This week’s parsha is loaded with much action, drama and content. There are family reunions, years of unsaid words finally spoken, and much more.

But the one pasuk I would like to focus on is what Yosef told his brothers after he disclosed himself to them:

וְעַתָּ֣ה | אַל־תֵּעָ֣צְב֗וּ וְאַל־יִ֨חַר֙ בְּעֵ֣ינֵיכֶ֔ם כִּֽי־מְכַרְתֶּ֥ם אֹתִ֖י הֵ֑נָּה כִּ֣י לְמִחְיָ֔ה שְׁלָחַ֥נִי אֱלֹהִ֖ים לִפְנֵיכֶֽם:

“But now do not be sad, and let it not trouble you that you sold me here, for it was to preserve life that Gd sent me before you.”

This pasuk reveals a tremendous amount about Yosef and leaves us with an incredible message.

Yosef was tossed into a pit, sold into slavery, thrown into jail, was without family or love or real companionship for generations, and after all that, he still says to his brothers who broke down from regret: ‘Don’t be sad, it was all for good.’

What should we take from this? Is that the expectation? That when we are despondent, thrown out, abandoned, we still need to say it’s all good, this is great? Or maybe, there is a deeper message here. 

Yosef was a dreamer. He was born with an incredible trait of seeing beyond his immediate reality. He was able to dream himself out of pits, out of slavery and out of jail. But it never did him any good. His brothers resented him for it, his cellmate took advantage and he was destined to live alone, just him and his dreams.

Until, he learnt how to dream. He learnt that his Gd given trait was not there to make him more superior than others, it wasn’t there to allow him to stand out or take center stage. His gift must be used to help support and encourage others. His gift in essence, must be shared.

When Yosef saw his brothers he easily could have said ‘ I told you so.’ You are all bowing down to me, just as I dreamed it.’ But he was a new Yosef, one that realized that our gifts shouldn’t come with a sense of superiority, they must come with a sense of responsibility .

Yosef’s brothers in that moment needed a dreamer.

They needed someone to tell them that it’s okay. What happened was for the best, but they could have never seen that. They couldn’t know how to dream like Yosef. Yosef, for the first time, took his brothers, and shared his gift with them, showing them that it’s okay. I see that it was all for the best.

Hashem blesses each of us with our own individual blessing. Each one of us graces this earth with the ability to make everyone around us better, happier, stronger and closer to Hashem. The story of Yosef, is the story of each of us. It is there to remind us that our gifts are not gifts at all when we harbor them. However, when we utilize them to hold and support others, our gifts, blessings, our dreams, become reality.