Torah is full of examples of beautiful, dramatic moments, often initiated by a prophetic moment with the loop closed in a big reveal and we see just that in this week’s parsha.
Joseph, in a moment of total humility and raw emotion, is overcome when he sees his brothers for the first time as they truly are. He removes the layers and years of being on his own, fending for himself to reveal that he is also a shepherd, just like his brothers.
In order to understand the full magnitude of this moment and why Joseph is so overcome with emotion, why his brothers are in such shock and awe, we have to go back to the very beginning of the story, in which Joseph is sent out by his father, Jacob, to go and see where his brothers are shepherding.
On his way, Joseph finds a man in the field who asks him a seemingly mundane question that sets the entire saga into motion. This simple question is what begins the story arc of Joseph’s journey!
The man in the field asks Joseph, “Mah t’vakesh—What do you desire?” Joseph replies, almost hurriedly, that he is looking for his brothers. It is only after Joseph suffers the trials of being in the pit, of being enslaved by the Ishmaelites, of being sold to Egypt, thrown into the dungeon for a crime he didn’t commit, only after he rises to this position of power that he realizes who he was, who his brothers were all along. In this moment of surprise and humility, is Joseph able to truly see his brothers, just as he had desired at the beginning of the story.
The tension and release of this moment, for me, demonstrates that the vision of Joseph’s dream, the wheat bowing or the stars bowing, were an opportunity for Joseph to grow and to know himself more fully. To me, the lesson of Joseph’s journey is that no matter where we find ourselves in life’s journey, we should try to approach relationships, power, and opportunity with humility, grace, and understanding.