No More Tears

After Yosef revealed himself to his brothers, he and Binyomin fell on each other's necks and wept. Rashi explains that they wept over the Mishkan and the Batei Mikdash that would be built in the portions of Eretz Yisroel their descendants would inherit, and that would one day be destroyed. Rav Pogramansky asks why they would weep over a future destruction at a moment of joyful reunion, when those buildings had not even been built. He answers with one of the psychological insights for which he was known. The prophet Yeshaya (25:6) describes the Messianic age as a time when Hashem will wipe the tears from all faces, which seems to include even tears of joy. Tears of joy, Rav Pogramansky explains, are rooted in a deep, subconscious awareness that the pleasure we feel now will fade and end. The soul knows that the first intense moment cannot be preserved, and it mourns that inevitable loss at the height of our joy. So Yosef and Binyomin, in their happiness, recognized that the Mishkan and the Batei Mikdash would not last, and they wept.