Community Magazine February 2003

18 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE s ” xc tains, and silver and gold in their possession.” But, there will be a danger. With all this good, the Jews could forget Hashem. They will say in their hearts, “Kochi VeEtzem Yadi Asah Li Et HaCharil Hazeh,” “My strength and the might of my hand made me all this wealth.” The Torah warns against forgetting the source of our bless- ings, and adds “Remember Hashem your G-d” to protect your blessings. Yosef Hatzadik (the righteous) mas- tered this trait. When Pharaoh was con- founded over the meaning of his dreams, the butler mentioned that there was a Hebrew servant in jail who might be able to interpret them. Yosef was whisked from his cell and prepped to meet the king, but before Pharaoh was ready to tell Yosef what he had dreamt, he wanted to test him. Pharaoh said, “I had a dream, and none of these men—the wisest in Egypt—were able to interpret it…but I heard about you... I heard you can interpret dreams, and make all these men look like fools.” By giving him credit, Pharaoh placed the Ayin Hara on Yosef. Yosef could have mentioned that he had successfully inter- preted the dreams of the butler and baker. He could have also said, “Thank You,” after being showered with praises. But he didn’t—he immediately gave the credit back to Hashem, to regain his protection. Yosef said, “Bilaadi”, “It is not I.” It is from G-d. He boldly, and perhaps danger- ously contradicted Pharaoh’s assertion of his greatness. Pharaoh was sufficiently impressed, and he proceeded to recount for him the dreams. But then he tried to catch him again. After he finished telling the dream, he said, “But these men weren’t able to interpret it!” in effect challenging Yosef to prove his superiority. But Yosef rose above the challenge mentioning Hashem’s name in every single sentence as he told Pharaoh the meaning of his dream. Observing that Yosef took no cred- it for himself; Pharaoh realized that there was no wise man like Yosef in the land. Yosef mastered this technique from his father. When Yaakov met with his brother Esav after living in Laban’s house for 22 years, Esav tried to place the Ayin Hara on him. Commenting on Yaakov’s wealth and family, he says, “What are these things that belong to you?” But Yaakov didn’t attribute credit for his wealth to hard work. He quickly gave credit to Hashem, “These are the chil- dren that Hashem graciously bestowed on me.” The example of Yosef is a blueprint for the generations that follow. When Rabi Yohanan said he was from the tribe of Yosef, he was referring to his status as a stu- dent of Yosef. A student is akin to a child of his teacher and so in adopting his practices, Rabi Yohanan became essen- tially a progeny of Yosef, rendering him- self immune to the Ayin Hara. Similarly, we can also employ these habits and acquire the protection of Yosef from the evil eye. We don’t have to wear a fish or a hand or paint our ceilings blue. The sym- bolic items are not necessary. The key is to train ourselves to give all the credit to Hashem, keep “Baruch Hashem,” at the tip of our tongue when we receive a compli- ment and acknowledge that our blessings and the blessing of others are gifts from G- d. In this way may we merit favor from Hashem and the elimination of all afflic- tion to Am Yisrael. CM