Chazal (Bereishis Rabbah 93:10) comment that the Yosef/Binyamin reunion, accompanied by copious weeping, was much more profound than two brothers simply reconnecting after many years. Their weeping was not just an expression of joy mixed with sadness. Their weeping was not personal. They wept over: the destruction of the Batei Mikdash that would stand in Binyamin’s portion of Yerushalayim, and Mishkan Shiloh which was situated in the portion of Efraim, son of Yosef. This is a momentous commentary concerning the elevated level of sensitivity which each of these two brothers demonstrated. They were distinct from the rest of their family, because they were the only children of Rachel Imeinu. They inherited her sensitivity. On the night that she was supposed to be married, she saw her father acting like the swindler that he was, exchanging Leah Imeinu for Rachel. She immediately decided to save Leah from humiliation when Yaakov would discover that he had been duped. She gave everything up, her future with Yaakov, in order not to see her sister humiliated. What about her pain? That was regrettable, but her sister’s emotional welfare took precedence. Is it any wonder that she produced two sons whose primary concern, after a twenty-two-year separation, was for the future adversity and destruction that their descendants would experience?
How distant are we from the level of our ancestors? Having been separated for many years, two brothers finally come together, and, rather than relate to one another their past experiences – both good and bad – their concern is about the spiritual destruction that will befall their descendants. They were overwhelmed with joy, but the future was about nitzchiyus, eternity, which trumped their personal lives. This is how the Telshe Rosh Yeshivah, Horav Chaim Mordechai Katz, zl, viewed this meeting. The concern always has to be about the eternity of Klal Yisrael. If Bnei Yisrael is in danger in the future, then we cry now! With a dubious tomorrow, we have very little to rejoice for today. Klal Yisrael lives for the future. Everything we do is to ensure that our descendants will remain Torah-committed Jews.
Horav Yisrael Shurin, zl, relates that, shortly after the Rosh Yeshivah reached America (during World War II), after having heard the heartbreaking news that his wife and ten children had been murdered by the Nazis and that the glorious Yeshivas Telz with its students and Roshei Yeshivah had been decimated, he found the Rosh Yeshivah sitting and learning in his small rented apartment on East Broadway (Lower East Side, New York). “How are you able to learn? After all that you suffered, both physically and emotionally, are you still able to concentrate?” The Rosh Yeshivah, true to his character, replied, “The sound of Torah in the Telshe Yeshivah in Lithuania has been stilled. I sense myself responsible to recreate that which was destroyed. This is in what I am presently involved in.” He was a man on a mission. He would have time to weep. Now was the time to build.
Why did each one cry for the other one’s adversity, when each had enough to cry for himself? Horav Yisrael, zl, m’Kuzmir, explains that the Bais Hamikdash (second) was destroyed as a result of sinaas chinam, the sin of unwarranted hatred, among Jews. Yosef and Binyamin were acutely aware that their long separation had been the result of animus. When they saw the churban which would result from hatred among brothers, they realized that the discord between the brothers would ultimately mushroom into what would result in the churban Bais Hamikdash. Their weeping today led them to cry for tomorrow.
The antidote for sinaas chinam is to strengthen relationships, thereby increasing love among people, to the point that one’s brother’s pain hurts me more than his own. When each brother weeps over his brother’s churban, we will merit an end to the bitter exile from which we are suffering today. The Bais Hamikdash built in Binyamin’s portion could not become a reality until after the destruction of the Mishkan in Yosef’s portion. Nonetheless, Binyamin was willing to forgo the Bais Hamikdash which would be built in his portion, as long as the Mishkan in Yosef’s portion would not be destroyed. The idea is: Better I should not have than to have because my brother’s was destroyed. This is the meaning of love among Jews, which will rectify the sin that catalyzed our present galus.
