Miketz Drash

Miketz “at the end”

This Torah Portion is full of people making choices about how to treat others. Some of these turn out to be a good treatment and some of them a bad treatment. Some of the choices seemed wicked or at least would from a person who did not have the whole story and some of the choices seemed righteous or at least would from a person who did not have the whole story.

Pharaoh elevating Joseph seemed like a righteous act, but could he have simply found an opportunity to be lazy or vindictive to his advisers? We do not know. Joseph holding Simeon seems extra spiteful, but could it have been to prevent further SIN and temptation or an administration of Justice. We do not know. Judah pledges to protect Benjamin out of love for his brother and father, but could it have been to simply keep from starving. We do not know. We cannot see the heart of these men and so we do not have the whole understanding of events.

This caused me to think we never really have the whole story do we? Even if we witness first hand events or perspectives, we are not given a view in to another persons heart, only HaShem has that perspective.

Yet we discuss this often. We ask questions such as “where is your heart at?” We even use it as a defense when we cannot do what we should or when we do what we should not do. We love to say “It is the intention of the heart that matters.” As I thought about this it really hit me this is a terrible defense. Jeremiah 17:9 9“The heart is deceitful above all things, and incurable—who can know it?

The Rabbis teach us that if a persons heart is not joyful when performing a Mitzvah it is as if they did not even do it. Some even say that if we do a Mitzvah for any reason other than to bring glory to HaShem and serve him it is as if we did not do it. Yeshua our Rabbi of course agreed with these sentiments as he usually agreed with the Rabbis. We can read his thoughts about this in Matthew 6.

What does this mean for me? If I give tzedakah (charity) and it is not with a joyful heart or even worse begrudgingly it is as if I gave nothing. If am faithful to my spouse solely because of an obligation and not joyfully in service to HaShem it is as if I am not. If I withhold my hand from murder only because I fear the repercussions and not because I value the creation of HaShem then I have done nothing. If I worship my God only from a sense of cultural participation and still hold on to idolatrous customs, then I am adulterating my relationship with HaShem. Yet who can do this? At the heart of this is altruism. Only HaShem can make this possible. Perhaps that is why in the Psalms David asks for Hashem to create within him a new heart.

So what am I to do with this? First I will not justify my actions with “it is the intention of the heart that matters” because frankly nothing reveals a good intention of the heart like Joyful Obedience. Then Secondly I will double check the joyful part and make sure I am not acting according to some obligation but instead seeking the will of my creator first. Lastly and above all I will have Faith in Hashem more than my own deceitful heart.