Trying Too Hard
And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed; and, behold, he stood by the river (41:1).
This week’s parsha begins in a rather unusual manner; while the Torah is about to recount a detailed description of Pharaoh’s dreams, the first verse is really a continuation of the previous story. The two years, that set the backdrop for what is about to take place, are referring to the additional years that Yosef languished in jail after asking the wine steward to hasten his release.
At the end of last week’s parsha, Rashi explains; “Since Yosef relied on the wine steward to remember him (instead of relying solely on Hashem) he was forced to remain imprisoned for two additional years” (40:23). In other words, Yosef is punished for pleading with the wine steward to help him get released.
Many of the commentators wonder as to what exactly was Yosef’s mistake. After all, while we all believe and trust that Hashem ultimately provides our parnassa (livelihood), we know that we must actually go to work in order to receive what Hashem provides for us. This process is known as making hishtadlus – exerting an effort. In other words, we live in a physical world with its unique built-in natural laws; we therefore must make the effort within the construct of the reality that we live in, and then Hashem directs to us what He desires we receive.
In light of this, the commentators ask; what did Yosef do wrong? Yosef was merely “doing his hishtadlus” to improve his situation! This is a fundamental philosophical understanding of how the world operates; Yosef getting punished for this action seems difficult to understand.
The Targum Yonasan Ben Uziel and Targum Yerushalmi (40:23) make a very opaque comment: “Because Yosef abandoned the chessed of the One above and relied on the chessed of the wine steward, Yosef remained incarcerated until it was the proper time for his release as determined by Hashem.” What chessed are these Targumim referring to?
A careful reading of the pesukim reveals what the Targumim saw in the story: When Yosef first gets incarcerated the Torah says (39:20), “and he was there in the prison. But Hashem was with Joseph, and showed him chessed, and gave him favor in the eyes of the keeper of the prison.” This “chessed” that Hashem shows to Yosef leads to remarkable circumstances whereby Yosef is actually put in charge of the prison and prisoners. The Torah tells us that everything that happened in the prison was under his supervision and he answered to no one (39:22-23). In fact, as the possuk attests – Hashem was actually with him in prison.
Yet, when he successfully interprets the dreams of the baker and wine steward and goes on to correctly predict the events that would come to pass, Yosef begs the wine steward to “think of me when it shall be well with you, and I beg you to do for me a chessed…” (40:14).
We can now understand what the Targumim are referring to and also learn an astonishing life lesson regarding the limitations of making hishtadlus. Yosef was granted an incredible gift by Hashem. How does a lowly slave, from a foreign country, convicted of a crime against one of the high-born families of Egypt, come to such a position in jail? Obviously, and as the Torah clearly attests, Hashem was with Yosef and gifted him a miraculous situation.
Yosef’s mistake, it seems, was not recognizing that the very fact that Hashem had granted him such success under the most dire of circumstances, meant that Hashem was telling him: “This is where I want you to be.” Instead, Yosef makes an effort to engage the wine steward, and asks for the wine steward’s chessed. Yosef, being the great man that he was, should have recognized that exchanging the chessed of Hashem for the chessed of the wine steward was a terrible mistake.
Often, we do not internalize the incredible gifts that the Almighty has bestowed upon us. We constantly look to try and change our circumstances. While we must make every effort to improve ourselves and grow in many areas of our lives, we must be cognizant and appreciative of what we have already. Trying to change your life when Hashem has clearly blessed your current life trajectory means that you don’t really appreciate what Hashem has granted you. We must make hishtadlus to be worthy of Hashem’s blessings; not to reject those blessings that He already bestowed upon us.
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