"And a man found him and he was lost in
the field, and the man asked him what he
sought and he said, "my brothers I seek, can
you tell me where they are
shepherding." (Gen. 37:15, 16)
This mysterious man is identified in
classical literature as being the angel
Gabriel in disguise. The angel then directs
Joseph to his brothers where he meets his
fate, is sold into slavery and shipped off to
Egypt.
Now, it is obvious that the meeting between
Joseph and an angel in disguise was by no
means a coincidence. G-d sent his angel
specifically to direct Joseph to his brothers
and to their plot. It was the Will of Heaven
that what transpired indeed did transpire and
specifically in the way that it did. Years
later Joseph himself comforted his brothers
with this same exact sentiment.
Yet, one must wonder how long did it take for
Joseph to realize this striking revelation.
It might have taken him a good number of
years. It must have been rather hard for him
to understand why G-d allowed him to be
subject to such misfortune. Yet, regardless
of whatever struggles of faith he must have
experienced as would any other human being,
still he stood strong and faithful to the
character of his upbringing. He did not
compromise himself nor use his misfortunes as
justification to compromise his high morals.
Joseph remained a man of righteous behavior
and in spite of whatever adversity he faced,
he still professed faith in G-d. Joseph thus
stands out to us as being a fantastic and
great role model.
Yet, in spite of Joseph coming through his
ordeal with "flying colors," there is an
ominous message here that we need to pay
attention to. It was G-d who ordained and
executed the plan to allow Joseph to be sold
into slavery; it was G-d who allowed Joseph
to suffer the way that he did; it was G-d
that allowed his otherwise righteous brothers
to act in such an evil way to hatch this
rather nasty plot and it was G-d who allowed
his beloved Jacob to sit and suffer from
debilitating depression for a period of 22
years.
Granted in the end, everything worked out
alright; but still, during those years before
the end came, everyone involved must have
suffered a great deal; and G-d not only
allowed it all, it was by His design, by
sending His angel that made it all
materialize. All this suffering and apparent
evil was ordained by the Higher Hand of
Heaven. Just when we want to believe that
only niceness and goodness is bestowed upon
us from Heaven, G-d comes along and slams us
with a message and lesson that He is going to
do what He ordains to be necessary and right,
and if we suffer because of it, well, that's
just too darn bad!
Wow! What a lesson! It is fundamental to
the Divine Way. So important is this lesson
that it is even elaborated upon centuries
later by the prophet Isaiah. The prophet
Isaiah makes some rather interesting
prophecies that reveal to us the unfathomable
Ways of Heaven. "For My thoughts are not
your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,
says HaShem." (Isaiah 55:8). We might take
this for granted. Of course G-d's Thoughts
are higher than those of we mortal humans.
Of course the Divine Way will operate
according to a higher wisdom. Yet, in an
earlier statement, G-d spoke through Isaiah
(45:7) and said this, "I form the light, and
create darkness; I make peace, and create
evil; I am HaShem that does all these things."
G-d creates light and darkness, this we know,
but He also creates evil? Did we know this?
Again G-d says through Isaiah (45:6), "That
they may know from the rising of the sun, and
from the west, that there is none beside Me;
I am HaShem; and there is none else." G-d is
the author of all and thus the director of
all. Good and evil are equal creations of
the Creator, both are equally His tools and
ultimately both are His servants in that both
are used by Heaven to accomplish the Divine Will.
This is exactly what we have seen with the
life and sufferings of Joseph, his brothers
and their father Jacob. This Biblical lesson
serves us as a role model for all
Israeli/Jewish history. As bad as things
gets, G-d is still there. As bad as things
get, G-d is still in control. As bad as
things get, G-d and no independently acting
Devil, is still in charge. As bad as things
get, everything is still proceeding in
accordance to the higher wisdom of Heaven and
is consistently and unabatedly working
towards fulfilling the Divine goal.
Life is a long road and only G-d knows the
Way. We humans are often blinded by the very
things that we see in front of us. We allow
almost anything to distract us and to make us
lose sight of the final goal. I am sure that
when Joseph was sold and subject to the
mistreatment of his handlers that he was no
"happy camper" joyously awaiting the
revelation of G-d's higher wisdom. I am sure
that when Joseph was falsely accused of
adultery and then thrown into prison
apparently for the rest of his life that he
was no "happy camper" humming a religious
medley of how good G-d is. No matter how one
wants to looks at these events, there is one
word that accurately sums them up, they are
bad! One can twist logic any way one wants
and say how in the end everything worked out
just fine; that is all well and good. Still,
when the original evil befell Joseph, it was
just that, evil and bad. And G-d is the
creator of evil and bad as He is the creator
of good.
Unfortunately many in various religious camps
are taught and then entertain and perpetuate
a spiritual myth. So many are under the
mistaken impression that once one is
religious then everything in one's life
should turn to the good. Indeed, this is the
sales pitch used by many in the religious
camp as outreach to the non-religious
persuading them to become religious.
Unfortunately all too often this promise of
"all goodness" rings hollow. Good and evil
still affect religious and non-religious alike.
We might dismiss misfortune as some sort of
natural phenomenon that haphazardly affects
us all. But, Isaiah warned us, that this is
not so. Millennia later, Albert Einstein
made a statement that in my opinion also
expresses this sentiment. He is reported to
have said, "G-d does not play dice with the
universe." This secular scientist said this
with regards to universal cosmology. We in
the Torah camp recognize this truth as also
being applicable to everything, from the
cosmic to the microscopic. G-d is here; G-d
is there, G-d is truly everywhere. There is
no other reality than Him.
Good and evil are equal creation and servants
of Heaven. There is no spiritual war between
G-d and a Devil. Even G-d's agent for evil,
Samakel, is Heaven's faithful servant charged
with a mission; one that he and his dominions
faithfully execute. There is no other
reality than the Creator, author of all.
When evil or simply bad things befall us,
they all occur for a greater reason. We may
not have the wisdom to fathom such, but our
lack of insight does not make G-d's plan and
purpose any less real.
In the 53rd chapter of his famous book,
Isaiah presents a beautiful saga of one who
has come to be known as the Suffering Servant
of G-d. One can look closely at the Biblical
verses and the others before it to identify
this Servant as none other than Collective
Israel. In other words, Isaiah clearly states
(43:2, 49:3), Israel is G-d's servant. G-d's
servant Collective Israel undergoes a history
of suffering and hardships. Indeed,
Collective Israel suffers a fate similar to
Biblical Joseph. Joseph suffered, although
not as punishment for his personal sins; so
too Collective Israel is punished, but not
for the sins of its individual members.
Rather, there is something much more profound
happening here.
Collective Israel suffers at the hands of the
nations of the world. Collective Israel, as
Isaiah (42:6) says is supposed to be a "light
to the nations." For thousands of years,
Collective Israel, divided, split up and
scattered shined its light into every culture
and people throughout the world. This is the
profound higher Way of Heaven. G-d chose
Collective Israel and imbued it with the
Light of His Torah and then scattered Israel
and the Torah Light throughout the world.
This is called the exile of Israel and the
exile of the Torah.
We have the Talmudic role model of Nahum Ish
Gamzu, who is renowned for his famous
statement that, "this too is for good."
Whenever evil befell him, he proclaimed with
full faith that the present evil would serve
a higher purpose and fulfill the Divine Way
and indeed it did. With faith in Heaven and
surrender to the Divine Way, Nahum saw every
adversity turn into something good and
profound. His role model also serves us as a
guide to facing our own adversities.
Our Sages have taught us that the events in
the lives of our ancestors serve us as role
models for today. We would benefit if we
invested more of our time in simply reading
the Biblical encounters for real-life moral
values instead to transforming them into
myths about supermen who never existed.
Religious fantasies are a true impediment to
sincere spiritual experience.
Life is not always pretty, fair or kind, but
ultimately life, all life is in Higher Hands.
We may not know or understand what is
happening, at least not with our present
limited state of human consciousness. Maybe,
if we tried to stop understanding and to
start experiencing we would indeed to come
see glimpses of the big picture and, like
Nahum Ish Gamzu before us, come to recognize
the Divine Way in all things, good and bad alike.
My latest edition to our RaMBaM series is
entitled: 
"And a man found him and he was lost in
the field, and the man asked him what he
sought and he said, "my brothers I seek, can
you tell me where they are
shepherding." (Gen. 37:15, 16)
