After Yosef revealed his identity to his brothers, he gave them some parting words of advice for their journey back home to Yaakov. אל תרגזו בדרך al tirgazu badarech - do not be quarrelsome on the way. Rashi explains that with the long journey home, there would be ample time to reflect on how everything came to be. Naturally, they would discuss how it was that Yosef came down to Mitzrayim in the first place, and Yosef was worried that the blaming games may begin, with the brothers pointing fingers at each other, so he warns them against it.

The gemara in Mesichta Taanis (10b) offers another interpretation of this possuk, in the name of Rebbe Elazar: אל תתעסקו בדבר הלכה שמא תרגזו אליכם הדרך- do not involve yourselves with a dvar halacha on the road, perhaps it will cause you to lose your way. Most news stations play the news highlights, traffic, weather and financial news etc. over and over again at specific intervals. On a longer route, how many times can one listen to the same news updates? A person that is careful with his time will make sure to utilize any time spent commuting wisely and productively. Many will use the time spent commuting to listen to a shiur or some other form of engaging in Torah learning. Furthermore, the gemara (ibid) tells us that a harsh punishment is befitting for two people that travel together without sharing words of Torah. Yosef knew that obviously, his brothers would travel and discuss Torah at the same time. As a word of advice, he told them not to lose sight of the roads. The gemara explains that what he meant was “not to become to arayngetun in the sugya”- i.e. keep the discussion light.

The Gemara offers yet another explanation:

אל תפסיעו פסיעה גסה- don’t take large steps. Presumably, they were rushing to get home to Yaakov Avinu to bring him the good tidings. Yosef knew that they would want to go as fast as possible. Therefore, Yosef told them not to take such large steps, because large steps cause a loss of 1/500th of one’s eyesight (gemara ibid).

The above explanations can all be explained in one light. Yosef was giving them mussar. Before they sold him down to slavery, they gathered together as an ad-hoc beis din to decide his fate. Yosef noted that the din torah was held, baderech, on the road. “You were busy with a dvar halacha about me, on the road, and a serious matter may cause one to lose his way, meaning, you may come to the wrong conclusion!” When we are on the road, we tend to lack yishuv hadaas/peace of mind. Should this not have been brought back to the beis medrash to be discussed at length, perhaps with Yaakov?

Furthermore, Yosef tells them that “they took large steps, meaning, they were hasty to judge him. Don’t Chazal warn us that, hevai mesunim badin- be patient when passing judgment? What happens when things are done too quickly? Hastiness can result in a lack of clarity.

Accordingly, when the Gemara says that large steps cause a loss of vision, this means that making quick decisions causes blurriness; a loss of the ability to see things clearly.

In truth, we all act as a judge when we see things happening. At times, when people act in certain ways, we may be quick to render a judgement, and at times, when questionable things happen to us, we may chas v’shalom, be quick to pass judgment on HaShem. But if only we would wait patiently, we would see a different picture! Hevai mesunim badin!

Interestingly, the gemara in Mesichta Brachos (43b) tells us that the remedy for this loss of vision is the wine of Kiddush on Friday night. Rashi understands this to refer to the drinking of the Kiddush wine, but some commentaries explain that this refers to the gazing into the wine. In fact, some have a minhag to look into the wine and see ones reflection. Perhaps, the reasoning behind this remedy is that Shaabos is a time when “large steps” are forbidden. For most of us, Shaabos is the first time in the week that one has a chance to actually stop for a moment, look at himself (his reflection in the wine) and contemplate the different happenings and occurrences. Suddenly, after the menucha of Shaabos hits him, coupled with a look in the “mirror”, he starts to see a much clearer picture, and he understands things differently than the way he perceived them during the week.

We live in a very judgemental society. Hevai mesunim badin! In truth, there is usually never a reason to judge others, but let’s face it, we are all human. If we are already passing a judgement, then at the least, let us be patient when coming to our conclusion. Do we have all the facts? Are we perhaps biased and therefore jumping to an unfair conclusion? If we are patient in our judgement of others and towards HaShem, surely we will be treated that way as well.


--


Kol Tuv,

Mordechai Appel

(416)624-3155 cell