We Jews Are Seeking Our Lost Ones, Yisrael and The Tribe of Efrayim

 "I am seeking my brothers!"

(Genesis 37:16)

Kislev 22, 5783/December 16, 2022

In this week's Torah reading, Vayeshev, we come across what is perhaps the most curious occurrence in all of Torah. Yaakov has instructed his favorite son Yosef to “Go now and see to your brothers' welfare and the welfare of the flocks, and bring me back word." (Genesis 37:14) Following his father's instructions, Yosef heads north to Shechem in search of his brothers, when we read, "Then a man found him, and behold, he was straying in the field, and the man asked him, saying, 'What are you looking for?'" (ibid 37:15) Who is this man? (we are not told.) Why was Yosef, who throughout his entire life never made a false move, (other than his youthful tattling and boasting to his brothers), suddenly find himself lost? And why does the Torah share this incident with us? Does it make a difference? temporarily lost or not, Yosef eventually finds his brothers and what transpires, transpires. His encounter with a stranger seems to make no difference, neither here nor there. What's it all about?

The one precious takeaway is, of course, Yosef's pathos filled answer to the stranger’s inquiry: "I am seeking my brothers." (ibid 37:16) Yosef's search for his brothers is not simply a matter of turning on his GPS. True, he asks the stranger, "where are they pasturing?" but Yosef's search for his siblings is also taking place, whether he is aware of it at this point in his life, on a deeply internal level. He has distanced them from himself with his adolescent hubris. Sharing with them, not once, but twice, his dreams of dominion over them, was by no way endearing. And tattling on his older brothers was certainly no way to gain their trust, let along comradery. And certainly Yaakov, himself, didn't help matters by exhibiting his obvious favoring of Yosef over his older brothers by gifting him a showy cloak.

There is no doubt that the brothers' response to Yosef's haughtiness was way over the top. First plotting to kill him, and then selling him to a passing caravan of traders in spice, who would eventually sell him into slavery in Egypt, was certainly undeserved. And lying to their father about Yosef's fate only compounded their crime seven fold. And as the story unfolds, when Yosef's brothers ultimately meet up with him again in Egypt, it is understandably up to them to own up to their crime and make amends. But Yosef, too, had twenty years to ponder his own youthful pride and show of disdain for his brothers. During the emotional reconciliation between the brothers Yosef displayed much more sensitivity to his brothers’ emotional state than he ever had as a child growing up with them. His long estrangement from his brothers and from his father has likewise proved a kind of admonishment, and tempered his pride. He, too, like his brothers, has matured.

But returning to our question, who was the man Yosef met in the field, and why are we told of the encounter? All that was going to happen would have happened anyway, regardless of Yosef's temporary loss of bearings. Or would it have? Perhaps Yosef would have returned home to his father in peace, not having ever located his brothers. perhaps, had Yosef not followed the instructions given him by the stranger he would have approached his brothers from a different direction, and they would not have spied him in advance, giving them to opportunity to plot against him. The unknown stranger, who saw that Yosef was wandering aimlessly and kindly offered his services, changed history. Midrash suggests that the unnamed man was none other than the angel Gabriel, sent by G-d to direct Yosef to his brothers.

G-d, we must remember, had a master plan for Israel, which he first shared with Avraham, whose descendants, he told him, would become enslaved in a foreign land before ultimately being redeemed. G-d can't afford for Yosef to get lost and not meet up with his brothers. G-d can't afford for Yosef's momentary confusion to foil His master plan! This scenario, of course, raise more questions: is G-d in control of His creation, or does overseeing His preserve require continuous catch-up efforts? After all, man does have free will, and G-d does need to contend with that. But the point is, man or angel, that figure in the field, who could have been you or me, played an essential part in G-d's plan.

Our lives are made up of an ongoing, never ending series of wrong turns, misdirections, and decisions to be made, good or bad. on the other hand, we are always available to be of assistance to one another, to point a stranger in the right direction, to help a fellow find his brothers. It is precisely this relationship of care and concern for the other, that G-d desires and that G-d requires. For how can G-d dwell amongst us, which is His ultimate plan, His overriding yearning, if we can't live in fellowship with one another? Brotherly strife must be overcome.

"And Cain spoke to Abel his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him. And HaShem said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" And he said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" (Genesis 4:8-9) These chilling words take on even greater significance in light of Yosef's chance occasion with the stranger, which also, strikingly, takes place in a field. Could it be the very same field? Could the killing field of Cain be the very place where, aided by a stranger, Yosef would begin his long journey back to his brothers? We are our brothers' keepers, even our brothers whose names we don't know and whose faces we have never seen before.

Yosef's brief encounter with an unnamed stranger in a field is perhaps the most important encounter in all of Torah. Ultimately, the unnamed stranger could be anybody, and that means it could be us. In this great, vast mystifying field called creation, we have agency, we have a part to play. We may be unnamed extras with only a walk on role, but our role is essential. G-d needs our input to run His world. That's why the stranger appeared out of nowhere to help Yosef find his brothers. And that's why we are here today, to help one another find our way.