A Place Prepared

[Shimon]

“He sent a man before them; Joseph was sold for a servant; his feet they hurt with fetters, his person was laid in iron; until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the L’RD tested him.”

• Psalm 105:15-17, JPS

Joseph was humbled, acknowledging that G’d put him through certain nisyanos (trials) for a greater purpose. He explained to his brothers, “And G’d sent me before you to give you a remnant on the earth, and to save you alive for a great deliverance” (Genesis 45:7). “It was not you that sent me hither, but G’d” (Genesis 45:8). Therefore, he forgave his brothers for selling him as a slave, and realized that his own descent into Egypt was necessary so that as a ruler of Egypt he would be in the position to provide for his family, during the seven year famine.

Joseph, through all of his trials and tribulations was refined in “the refiner’s fire,” in order to learn true humility and compassion for others, thereby permitting him to be a genuine ruler, who serves the best interests of the populace. He went from a shepherd of sheep to a shepherd of his brothers, inasmuch that he was able to provide for them and his entire family during the famine. When they arrived in Egypt, his family was given the best of the land to settle – the land of Goshen.

The narrative of Joseph, who becomes a shepherd of his family, parallels the narrative of the Holy One, who shepherds his flock, K’lal Yisrael (All of Israel). We are shepherded by the One, who like Joseph, was separated from his Jewish brethren. “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24, KJV). “Go rather to the lost sheep of the house Israel” (Matthew 10:6, KJV). Therefore, not only in olam hazeh (this world), does the shepherd tend his sheep, so that we are provided with our daily bread; rather, also, we will be provided for in olam haba (the world to come):

Before ascending into Shomayim, “In the Beis Avi [Father’s House] there are many me’onot (dwelling places, permanent residences, homes); if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a makom (place) for you? And if I go and prepare a makom [place] for you, I am coming again and will receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also” (Yochanan 14:2-3, Orthodox Jewish Bible). The land of Goshen, given to the family of Jacob, is symbolic of the inheritance that G’d’s people will receive in the Kingdom.

Ultimately, the consummate vision of K’lal Yisrael (All of Israel) is focused upon this greater inheritance that we are given by the L'RD. Although many of us would like or have already made aliyah to Israel, the greater ascent is into Malchus HaElokim (the Kingdom of G’d). Let us cast our eyes on the things Above, so that we know where we will be received –into a place prepared for us by the One who ascended before us. Like Joseph who went down to Egypt ahead of his family, in order to prepare a place for them in the land of Goshen, Moshiach (Messiah) went ahead of us to prepare a place for us in Olam Haba (the World to Come).