After I wrote about how Tamar (according to how I understand the events) had to change her plans on the fly (TftD Lessons from Tamar and Yehuda), I started noticing how many times the patriarchs and matriarchs were thrust into a situation and needed to improvise a new plan on the spot. These were not small course corrections, but major upheavals -- all the while keeping their sites firmly on their goals. There are several famous examples: Yitzchak in giving the brachos to his bechor. Yaakov waking up to find he had been given a different wife. Yaakov in getting his wages from Lavan. And others.
Aside that I think you'll appreciate. The Alshich was once giving a shiur in T'zfas on the 100 ways that Lavan used in his attempts to trick Yaakov. The Ari z"l was in attendance and was smiling and nodding at each point. Once, though, the Ari z"l burst out laughing. Afterwards, the Ari z"l was asked what was going on. He said that the Alshich was such an important talmid chacham that even Lavan himself had attended. Each time Lavan heard a new point, he would nod in agreement. "That's why I was smiling and nodding," said the Ari z"l. "The one time I laughed, though, was because the Alshich presented on trick and Lavan slapped himself and said, 'I should have thought of that!'"
There is another I just realized, based on a question discussed in R' Schwimmer's excellent Friday night chumash shiur. Here's the question: Why did 10 of Yosef's brothers come to Mitzrayim? If it was to get grain, certainly that could have been accomplished through agents. Remember, they were very wealthy and also royalty. Avraham Avinu had been declared a king after the war between the four and five kings. Yitzchak Avinu was so wealthy that the value of fertilizer produced by his herds was more valuable than all the gold of Avimelech (Rashi, B'reishis 26:13). Yaakov and his entire extended family were also treated royalty.
To put this in context, R' Schwimmer gave an apt analogy: Imagine the king of England walked into Kol Tuv. Imagine Shulem in shock and running over to help the monarch, asking -- with all due respect -- why is the king here. The king answers, "I need some milk." Umm.... not really buying this. And this isn't one monarch, this is the entire royal family.
So why did they all come? Because there are 12 tribes of Israel. There have to be 12 tribes. The brothers knew that as long as they were missing one tribe, they were not Klal Yisrael. If a person is missing one critical organ, he isn't mostly a person; he's dead. The brothers, in fact, intended to bring Binyamin as well so they could be complete and leave Mitzrayim all together. Yaakov nixed that idea, so they were forced to make the best attempt they could. It wouldn't be easy, but at this point they had no choice. For Klal Yisrael to live, they needed to bring Yosef home.
And Yosef? He also knew that he needed to get all 12 brothers back again. He was waiting for them and, it seems, expected them all to come. When he saw that Binyamin had not come, he knew -- from his dreams -- that he needed to bring him also. So he came up with a new plan.
These are different character of test than Avraham being told by HaShem to leave his country, or Yaakov being told by HaShem it was time to return. These tests are something we can all relate to. We make plans, and HaShem laughs -- not chas v'shalom with derision, but with the joy of a parent watching his children growing into their full potential. Not in spite of our stumbling and mistakes, but through our -- carefully engineered -- stumbling and mistakes.
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