In this week’s Parsha we see the happy reunion of Yosef Hatzaddik with his brothers. The Sfat Emet says that the disagreement between Yosef and his brothers, for all its acrimony, had to end happily. This is promised by the Mishna in Avot (5:18). The Mishna tells us that all disagreements which are motivated solely by concern for God and the Torah will be resolved satisfactorily

So, what was the root of the disagreement between Yosef and his brothers? Interestingly both the Sfat Emet (in Parshat Vayeshev, year 5671) and Rav Soloveitchik zt”l (in his book “Yomei Zikaron,” pages 80-81) identify this fraternal conflict as rooted in a particular clash of personalities.

Yosef was the progenitor of the tzaddik who holds himself aloof from the crowd. Yosef saw clearly where his destiny had to take him. He followed the path that he chose and never saw a need to explain his behavior to those close to him. This was true even after his reconciliation with his brothers. The Sfat Emet ( to Vayigash, year 5684) notes that it is only when Yosef meets his father (46:29) that the Torah says about Yosef that he was “seen.” Only a truly great tzaddik, such as Ya’akov Avinu could be said to truly “see” Yosef for what he truly was. Others could only grasp what they could understand of Yosef’s ways. And even though this caused Yosef great pain when he was misunderstood, Yosef did not change his approach to serving God.

Yehuda was a different sort of tzaddik. Yehuda thrived when he was teaching. Yehuda sought the crowd. When Ya’akov wanted to set up a yeshiva in Egypt he chose Yehuda to find the suitable location (Midrash Rabba to 46:28)

The concepts of right and wrong are not relevant when we study the lives of Yosef and Yehuda. Yosef served Hashem in the way most appropriate for him, and so did Yehuda. Of course, the “dispute for the sake of Heaven” which existed between Yehuda and Yosef did not justify Yehuda’s treacherous behavior. The Torah says (45:3) that when Yosef revealed his true identity to his brothers they were speechless with shock. At first glance the source of the shock is obvious- the brother whom they sold into slavery now was in a position to decide their fate. When Rabbi Elazar would read this pasuk he would break down and cry. He would say, “If fear from the rebuke of a mortal can strike a person dumb, how much more so should we fear the rebuke of Hashem” (see Hagiga 4b).

The Sfat Emet provides another explanation for the brothers’ speechlessness and Rabbi Elazar’s tears. I will point out that the entries in the Sfat Emet’s commentary are dated. The entries are a written record of discourses delivered by the Sfat Emet. Quite often a single idea is expressed differently in different years. For those who can understand the original, comparing these different presentations yields valuable insights.

In the years 5671 and 5672 the Sfat Emet provided this explanation for the brothers’ silence. The brothers at that moment realized that Yosef was really a tzaddik. They understood that for years they were in the presence of greatness and they were blind to it. They were silenced by shame, not by fear. They realized that if they were as pious as they thought themselves to be they could not have overlooked Yosef’s righteousness. The truth was that they were sinners and their sins blinded them to the truth about their brother.

And this was what caused Rabbi Elazar to cry when he read this verse. When we will be judged by Hashem we will see just how many times we did not understand the people and things that surround us. Things that we considered worthless will be shown possessing great holiness. We will see that we were blind to the great inner lights around us, and that our blindness was due to our sins and nothing else. This was why Rabbi Elazar cried.