Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover (Parashat MiKeitz)

In this wek's parasha, Pharaoh has a dream that nobody is able to interpret for him.  Finally, the bartender informs Pharaoh of a man he met while in prison (Yosef) who interpreted his dream.  Yosef is summoned and interprets Pharaoh's dream.  Pharaoh then names him Viceroy over Egypt.

A great famine hits (as Yosef had predicted) and nobody has grain but him.  Everyone travels to Yosef to purchase food so that they can survive.  Yaakov sends his sons (minus Binyamin) to Egypt to purchase grain as well - not knowing that Yosef is the one selling it.

When his brothers arrive before him, Yosef recognizes them right away but they do not recognize him.  He then begins accusing them of being spies, etc.  He treats them cruely, threatens to imprison them and insists that they bring him their youngest brother.  In between doing all of this - he weeps!  If Yosef was upset about his actions or if he was happy to see his brothers, why not embrace them and reveal his identity immediately??

Raabi Yaakov Kamenetzky explains the following:

On Channukah, we light a menorah for 8 days because Hashem gave us a miracle and oil that only should have lasted one day lasted eight.  When the Kohanim first found this container of oil, they were certain that it was only enough for one day - but they were wrong.

When Yosef's brothers made the decision to sell him as a slave, they were certain that they were making a wise choice.  Now, when they were face to face with a man whom everybody in the land revered as being brilliant, they were certain that he was crazy!!

Yosef put his brothers through this ordeal to teach them a very valuable lesson - Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover!  Just like we learn from the Kohanim with the oil, sometimes you may look at a situation and think that you have it all figured out.  In the end, however, we see that things may not be as simple (or difficult) as they appear.

With this lesson in mind, let us not be afraid (or too eager) to approach different situations in life - they may not me quite how they seem.

Shabbat Shalom!