ד’ והתענג על יהוה ויתן לך משאלות לבך: ה’ גול על יהוה דרכך ובטח עליו והוא יעשה: ו’ והוציא כאור צדקך ומשפטיך כצהרים: ז’ דום ליהוה והתחולל לו אל תתחר במצליח דרכו באיש עושה מזמות: | 4: Rejoice with Hashem and He will give you all your hearts desires: 5: Roll your troubles on Hashem and rely on Him and He will do [for you]: 6: And He will bring out your righteousness like light and your judgement like the afternoon [sun]: 7: Be silent for Hashem and wait for Him, do not wonder about the [evil] one that is successful, about the man doing crookedness: |
The language above describes how Yosef dealt with his troubles almost exactly. The word והתענג, to rejoice in Hashem is used, and Yosef was able to be in a happy state for let the שכינה rest on him and be with him. And that it says that his righteousness (Yosef hatzaddik) would come out like light and that his justice would come forth like the afternoon brightness describes the circumstances with which Yosef revealed himself to his brothers.
| י’ ועוד מעט ואין רשע והתבוננת על מקומו ואיננו: | 10: And a little more [time] and there be no wicked person, and you will focus on his place and he will not be there: |
The word איננו is not a common word in the Torah at all and it is used when the Reuven returns to the pit thinking that Yosef would be there, and when he isn’t Reuven says הילד איננו ואני אנה אני בא, the child is not there and where can I go. I think you can read this verse homiletically and it resounds the Yosef story on a whole other lever. ועוד מעט, in a little more [time], ואין רשע, there will be no רשע [anymore], meaning you will truly see that Yosef who you thought was evil is really not. והתבוננת על מקומו, and if you truly focus on his “place”, the space that he is meant to occupy in this world – in this case as a leader of the brothers – you will see that, ואיננו, he never was a רשע. It was only your obscured vision of him that made you see him like that.
| יב’ זומם רשע לצדיק וחרק עליו שניו: | 12: The wicked plot against the righteous and he grates his teeth about him: |
The word זומם is the same as עדים זוממים, the plotting witnesses. By definition to be זומם is to plot but not to do, to plan but not execute. And we know the brothers plotted but were not able to execute.
| יט’ לא יבשו בעת רעה ובימי רעבון ישבעו: כא’ לוה רשע ולא ישלם וצדיק חונן ונותן: | 19: He [the righteous one] will not be undernourished at bad times and in times of famine he will be satisfied: 21: The wicked borrow but do not repay, and the righteous give graciously: |
This is obviously referring to the brothers, since they were not hungry during the times of famine. And I think this is a turning point, both in the story and in this פרק of תהלים. Until now we have been describing the brothers in a rather uncomfortable way, as evil scheming people. And I think the תהלים is moving away from that now, because I think they genuinely thought they were doing the right thing by removing Yosef from the family, just as Yishmael and Eisav had been removed in the previous generations. And now the תהלים takes the brothers out of the description of רשעים. Yosef is still the tzaddik that is feeding them, but they aren’t the רשעים that don’t have food.
| כד’ כי יפל לא יוטל כי יהוה סומך ידו: | 24: For even when he falls, he will not descend [to the depths], Hashem will support his hand: |
And therefore, the brothers aren’t רשעים, because even when we fall Hashem is our safety net and He makes sure that we aren’t יוטל, that we don’t descend to the lowest places.
And this brings us to our Pasuk: 25 :נער הייתי גם זקנתי ולא ראיתי צדיק נעזב וזרעו מבקש לחם. This is the Pasuk that has Yosef as the character that is the vehicle that is supporting the brothers. He is the one with the unique vantage point that his brothers and father are getting taken care of. But it continues:
| לה’ ראיתי רשע עריץ ומתערה כאזרח רענן: לו’ ויעבר והנה איננו ואבקשהו ולא נמצא: | 35- I saw a strong evil man and he was rooted like a leafy tree: 36- And I passed, and he was no longer, and I searched for him but could not find him: |
The תהלים is repeating what it said earlier in a softer vein. This is the brothers saying that they originally saw an influential and successful רשע, but when they passed by again, he was no longer there, i.e. no longer a רשע, and they searched but were still not able to find evil.
| לז’ שמר תם וראה ישר כי אחרית לאיש שלום: | 37- Watch the pure one and see the straight one, for there end will be peaceful: |
This is obviously a reference to the Jewish family and eventually the Jewish nation. שמר תם is when we are characterized like Yaakov who was called איש תם and וראה ישר is referring to the name Yisrael, and in both scenarios we are told that our end will be peaceful. And the last two Pesukim of the פרק tell us why, it is not due to our own righteousness, rather:
| לט’ ותשועת צדיקים מיהוה מעוזם בעת צרה:
מ’ ויעזרם יהוה ויפלטם יפלטם מרשעים ויושיעם כי חסו בו: |
39- And the salvation of the righteous come from Hashem in their time of pain: 40- And Hashem will help them and save them, He will save them from evil and redeem them because he has compassion for them: |
We are all צדיקים and our salvation will come from Hashem. He is our מעוז, our strength. For me the word מעוז embodies an inner strength that one feels when they are given the sense that they can tackle any challenge that is placed before them. That feeling is us tapping into the Godliness within ourselves. Hashem loves each of us infinitely and He will always protect us and give us the strength that we need to prevail over any challenge that faces us.
I think it was with that knowledge that Yosef was able to get sold into slavery by his brothers but still see Hashem as the Force behind that, as he says in this weeks parsha, לא אתם שלחתם אתי הנה כי האלהים.