Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1999 08:02:34 +0200 (IST)
B"H

                             "Path Markers"
                                Vayigash:
                          By: Yaacov Silverstein
                       e@mail: hm16@popeye.cc.biu.ac.il
                  HomePage: http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~hm16/
                                Year:  5760
This Weeks Dvar - Torah was prepared in the memory and merit of:
 My grandfather:  Rav Yitzchak Zev Ben Yisroel Mordechai Hakohen Solomon Z"L 

Pasuk (45-8)

"So now it was not you who sent me here but the Almighty and he made me a father to Pharoh and a master over all his house,
and ruler over all of Egypt."

Rav Yeruchum Levovitz explains that the usual nature of most people is that when they do an act of kindness to another person,
they don't want to receive anything in return.

This, not wanting to receive anything in return, is not necessarily because of the person's great desire to do kindness,
rather they want the other person to feel indebted to them forever.

This is the reason for them taking nothing in return, to prevent the other person from feeling that he has already repaid his
debt.

When you do someone a favor, you should allow him to give you something in return, if he wishes so.

Rav Pliskin explains that the same is true when one does wrong to another person, at times the recipient of the wrongful act,
wants the person to feel guilty for his action, for the rest of his life.

When one forgives another person, even though he is not certain that the other person is sincere in his request for
forgiveness, it is an elevated level of action.

Yosef didn't want his brothers to feel bad, and thus immediately stated that they weren't the ones who sent him down to Egypt.
Rather, Hashem sent him there to become a leader in Egypt.

By Yosef testing his brothers, he gave his brothers the opportunity to redeem themselves.  He gave them the opportunity to
feel that they had grown spiritually since his sale, and that they had now eliminated their character defects which led to
their baseless hatred, and thus they felt that they merited Yosef's forgiveness.

After having passed their test with Binyamin, they were not merely forgiven but also proud of their growth, and their
self-esteem would be preserved. (Rav Twersky - Living Each Day) 

Good Shabbos!!


*******
I would like to thank my mother (S.M.F) for helping me out by
looking over the first draft.

(The above Halacha is not Psak, it is there to try to help to increase
ones Torah awareness, for final Psak, please consult your : Local Reliable
Orthodox Rabbi.)


                ------- **********---------
                --------***********--------