Translation by Yehoshua Siskin
The secret power of faith in our children is revealed in this week's Torah portion: Even after Ya'akov Avinu sees Yosef's coat of many colors soaked in blood, he continues to believe that Yosef is alive, and expects that everything will end well. "And all his sons and daughters rose to console him, but he refused to be consoled." Ya'akov refuses to give up on Yosef. He believes in him. He knows that Yosef has a special mission.
Similarly, when Yosef is in Egypt far from his father, he succeeds in resisting the advances of Potiphar's wife. How is this expressed? "And he refused" (to be seduced). Yosef could have used many excuses to give into temptation and abandon the values he learned at home. His brothers threw him into a pit, he was sold into slavery in Egypt, he had every right to feel completely abandoned. But when a father believes in his son, his son believes in himself. When a father does not give up on his son, the son does not give up. Ya'akov and Yosef are physically distant, but their souls are close.
The unusual word "vayema'ein" (and he refused) reappears a thousand years later in the book of Jeremiah regarding destruction of the First Temple. "A voice is heard on high, lamentation, bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be consoled for her children who are gone." Rachel is praying here for all of the children of her people as they go into exile, for all of us, for the nation of Israel. That we should not get lost, that we should someday return. And that we should refuse all temptation. When a mother does not give up on her children, they will surely return home. As we also read in Jeremiah: "And your children will return to their border."
So how is it possible to believe that your boy is alive even when his coat of many colors is full of blood? How is it possible to refuse the advances of Potiphar's wife? How is it possible to believe that the children will return when the land is empty and desolate? The secret is faith in our children.
May we always have faith in our children, in ourselves, and in our nation.
