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Vayechi 5762
Dr. Barry Leff
It is hardly surprising that at the end of the Joseph story, when Jacob has passed away, Joseph’s brothers are anxious about their future. Joseph has treated them nicely enough, but perhaps it is because “Dad” was still around. They were afraid that with Jacob dead, perhaps Joseph wouldn’t be so generous. Worse, he’d probably show just how upset he was about having been thrown into a pit. It seems the brothers didn’t really buy Joseph’s story from last week that by selling him into slavery they were somehow fulfilling God’s will.
Joseph’s brothers decide to once again engage in a little subterfuge. They send a messenger to Joseph to tell him something that never happened: that their father commanded him to forgive them. Joseph sees through the ruse immediately: he says “you thought evil against me, but God meant it for the good.”
Not only does Joseph not act with hate against his brothers: he promises to take care of them. He tells them that he will provide for them, and he spoke kindly to them.
Clearly, Joseph would have been very justified in being angry with his brothers. It would have been understandable if he wanted to punish his brothers. He was certainly under no obligation to feed them or take care of them: that obligation exists toward your parents, but not to your brothers.
When Joseph decides to support his brothers he is going “above and beyond the letter of the law.” He is not required by halacha to support them, yet he does it anyway. In Hebrew this is called “lifnim meshurat hadin,” to go beyond the requirements of the law.
There is an amazing teaching in the Talmud tractate Bava Metzia, which says that Jerusalem was destroyed because they judged strictly according to the law of Torah: they did not go “lifnim meshurat hadin,” beyond the minimum requirements of the law.
It is easy for us to see how one could be a law abiding citizen of the United States, and still be a rather unpleasant, ungenerous, and all around bad fellow. The laws of the United States are focused on people’s rights: your right to pursue happiness, your right to privacy, etc. However, it is surprising that it is not enough to follow Torah law. Torah law is much more focused on responsibilities than it is on rights; yet we see that even with this focus on individual responsibilities, one can follow the law, and it still is not enough. Just doing the minimum, even with the magnificent Torah as a guide, is not enough to assure that you will be a righteous person. Just following the strict judgments in the Torah was not enough prevent the destruction of Jerusalem.
God wants more than the minimum from us. Following the teachings of the Torah is a very good start, but it’s not enough. We need to go lifnim meshurat hadin; we need to go beyond the letter of the law. The Talmud gives an example of a story where some workers broke a wine barrel. The owner would have been justified in withholding the wages of the workers to pay for their negligence; however, since the owner was rich, and the workers were very poor, it would have been contrary to a higher sense of justice to withhold the wages. The owner was told he should go beyond the letter of the law, and not penalize the workers.
All too often, we are more concerned with getting “what we have coming to us,” than we are concerned with being compassionate to our fellow creatures. How can we expect God to be compassionate on us if we are not compassionate with others?
When we all live our lives in a fashion where we go “lifnim meshurat hadin,” when we go beyond the “minimum requirement of the law”—like Joseph did—we will have created a world worthy of the Messianic era.
Shabbat Shalom