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Why did the brothers sell Yosef when he had elevated the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah? Yosef's midah of chen gave him the ability to tell each person their true cosmic role, like a master architect placing each component. But the brothers feared he was manipulating them—a tragic refusal to accept who they really were in favor of who they wanted to be, a pattern that repeated itself in the sin of the golden calf and with Yerovam ben Nevat.
Rabbi Zweig delivers a profound analysis of Parshas Vayeishev, focusing on the sale of Yosef and its deep connections to the sin of the golden calf, Chanukah (חנוכה), and Yerovam ben Nevat's idolatry. The shiur opens with a fundamental question from the Ramban (רמב"ן): if Yosef had befriended and elevated the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, how could they possibly participate in selling him? This seems to demonstrate unprecedented moral duplicity. The key to understanding the entire narrative lies in Yosef's defining characteristic: chen (charm/grace). Drawing on Shlomo HaMelech's enigmatic statement that "chen is sheker" (false), Rabbi Zweig develops a sophisticated understanding of what chen truly means. Like colorless light that contains all colors within it but appears simple until diffused through a prism, chen means that a person contains within himself the ability for each viewer to see their own reflection and potential. The Gemara (גמרא)'s statement about Esther—that Persians saw her as Persian, Medes saw her as Median—illustrates this perfectly. Chen is the ability to include all perspectives within oneself, such that each person can find themselves reflected in you.
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Parshas Vayeishev
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