13.1.09

brit shalom

The Tanya (very end of ch. 12) quotes the Zohar teaching how to interact with a fellow Jew: If your yetzer hara encourages you to hate, despise, or be jealous of a fellow Jew, you should do the opposite. Take a lesson from Yosef and invest even more love and warmth in your relationship with them. Just as Yosef treated his brothers with love, despite everything that befell him because of their sentiments and actions, so too we should add love and warmth rather than revenge or hate.

In other sources, (one being Devarim She'b'Kedusha 5:6) seeking out peace is inherently connected to the guarding the Brit Milah, which is the attribute of the Tzaddik, of which Yosef is the archetype. 

These teachings came to my attention just as I wanted to draw the same parallel based on my realization that Yosef's relationship with his father exemplifies our ideal relationship with HaShem (our father, as He calls us His first born child)  and Yosef's relationship with his brothers exemplifies our ideal relationship with our fellow Jew.

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