Opinion & Comment
The Ancients -- Like Angels

"And they despised him and they could not speak with him in peace" (Bereishis 37:4).

Each year we return to the weekly portion which tells us about the hatred the brothers bore unto Yosef and their inability to maintain normal speaking relations with him. These portions are difficult to understand. They are veiled and concealed with a thousand barriers that defy our ability to fathom what is really going on.

For the nonbeliever, it is no problem to read these portions at their face value and to think he understands them. Whoever sees in Reuven and Shimon a mirror-image of this or that neighbor, can somehow match them with the behavior the latter seems to enact and skim through the passages. Others, whose faith is split or wishy-washy, ostensibly believe that the Torah is Divine but they are hard put to believe that the ancients resembled angels and that their conduct is totally beyond our conception, even regarding their everyday, common talk.

And when they come upon the words, "And they despised him and could not speak with him in peace," they encounter no difficulty. They, themselves, have tasted "similar" animosity, they believe, hatred such as that which might have led to the dismissal of another person from his job.

They have no problem in understanding that Yosef "tattled" on his brothers to his father. Why, they have a neighbor, one with beard and payos, no less, who is adept in twisting an evil tongue with slander. Yosef, they imagine, must have stooped to something of the kind.

They have no trouble to understand any of Tanach that deals with interpersonal relations, while they may have a problem understanding the laws of sacrifices or those of purity and impurity. But they feel confident that they understand the personality of Shimshon or the acts of Dovid Hamelech. The accounts are brought so explicitly that anyone can understand them.

We Harbor no Doubt that the Ancients were on the Level of Angels

Heaven forfend such a cavalier attitude! Even the Dovid Hamelech which we think we know is light years away from the true man of stature he was. R' Chaim of Brisk zt'l was once asked how he will feel when, in the future, he would meet Dovid Hamelech in person.

Replied R' Chaim that he would run to hide himself in nooks and crannies to escape the tremendous impact of that sanctity which would be so great that he would be unable to bear it.

Can we possibly imagine, in reading through sefer Shofetim about Shimshon, that a wastrel and ne'er-do- well would be chosen by Hashem as a judge in Israel? And that the birth of such a holy judge would be heralded by the prophetic announcement from the mouth of an angel?

We must then admit that we are indeed far from any clear understanding of the Scriptural texts and farther yet from a proper understanding of the personalities depicted therein. To the simpleton, everything seems obvious and uncomplicated. While to us, the books of Tanach are most difficult to understand.

When we were in kindergarten, we imagined that Soroh was jealous of Hogor and that Yosef loved to boast before his father and to put down his brothers. Would we dare, by the same token, impute to the Chofetz Chaim a desire for glory before R' Chaim Ozer while putting down another godol peer of his generation? If this question appears unseemly and in poor taste, why is it possible for us to impute such a thing to Yosef?

The author of Nesivos Hamishpot, who illuminated many corners of the Torah with his incisive essays, wrote as follows:

When Chazal say: "If the ancients were like angels, then we are like mortals; and if the ancients were like mortals, then we are like donkeys," they do not mean to express any doubt as to whether they resembled angels or mortal beings. There is no doubt that they were like celestial creatures, veritable seraphs. No doubt whatsoever! What they meant was that whoever considers them as angels, deserves the title of an ordinary person. But if he sees the ancients as ordinary people, then he is no more than a donkey himself!

The Controversy Between Yosef and His Brothers

Let us not look around us and at our society in order to attempt to understand the Tanach on those terms, in that context. If this be the case, better that the holy Tanach remain on its shelf and we never open it. This is what R' Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik once replied to a person who asked why Tanach was not studied in the yeshivos. "It is not studied because it is not understood," he replied succinctly, and refused to elaborate.

When we open to Melochim or Bereishis and admit that we do not understand everything, then we are already treading the right path. It means that we are not mere donkeys.

If we are allowed to remain baffled by a difficult passage of Tosafos in Bovo Kama, then all the more so are we able to remain stymied by a difficult verse in Torah.

Even so, from the little which we were privileged to contemplate, let us try to understand a small aspect involving the episode of Yosef and his brothers, and may this insight be our reward.

The Torah relates: "And Yosef brought to his father their evil report." Did Yosef speak loshon hora against his brothers? The text says so explicitly, but we must bear in mind that not always is an evil report a forbidden thing.

Sometimes it is permissible and even obligatory. As with anger or the wife of a brother. A person steeped in halochoh knows when it is obligatory and when forbidden. If Yosef spoke "loshon hora," we must infer that he saw his brothers engaging in practices which, in his eyes, were unseemly and for which they deserved to be rebuked.

The commentaries dwell at length upon the explanation of the halachic points of contention between the brothers, based upon the explicit Midrash which tells how Yosef saw his brothers eating flesh from a living creature, something forbidden to the sons of Noach and to all generations following.

The Sheloh Hakodosh explains the argument that erupted. Could we possibly conceive of the holy tribe-ancestors, who observed the Torah even though they had not yet been commanded to do so, violating a commandment which all mankind was obligated at that time to keep?

The Sheloh Hakodosh explains that the tribes were capable of creating animals according to the secrets of Sefer Yetzira, as we see the amora Abaye doing later on. In their understanding, such an animal, which was not conceived or born in a normal fashion, does not require shechita and thus, one could eat from it while it was still living. Yosef maintained otherwise. He may either not have known that they had created this animal, or have maintained that even if so, it was not permissible to eat its flesh from the living animal. According to his understanding, it was necessary to put a stop to this practice which he considered forbidden. And if we have no problem accepting the fact of a controversy arising between Rashi and Rabbenu Tam so, too, must we accept a halachic disagreement between Yosef and his brothers.

The Brothers Would Not Have Accepted Rebuke

Yosef tells these things to his father. But why? If he thought they were doing something wrong, no matter what, why couldn't he simply approach them and reprove them himself? Why did he rush to tell it to his father?

Apparently, he did this also according to pure halochoh. This we learn from the sentence that precedes the relating of his bearing the evil report to his father. "And the lad was with the sons of Bilha and with the sons of Zilpa, his father's wives." He kept company with the sons of the maidservants and befriended them. Why does the Torah find it necessary to stress this particular fact? Apparently in order to explain to us why he did not attempt to reprove his brothers before bringing their report to his father.

The halochoh determines that one may tell one's father about something unseemly which he saw practiced by his brothers or, similarly, tell a teacher concerning something unseemly which he saw by another student, only after he has rebuked them himself ineffectively, or if he feels that the rebuke will be futile. This second possibility exists here.

The Torah notes that Yosef consorted with the sons of the maids who were treated poorly by the sons of Leah. Understandably, by keeping company with those whom they considered to be beneath them, Yosef was included in their disdain and was in no position to rebuke them directly. We see, thus, that he had no choice but to go directly to his father with these conduct reports.

"And Yosef Brought their Evil Reports to their Father"

This verse presents two linguistic questions: Why does it say "he brought" rather than the simple "he told?" Indeed, further on it does say, "And he told his father and his brothers."

The second question: Yaakov was not only their father. He was Yosef's father as well! The Torah uses this terminology also in saying that Yosef consorted with "the sons of Bilha and the sons of Zilpa, the wives of his father," and later, he refers to Yaakov as his father: "And he told his father and his brothers." Why is the wording here different?

Let us review the laws of loshon hora and rechilus. When a person wishes to discredit his brothers or his friends before his father or his teacher, he must first see that three conditions are fulfilled: 1) He must ascertain that his rebuke was ineffective; 2) He must be very accurate in his account and refrain from exaggerating; and 3) He must seek the benefit of the issue and not attempt to glory in the other person's denigration. The Torah is very precise here to teach us that Yosef complied with these three conditions. We have already shown how he dealt with the first one.

In telling us that "Yosef brought . . . " we are informed that Yosef reported the facts and did not embellish them, just like a person transferring an object from one place to another. The object has remained the same; only the place has changed. Thus did Yosef: he transferred the data; he did not tell, or relate, but reported without any narrative, description or commentary as tale-bearers are wont to add in order to tailor the tale to suit their purposes.

Yosef also kept the third condition. His sole purpose was that his father rebuke them. When he brought the report to Yaakov, he saw him as their father, the one responsible for their good conduct. This was the correct address to set things aright; Yaakov happened to be his father, too, but that was besides the point in this issue (taken from Afikei Yam).

When Will My Deeds Approach Those of My Fathers?

Even if the ancients were like angels, we must not regard ourselves as capable of reaching their exalted levels. Still, we must bear in mind that what is stated in the Torah is not a storytale but a guidebook for future generations.

We are incapable of trying to "enter the shoes" of Yosef Hatzaddik, who is light years distant from us in stature and time. But we were wise to learn a practical lesson in halochoh to what extent a person is obligated to watch out for evil gossip and slander, especially when speaking evil against someone is permissible. For precisely when the reins are slackened to allow leeway for the purpose of rebuke or instruction, that is the time one is all the more obligated to beware lest he veer one iota from the boundaries of what is now permissible in these circumstances. He must walk this tightrope with extreme caution lest he plummet down into the abyss of the forbidden.

It can be a teacher who is discussing one of the students in his class with the principal or with other teachers involved with him. Allowance and necessity must not be coupled with leniency. A father may have to speak with a professional concerning his son, but he must bear in mind that he will be called to account for every superfluous word he utters, even though his son's emotional and/or spiritual welfare is at stake. A teacher is warned to be cautious, just as is a father, to say only what is absolutely necessary.

Let us continue to delve into the holy text and hope that Hashem will reveal to us the wonders of His infinite Torah.

This material is taken from Rabbi Kram's sefer Vetalmudo Beyodo.

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