The Or HaChaim HaKadosh writes that when Yosef revealed himself, he said, “Ani Yosef Achichem/I'm Yosef your brother, that you sold to Mitzrayim.”
Why does he stress, “I'm your brother?” The Or HaChaim HaKadosh explains that it means, “Don't be worried by the fact that you sold me. I'm your brother. I'm going to act with you like a brother, as if nothing ever happened.”
Just forget about it. Like water under the bridge. It never happened. How does that work? The Maharal, in his sefer Gur Arye Hashalem (Chapter 10), explains that the pasuk says, “And to his father, he sent like this, 10 donkeys.” Why does he stress the words like this? The Torah is telling us that Yosef had a calculation for why he chose 10 donkeys. He wanted to hint to his father not to get angry at the 10 brothers, the holy shevatim that sold him ( Binyamin was not included), because they were no different than a donkey, whose owner directs wherever he goes. The donkey itself has no idea what he's doing when he's carrying the load. He doesn't have an opinion. He just follows and carries. Yosef was telling his father that the brothers were no different than donkeys directed from above, that Hashem did it. “God sent me to be a source of food and sustenance during the time of the famine.”
This was Yosef’s Middah. Like we mentioned last week, his opening words were to Paroah were, “BilAdai/This has nothing to do with me. God will answer and interpret the dreams.”
That was Yosef’s secret to success. And he didn’t only attribute his difficulties to God, but his successes as well. Yosef tells the brothers, “Rush my father up and tell him God placed me as the master over Egypt.”
But when they told Yaakov that Yosef was alive, and that he was in control of all of Mitzrayim, he didn’t believe them. Then it says, “They said over everything,” and suddenly Yaakov believed them. Why? What changed? What's this ‘Everything?’ The explanation given is that Yosef’s words were, “Samani Elokim L’Adon/God made me the boss.” When the brothers initially told Yaakov, they simply said, “He is the king over the entire Mitzrayim, he is the ruler.”
When Yaakov heard that, he thought something was wrong. That wasn’t Yosef’s way of talking. Yosef wouldn’t have given himself the credit. He would never say he was the boss. But when they said Et Kol Divrei Yosef/ everything, they included the fact that Yosef said “God sent me here.” And once Yaakov heard that, he believed, because that was the way Yosef spoke. Yosef’s Emunah was solid.
I once saw something interesting- the word Yosef used when he spoke to Paroah was, Biadai/ it has nothing to do with me. God will answer it.
Then, at the end of that discussion, when Yosef interpreted the dream and explained everything so beautifully and Paroah appoints him to be the Viceroy, it says, Vayomer Paroah el Yosef, ‘Ani Paroah.” Paroah told Yosef, I am Paroah. And Besides you, no one lift their hand or their foot in all of Mitzrayim. What does that mean? It doesn't literally mean that no one will lift their hand or their foot… Targum Unkelus says it means, “No one will lift their hand to carry a weapon, and no one will lift up their foot to ride on a horse, without your permission.”
They’d need a gun license and a driver's license from Yosef. So no one's going do anything beside Yosef. Interestingly, the word that Paroah used was “Biladecha/Besides you.” And I saw a pshat that this word, Biladecha is almost the same as BilAdai, indicating that when Yosef said, “Biladai/it's not me,” he was zoche that Paroah used that same wording, Biladecha/ And besides you, no one will lift up their hand.
That was the secret to Yosef’s success, whether in his good times or bad. He realized that everything that's happening is being driven by Hashem.
Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.