<HTML>Dear Shalom and List,
I was recently teaching Parshat Miketz to my class which contains 11th
grade day school students from mixed religious backgrounds. I taught the
approach of Rav Menachem Leibtag which combines the approach of Rav Yoel
Bin Nun on Yosef and his brothers with Abravenel's approach.
I first drew on the board a "postcard" that Yosef "sent" to his father
while he was Zafnat Paneach, the Prince of Egypt. I asked my students what
was wrong with this picture and they readily answered that Yosef never
contacted his father. I then asked why? After much discussion I presented
the approach of Rav Yoel Bin Nun that Yosef though that his father
conspired with his brothers to kick him out of the Shevatim so he never
tried to contact home.
This approach although very much fitting with Pshat is not the traditional
midrashic approach and could be surprising to some. However, through this
my students quickly identified the greatness of Yosef and not his flaws.
They related to the young Yosef who as a slave in Egypt thinks that his
family has abandoned him but he still stays close to Hashem. He does not
follow the path of Esav and Yishmael before him who were also "kicked out"
of the family and abandoned God as well. They truly understood what we
mean when we say Yosef Hazadik.
Furthermore, I used the approach of Abravenel to explain why Yosef fools
his brothers into bringing Binyamin and challenges them to leave Binyamin
with him. Yosef was afraid that Yaakov would kick the brothers out of the
Shvatim when he discovered that they sold Yosef unless they did Teshuvah
so he facilitated their Teshuvah.
One student asked why Yosef would be so concerned that his brothers stay
in the shvatim and do Teshuvah after they tried to kick him out. Another
student answered that Yosef Hazadik had grown up and was above such
fighting. He wanted to do what was right and not cause more strife. When a
student volunteered this I knew that my Parsha class had been successful.
One can teach Pshat in Parsha in such a way that enhances our appreciation
of the greatness of the Avot while portraying the real moral dilemmas hay
faced in shades of gray rather than black and white.
Sincerely,
Rabbi Tzvi Pittinsky</HTML>
