Parshat Vayeishev: The Man That Changed Our History

At last year's Koach Kallah - a conference for college Jews based in the Conservative Movement - we were asked to discuss our favorite biblical character as part of an icebreaker.  It was part of a creating and fun activity, and to be honest I don't even remember my own answer to the question.  But I have not forgotten the answer of the rabbi leading the ice breaker.  His favorite man in biblical Judaism was someone without a name, some simply call "Ish - a man."  This character seems to be of little importance, he is only mentioned once and a mere three verses of the Torah (in this week's parsha) include him.  So why is he so special to this rabbi?  Because it shows you the power of each individual.  This one nameless man both changed the course of history and showed a sense of compassion for his fellow man that we can all strive for. 

A man found him [Joseph], and behold - he [Joseph] was blundering in the field.  And the man asked him saying: What do you seek?

And he said: I seek my brothers.  Tell me, I pray thee, where they are feeding the flock.

 And the man said: They are traveled from here, for I heard them say: "Let us go to Dothan."  And Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan.  (Bereishit 37:15-17)

This man, a random man with no connection to Joseph, just happening to be in the same place at the same time, noticed Joseph was lost.  He wasn't oblivious to the people he was passing, nor did he ignore them when he noticed they needed help.  What do you seek?  Nothing earth-shattering, just a simple sense of awareness and caring for someone that was "blundering in the field."  The simplicity of this act, the rabbi said, was something that had always touched him.  How different our world would be if everyone was able to notice what was missing in the people around us - to take a moment to help make it better, to set someone back on the right path.  To listen to what they need instead of telling them what they need.  Such small things that change someone's life, and in the case of this ish, it also changed the course of Jewish history.  In a way, it even led to Judaism's existence: the ish told Joseph where to find his brothers for whom he was searching, and they sold him into slavery in Egypt after he found them.  Joseph's life was radically changed; and so the foundation of our path toward redemption and matan Torah - the giving of the Torah, began.  What would have happened if ha'ish had not crossed paths with Joseph?  If he had not taken the time to see if he could help Joseph?

It is really amazing how much of a difference such a small act can make.  The Talmud says (Sanhedrin 4:5) that "whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world.  And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world."  We are all a world unto ourselves, we are all our own living and breathing Torah.  We can use it to be a blessing or a curse, as we are repeatedly told by Moses after the scene of the giving of the Torah later in the Torah.  We can make someone's life whole or shatter it, and we may not even know it as we are doing it.  But with this in mind we must realize the impact that even our small actions can have - both positively and negatively - and strive to always be a blessing, to always do our part of make someone's world whole.