There is a section that always bothered me about this story in the bible. Jacob told Yosef to find his brothers. Jacob said to Yosef, “Your brothers are in Shechem, go to them.” And Yosef went from Hebron to Shechem to try to find his brothers.

It says in the Torah he came across a person. Yosef was lost. This man said, “Do you need directions? Can I help you? What are you looking for?” Yosef said, “I’m looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are.” The man told Yosef they had gone away from there. They said they would go to a place called Dothan.

Yosef heard from this man where his brothers were, and he went and found them in Dothan. This was the beginning of the process of Yosef being sold as a slave.

Who was the man that gave Yosef directions?

Rashi explains that this man Yosef ran into was the angel Gabriel. This whole conversation was actually all secrets. As we read it in the Torah, it seems to be a discussion of directions, but there is a much deeper level.

Yosef’s brothers had left all their feeling of brotherhood.

When Gabriel said that the brothers had left this place, what he meant was they had left all their feelings of brotherhood toward Yosef, their feelings of love and care. When he said that he heard them say they wanted to go to Dothan, he meant they went to find traps and ways to kill Joseph.

Yosef didn’t meet a man, he met an angel.

If we understand this, then the RaMBaN explains the next big question. Rather than reading the literal understanding, kabbalists say Yosef didn’t meet a man, he met an angel, and the angel was telling him the brothers were looking for ways to harm him. The RaMBaN says it cannot be that Gabriel was telling Joseph outright all the secrets, that they have lost all care for you. The angel was telling him the truth, but he was telling him in a way that could be understood other ways. If Yosef wanted to hear directions, he heard directions. But if he was open to hear a little deeper, he would have heard the truth. The Or Chaim, Rabbi Chaim Ben Atar, says very clearly, if this is true, why didn’t Yosef go back? He says, Yosef understood the conversation with the angel literally–he was giving him directions.

Why didn’t Yosef understand the angel’s secrets?

The question is, if the angel was telling him secrets, why didn’t Yosef understand that? If he didn’t understand, why does the Torah tell us the story? Yosef found a simple person and asked for directions.

I have to tell you, this section always bothered me. What was the purpose of the angel telling Yosef things he didn’t understand? Yosef did not understand the angel was telling him the brothers were looking for ways to harm him.

Yosef was busy with his life.

I understood the lesson this week. It’s one of those ideas that if we truly understand can change our view of how we see things in our lives. Yosef had a great opportunity to save pain for himself and for his brothers, but Yosef was busy in life. His father told him to go do something and he was busy doing it.

He asked for directions and got them. Wait Yosef! Why is this man talking to you like this? Is it simply a coincidence? Maybe there is something deeper here. Maybe there is something you should pay attention to.

The angels always leave room for free will.

Kabbalists reveal this was an angel, sent to wake Yosef up. The angels, we know, always leave room for free will. There will never be a situation where it is clear 100% that we have to do this. Then there is no free will. How many times do we say “God, tell me exactly what to do?” For most of us, the reality is that God is not going to send an angel that says, “This is what you need to do.”

For all of us, what will happen is what happened with Yosef. The angel did come, and did give him a message, but Yosef was oblivious because he was busy. Give me the directions, I need a fix, tell me where to go.

If Yosef had said, “There is probably a greater purpose, let me not lose myself in the business of my life. Let me be open to the messages that are going to come to me. Let me think about why I find myself in this situation.” If Yosef had done that, if he had said I know the Creator is giving me a message, he would have said, “One second, I’m in the middle of a field. What is this guy doing here? Maybe there is something deeper for me. He is talking in a funny way. Why?”

Yosef wasn’t thinking about his path, the Light, and what he was doing.

There wasn’t an obvious message. But if Rashi could understand it, Yosef could certainly understand it. But Yosef wasn’t thinking in that way. He wasn’t thinking, let me think about my path, the Light, what I’m doing.

Listen, stop, ask, and try to understand.

I’m sure that before Yosef set out, he said, “God, tell me what to do.” If Gabriel had said, “I’m from God. Don’t go to your brothers,” he wouldn’t have gone. That didn’t happen for Yosef, and it will not happen for us. He could have said, “I know the Creator is going to send me a message, I will listen, I will stop, I will ask, and try to understand.” But only–and this is the lesson for us–only when we live that way. They say many other places that if Yosef knew the importance of what he was doing, he would have acted in a completely different way.

Every single one of us is in the process of great revelation.

Every single one of us is writing a Torah, is in the process of a great revelation. The problem is that we are not waiting to see it, not waiting to hear the messages that are coming to us. For the most part, the messages will not come in clarity. There will always be the place of free will. In order to make sure we hear, and do what we are meant to do, we need to stop. We need to understand why this is happening, what the message is for us.

We are not listening, not asking, not trying to understand.

What the Torah is telling us is that this is us, all the time. People are coming to us all the time. God is coming all the time and telling us the right way to go. But we are not listening, not asking, not trying to understand.

The gift this Shabbat is to begin the process of really hearing.

The great gift we can receive this Shabbat is to begin the process of really hearing. I know my process in life is a very important one, and because of that the Creator will give me messages. But the messages will not be obvious.

We can hear and be able to do what we are meant to do.

If I want to go in the right way, I have to constantly ask, “Why am I hearing this? Why is this happening in my life?” If we make these connections to these angels, to the message that comes from the Creator, we will hear and be able to do what we are meant to do.