Prashat Miketz- Relying on One's Own Efforts
Relying on One's Own Efforts
Parashat Miketz begins with Yosef in an Egyptian prison, where he had been sent as a result of the false charge that had attempted to sin with his master's wife. The Sages teach us that Yosef was to have spent ten years in prison, but God then decreed upon Yosef an additional two years of incarceration. Yosef was punished, the Rabbis explain, for having placed his trust in the Egyptian butler, rather than in God. As we read in the final verses of Parashat Vayeshev, Yosef predicted that the butler, his fellow inmate, would soon be granted his freedom. After conveying this news to the butler, Yosef requested that he appeal to Pharaoh on Yosef's behalf, to explain that he has committed no crime to deserve imprisonment. Yosef was punished for looking to the butler, rather than to the Almighty, as the source of his salvation, and God delayed his freedom by an additional two years.
At first glance, this punishment seems very difficult to understand. Is it forbidden for a person to invest effort to solve life's problems and overcome adversity? Does Judaism encourage people to sit back idly when they encounter difficulties, and wait for God's miraculous intervention? The Rabbis teach us, "En Somechin Al Ha'nes" – one should not rely on a miracle; it behooves every individual to utilize whatever means and resources he has to protect and sustain himself. Why was Yosef wrong for appealing to the butler for assistance?
Even more perplexing is the fact that in this very same Midrashic passage, the Rabbis speak of Yosef as the exemplar of Bitahon – trust in God. The Midrash comments that the verse in Tehillim (40:5), "Fortunate is the man who places his trust in Hashem" refers to none other than Yosef Ha'sadik. He, more than anyone else, exemplified the ideal of "Bitahon," trusting in God's ability to assist and bring deliverance. The obvious question arises, if, indeed, Yosef exemplified this quality, then how did he err by placing his trust in the Egyptian butler?
The story is told of Rabbi Yisrael Ba'al Shem Tov (1700-1760), founder of the Hassidic movement, who once on Erev Shabbat knocked on a person's door and then immediately left. The person heard the knock, opened the door, and did not see anybody standing by the door. He then looked down the street and saw the Ba'al Shem Tov walking away. The man ran to the Ba'al Shem Tov and asked why he had come, and why he left right after knocking.
The Ba'al Shem Tov explained, "I need some money to purchase food for Shabbat, and although it is God who provides, I am obliged to make an effort to help myself. I therefore came and knocked on your door. I didn't bother staying because I had no idea how the money would be provided. I did my part, and the rest is up to God; once I made my effort, I then wait for God to provide in whichever manner He sees fit."
It is of course true that a person must make every effort to help himself; he may not, however, assume that the help will necessarily come as a result of his efforts. God has an infinite number of ways to help in any given situation, and it is wrong to presume to know which way He will choose. Therefore, even though one must make an effort, he must do so with the understanding that the solution may actually emerge from an entirely different source, and not from his initiatives. Many businessmen, for example, exert countless hours, entire days and nights, building a store or some other enterprise, and in the end it is some incidental investment that they had made which provides the bulk of their income. One can never claim to know how God will assist Him; he must merely make an effort, and leave the rest to the Almighty's infinite wisdom and power.
Yosef, indeed, fully placed his trust in God. His mistake was not that he doubted God's ability, but that he felt he could definitively determine the means by which God would free him from the Egyptian dungeon. Yosef felt assured that God had chosen the butler as the vehicle that would bring him out of prison, and for this he was punished. He was wrong not for asking the butler to intervene, but for presuming that this intervention would lead to his freedom.
We are indeed required to work hard and invest effort to support and sustain ourselves – but provided that we understand that God has the ability to help us in countless different ways, and our success thus will not necessarily be the result of our efforts and initiatives.
