Vayigash: 5784 - Rabbi Shimon Zonnenfeld with the weekly insight: what is the meaning of Yosef's question when he revealed himself to his brothers, "Is my father still alive?" At the conclusion of the Daf Yomi class of Rabbi Betzalel Mizrachi…

00:00 Speaker 1 Please, Rabbi Sonnenfeld.

00:03 Speaker 2 In the weekly parsha, we reach the climax of the drama, when Yosef reveals himself to his brothers. “Yosef said to them, ‘I am Yosef. Is my father still alive?’” Many ask: Why does Yosef ask his brothers, “Is Yosef still— is my father still alive?” A few verses earlier, we’re told that he asked them this question, and they told him their father was alive. Why does he ask again? “His brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed before him.” What does he mean by asking, “Is my father still alive?” Many ask this question. The Rebbe also raises it in a sicha, and explains that “Is my father still alive?” wasn’t a question about whether he was alive or not. It was an expression of astonishment: How could he still be alive after so many years without Yosef? That is the sense of “Is my father still alive?” But there’s another explanation, connected with a Midrash. The Midrash says—the Midrash Rabbah says: “Abba Kohen Bardela said: Woe to us on the Day of Judgment! Woe to us on the day of rebuke! Bilaam, the wise man of the idolaters, could not withstand the rebuke of his donkey.” As it says, “Have I ever been in the habit of doing this to you? And he said, ‘No.’” Similarly, “His brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed before him.” When Yosef revealed himself to his brothers, they could not withstand his rebuke. But the question is: Where does it say that he rebuked them? It doesn’t say anywhere that he rebuked them. “His brothers could not answer him”—what rebuke is there here? The explanation is this: Yehudah and the brothers argue that they cannot return to their father without Binyamin, because the moment Yaakov sees that Binyamin isn’t there, their father won’t be able to bear it. Yosef says to them: “I am Yosef. Is my father still alive?” When you sold me, did you take that into

02:32 Speaker 2 account too? Didn’t you think that perhaps our father wouldn’t survive it? “His brothers could not answer him.” They had no answer; they could not withstand the rebuke. It was the most powerful rebuke: “Is my father still alive?” Why didn’t you take that into account when you sold me? That was the rebuke. And about this the Midrash says: Woe to a person on the Day of Judgment, when Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself rebukes him—what will he be able to answer? Have a good Shabbos, and a week of good news.