Unity, Forgiveness, and Yaakov's Living God

1“So shall you say to Yosef: Please, forgive the transgression of your brothers” [Bereishis 50:17]. Rashi explains that they altered the facts for the sake of peace. But this is difficult. We never find that Yaakov said this at all, so it is an entirely invented statement. Why, then, say that they “altered” it?

2aThe explanation is this. Yaakov Avinu called to his sons, “Gather together... Assemble...” [Bereishis 49:1–2]. The Midrash says¹ [cf. Bereishis Rabbah 98:2]: “‘Gather together’ means ‘purify yourselves,’ as it says, ‘they gathered and purified the chambers’ (Nechemiah 13:9). The Rabbis said: he commanded them about strife. He told them, ‘Be all of you in one gathering... prepare yourselves for the redemption’”; see there. In truth, purity depends on unity, as we said above. The Sefer Chareidim writes that he commanded them to unite in body and soul: “gather together” refers to the bodies, and “assemble” to the souls. The Rambam writes (Hilchos Kerias Shema 1:4), “We have a tradition...” that Yaakov commanded and urged his sons about the unity of Hashem. As we said above, there can be no unity of Hashem without the unity of Israel. So when Yaakov commanded them to “assemble,” which means unity, that itself is the source of the Rambam's words that he commanded them about the unity of Hashem. For the unity of Hashem is impossible without the unity of Israel.

2bThat is the meaning of “Love your fellow as yourself; I am Hashem” [Vayikra 19:18]: through this love, the Name Havayah is made one. So when the Shechinah, whose departure is the opposite of unity, left Yaakov just as his sons had gathered together [Pesachim 56a], he thought, Heaven forbid, that the Shechinah had left because there was some flaw in them. If so, the brothers' message was no invention. It was true that he commanded them about unity, only he did not tell them to say it to Yosef. That is the meaning of “Your father commanded” (tzivah) [Bereishis 50:16]: joining and uniting, for tzavus means joining (cf. Berachos 5). Before his death, Yaakov joined them together. And “saying” means that they should always say the confession of their sin, so as to remember it always, as in “my sin is always before me” (Tehillim 51:5). I later found something like our words in the Shelah HaKadosh².

3“And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of your father's God” [Bereishis 50:17]. Rashi explains: “Even though your father has died, his God lives on.” This fits what the holy books write about why, before going to sleep, we say, “I forgive everyone who has hurt me” (cf. Megillah 28a). A sin blemishes the Shechinah, Heaven forbid. So if a person does not forgive his fellow, and his fellow carries a sin on his account, he weighs down the wings of the Shechinah and causes the Shechinah pain. That is the meaning of “Even though your father has died, his God lives on”: do not cause the Shechinah pain, for if you do not forgive, Heaven forbid, you will be causing pain to his God. For “Love your fellow as yourself; I am Hashem” [Vayikra 19:18]. If, Heaven forbid, you do not love him, you blemish the Name of Hashem, for “a complainer separates the Master” [Mishlei 16:28]. These are the words of my father and teacher, R' Yechiel of Alexander, zt"l.

4aTo explain what the brothers meant: Bereishis Rabbah (Vayishlach) says that Yaakov was the merciful one among the forefathers. As is known, mercy is kindness blended with judgment. Yaakov was the attribute of Tiferes, beauty and balance, sweetening Yitzchak's severity with Avraham's kindness. Every tzaddik, through his holy service, shows and makes known Hashem's Godliness in the world. When he dies, his way of conduct, and the revelation of Godliness that he showed the world, remain. That is “his God lives on”: his way of conduct, which showed the path of his service of the Holy One, blessed be He, lives on. “If so, you must have mercy on us.” Yaakov revealed Hashem's Godliness through Tiferes, and the verse says, “A man's good sense makes him slow to anger, and it is his tiferes, his glory, to overlook a transgression” (Mishlei 19:11). That is the attribute of Tiferes: to overlook one's fellow's wrong and to sweeten anger with kindness and love.

4b“And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of your father's God.” “‘And now’ always means teshuvah” (Bereishis Rabbah 21:6). When a person does teshuvah, he must say, “What was, was.” From now on he begins to serve Hashem, to “turn from evil and do good” [Tehillim 34:15]. As is written in the תו"ד³, a person must do good to those who anger him, and in return the attribute of mercy is aroused Above. It is like what the Midrash says on “Hashem is your shadow” [Tehillim 121:5]: “The Holy One, blessed be He, said: Just as you are with Me, I am with you. ‘Hashem is your shadow’: like your shadow. If you laugh at a shadow, it laughs back at you. So too the Holy One, blessed be He: ‘Hashem is your shadow.’” That is what the brothers told Yosef: “If you want to do teshuvah and want Hashem to have mercy on you, you too must have mercy on us.” They called themselves “servants” because when Israel do not do Hashem's will, they are called servants [Bava Basra 10a]. Still, at least they are called servants and are not abandoned completely. When a person does teshuvah, he returns to the level of a son. That is the meaning of “His brothers also went and fell down before him and said, ‘Here we are, your servants’” [Bereishis 50:18]. Although we sinned against you and lost the trait of brotherhood, we have not lost the level of servants. And that is “the transgression of the servants of your father's God”: act as Hashem acts.

4c“Yosef said to them, ‘Do not fear, for am I in place of (tachas, literally “beneath”) Elokim?’” [Bereishis 50:19]. This follows what the Ohev Yisrael (Vayeitzei) explains in the name of the Maggid of Kozhnitz, zt"l. The letters that follow those of the name Elokim in the alphabet spell mukhan, “ready,” for everything is ready and set in place according to nature. As is known, the name Elokim equals hateva, “nature,” in numerical value; see there. So Yosef told them: “Am I beneath Elokim?” Do you want me to arouse mercy according to nature, from the letters of mukhan, which come “beneath” the letters of Elokim? I want to arouse mercy from the very source of mercy, above the way of nature, from the place of complete mercy and great kindness, “from before Hashem” [cf. Vayikra 16:30], that is, from the letters that come before the Name Havayah⁴ in the alphabet, as the holy Maggid wrote there; see there. And how do I do this? I look only at the purpose of what came about through the sale. That is, “Elokim intended it for good, in order to bring about, as it is this day, the keeping alive of a great people” [Bereishis 50:20]. As the Midrash says, “The sin of the tribes is a hope for the world.”⁵