Yosef, Mordekhai, and Binyamin

            The Torah relates in Parashat Vayigash that after Yosef revealed his identity to his brothers, he gave them each a gift – a new garment – and gave Binyamin five new garments and three hundred gold coins (45:22).  The Gemara in Masekhet Megilla (16b) raises the question of how Yosef could make the same mistake his father had made – favoring one son over the others and showering him with special gifts.  The special treatment showed to Binyamin seems to simply repeat Yaakov’s mistake of arousing jealousy toward one brother who is treated preferentially.  The Gemara answers, “He gave him a hint that in the future, a descendant of his [Binyamin] will leave from the king’s presence with five royal garments…”  Meaning, the five garments given to Binyamin were given as an allusion to his descendant, Mordekhai, who, as we read in Megilat Ester (8:9), would leave Achashveirosh’s presence wearing five pieces of royal garb.

            Clearly, the Gemara’s response – that Binyamin’s gift was offered as an allusion to Mordekhai – does not truly answer the question of how Yosef could run the risk of arousing more jealousy in his family after all they had been through.  It is also difficult to understand why Yosef would find it necessary to make such an allusion.  Moreover, the Gemara’s question itself is built on the questionable premise that a brother’s favoritism toward one sibling is comparable to a parent’s preferential treatment of one child. 

For these reasons, it is possible to suggest that the Gemara does not actually intend to raise and answer the question of Yosef’s special treatment of Binyamin, which is readily understandable in light of Binyamin’s being Yosef’s only full brother.  Rather, the Gemara here seeks to draw our attention to the numerous comparisons that exist between the story of Yosef and that of Mordekhai.  Both were Jews who, through bizarre sequences of events, found themselves elevated to the stature of mishneh le-melekh – vizier of a foreign empire.  Both empires were the most powerful countries of their respective eras, and both Yosef and Mordekhai rose to their positions miraculously after being unfairly condemned.  We might also add that Yosef’s change of fortune resulted from his encounter with two royal officials (the butler and the baker), just as Mordekhai reversed his fate from death to royalty by overhearing the plans of two royal servants (Bigtan and Teresh).  Chazal chose to make note of this parallel in the context of the five special garments worn by Binyamin, ancestor of Mordekhai who was likewise garbed in five pieces of regal attire.

What lesson might we learn from this parallel between Yosef and Mordekhai?

One obvious lesson, perhaps, might be to recognize the possibility of immediate and drastic reversal of fortune.  Both Mordekhai and Yosef seemed permanently condemned to their fate, and yet, through the most unexpected circumstances, and with lightning speed, their lots were reversed and they rose directly from the dungeon to the palace.  Their stories teach us never to fall into despair and to realize that even life’s thorniest problems can sometimes find resolution in ways we would never have expected.

Additionally, however, we have much to learn from the particular comparison noted by the Gemara between Mordekhai and Binyamin.  Binyamin, like his descendant many centuries earlier, was unfairly condemned – albeit to slavery, as opposed to death – by a foreign ruler in a foreign land.  And, like the Jewish people in Persia, Binyamin was saved by the selfless sacrifice made by his brother.  Yehuda offered himself in Binyamin’s place, prepared to sacrifice his future to rescue his brother, and as a result succeeded in reuniting his family.  Similarly, Ester, at Mordekhai’s urging, approached Achashverosh to plead on her people’s behalf, risking her life in an effort to rescue the condemned nation.  The drastic reversal of fortune in both stories is the direct result of a Jew acting selflessly for another Jew, of sacrifice for one’s brethren and one’s nation.  Binyamin’s five garments, which signal to us the parallel events that would occur to his descendants, thus remind us of the power of the Jewish fraternity and that ultimately redemption is the product of selfless devotion to, and sacrifice for, our fellow Jews.