The First Captive: Rebbetzin Yemima on Joseph the Righteous and the Current Message for Today's Captives

I noticed that this is the only Torah portion whose name is...

not true.

In the portion of Vayishlach, Jacob sent,

In Vayetze, he went out,

and in Vayeshev... he didn't sit for a single moment!

And why, you ask? Why?

What victories did Israel, or rather Jacob, have!

The previous portion ends with 'And the terror of Hashem was upon the cities'

around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

What victories for Israel! In Lebanon, in Syria, in Iran!

And why can't he sit in peace?

The answer: because there is a captive.

'The anger of Joseph arose upon him.' Joseph was kidnapped.

As long as there is a captive, we cannot have

peace of mind. It's impossible, impossible!

'I was indeed stolen from the land of the Hebrews,' says Joseph the Righteous.

These are people who were young and beautiful and healthy and full of dreams.

And what happens to them after so many days?

They were young, and old age caught up with them.

They were beautiful, and they are no longer as they were. Captivity degrades.

They were healthy, and they are no longer healthy. There is no food or drink in captivity. No sunlight.

But they dreamed dreams, and they still dream.

And this is the message of this portion, the portion of the selling of Joseph:

No one can take away a captive's dreams.

'When Hashem returns the captivity of Zion, we will be like dreamers,' only when they come out of captivity will we understand that what sustained them was: dreams.

Dreams about what was when they were home,

dreams about what will be when they get out.

Dreams. That's the only thing Joseph has,

that sustains him in times of captivity.

A dream is the only thing Jacob has, who continues to wait for his captive son to return; 'And his father kept the matter.'

He remembers his son's dreams and says, there is no way

that his dream will not come true!

A dream is the only thing that sustains our mother Rachel, who says:

I will not stop crying, because I know he will come back.

Notice,

about these three people, from the same family – Father Jacob,

Mother Rachel, Joseph the son, it is said: refusal. And he refused.

It is written that Jacob hears that his son is torn apart. All his sons

and daughters rise to comfort him, 'And he refused to be comforted.'

It is written about Joseph the Righteous that Potiphar's wife grabs his garment

and tries to harm him physically, 'And he refused.' This is what is written.

It is written that Rachel cries, cries, cries, and Hashem tells her to refrain from her voice,

and she – refused to be comforted.

We are people who refuse, sons of those who refuse.

?

What is this verb, what is the power of this family?

Refusal is an internal rejection to accept the situation as it is,

because I have a dream that will come true

and I am not going to fall now, because I have a dream.

Thus Jacob. He will not be comforted and say okay, I had a child and now he is gone.

What suddenly??? He has dreams that must come true!

Joseph the Righteous is not willing to fall into this moment, this lonely moment,

when Potiphar's wife just wants to give him some relationship.

He is so lonely! And what does he say? No. 'There is no one in this house greater than I, [...] and how can I do this great evil?' There is a big story here, I cannot surrender now to this littleness

and the evil inclination that wants to bring me down; I am waiting for the dream

to come true.

And Rachel, who is on the way and says, there is no chance I

will stop waiting for the children to return to their borders. I have a dream, and it will come true. I will see them at home.