Q:
Did Hakodosh Boruch Hu require the deaths of the asarah harugei malchus in order to atone for the sin of the sale of Yosef Hatzaddik? Were these ten tzaddikim killed because of the sin of Yosef Hatzaddik?
A:
The answer is no. Absolutely not. That’s all. That’s all! If you find that idea in any place, it’s drush, it’s just a form of poetic thought.
I’ll explain that.
The sin of Yosef Hatzaddik, if it had to be atoned there were plenty of generations in between – they didn’t have to wait for the asarah harugei malchus. Besides, they didn’t sell him; they wanted to sell him. And in that poem it says that they say they sold him for money. They didn’t sell him for money. The Midyanim took him out and sold him by means of the Yishmaelim. The brothers didn’t sell him at all. The brothers came back and found the pit empty. So all you could say is they’re blamed for their intention; but they didn’t do it however. And even the intention, if it ever was punished you have to know it wasn’t postponed until the asarah harugei malchus.
You have to know that we don’t find in the Torah any statement of blame against the brothers. Now the Torah you have to know is not stingy when it comes to blaming people. The Torah is very strict. For the smallest thing it blames. And yet, there’s not one word of blame in the chumash on the brothers of Yosef.
And the truth is that the brothers, we have to be dan lekaf zechus, we have to give them the benefit of the doubt, that they did what they did because they thought that Yosef was a peril for the family. A youngest brother who is so ambitious to become the boss of the family that he brings tales about them to their father! It was a very perilous thing in those days and they were afraid that eventually he would get rid of them. And so to save that great family from this black sheep – as they thought – the only way was to get rid of him. So the brothers really are not blamed at all.
TAPE # 721