The charade had gone on long enough. Yosef could no longer maintain his composure in front of his long-lost family. The words just came out, “Ani Yosef, Ha’Od Avi Chai, I am Yosef, is my father still alive?” With these words twenty-two years of painful separation came to an end. With these words the emotional dam breaks, and a deluge of tears envelop the sons of Yaakov. Tears representing the pain of the past intermingled with tears of joy for what all hope will be a peaceful and loving future. The brothers are speechless. They have no words for the brother they maintained was dead. They have no response to the simple statement, “I am Yosef.” They are overwhelmed, ashamed, and profoundly broken. Yosef, sensing his brothers’ anxiety, makes an amazing statement, “And now, you did not send me here, but God, and He made me a father to Pharaoh, a lord over all his household, and a ruler over the entire land of Egypt (Bereishis 45:8).” It wasn’t you my dear brothers who sent me to this place, it was God! This was all part of the plan. But how can Yosef say this? Was it his right to purge his brothers of their iniquitous sin? Did Yosef really believe that his brothers were blameless simply because everything worked out in the end? How can Yosef say, Lo Atem She’lachtem Osi, it wasn’t you who sent me here! Was it not these very brothers who stripped him of his clothing and dignity, threw him in a pit to die, and afterwards decided to spare him by selling him to a group of Ishmaelites? And now, it wasn’t them! Furthermore, Yosef seems to convey a very different message just a few verses earlier, “But now do not be sad, and let it not trouble you that you sold me here, for it was to preserve life that God sent me before you (Bereishis 45:5).” In this verse Yosef clearly states that it was the brothers who sold him. True, God had a plan, but the brothers still bear the responsibility of having sold Yosef.
Was Yosef absolving his brothers of all responsibility since it was all part of the Divine plan, or were the brothers responsible for their brutal behavior despite the fact that all worked out?
The Midrash (Tanchuma Vayigash Siman 5) sheds light on this dynamic. Immediately prior to Yosef’s revelation, the heated exchange between Yosef and his brothers becomes dangerously close to turning violent. Yosef understood that he must reveal his identity. “Yosef said to his brothers, ‘Did you not tell me that your brother died? In fact, I purchased him, and I will bring him out to you.’ At this point Yosef called out, ‘Yosef son of Yacov come to me, Yosef son of Yacov come to me and speak with your brothers who sold you.’ The brothers began scanning all corners of the room to catch a glimpse of their long-lost brother. Yosef turned and said to them, ‘Why do you look here and there? I am Yosef your brother.’ In that moment their souls left their bodies, and they were unable to answer him.”
