Yosef Was In Egypt

The Book of Shmot begins by listing the names of Yakov’s twelve sons. When Yosef’s name came up, the Torah tells us that “Yosef was in Egypt.”

This seems to be a pretty obvious statement. We all knew that he was there. He’s the one who brought his family down there.

The message here is one of great importance. Yosef managed to survive spiritually in the most decadent place on earth. We are warned not to behave in the manner of the Egyptians.

The Rambam wrote that Egypt was such an unholy place that was so bad that men married men, and women married women.

Yosef was a truly remarkable person. He lived in Egypt for ninety-three years of his life. Despite his rise to power, it did not change him. He was the same Yosef and did not allow himself to be affected by the immorality that surrounded him. Most people are not that strong, and they are brought down by negative influences.

I have a dear friend who has been a rabbi in Los Angeles for over fifty years. I have often told him how impressed I am that he never lost his ideals, or his enthusiasm for Judaism, during all those years.

The materialism with the fancy houses, and the glamor of Hollywood, did not affect him. He’s the same Rabbi Zvi Block that I knew in the middle seventies.

We must know ourselves and our own strengths and weaknesses. It is difficult to maintain our spiritual level of observance. Not everyone is a Yosef or Rabbi Block. We need to surround ourselves with positive, upbeat individuals. And we must distance ourselves for any impurity resembling Egypt. We will then be able to succeed.