One of the great techniques of drama is to use a cliffhanger. When the power of suspense is harnessed, it ensures that the reader/viewer will stay tuned to find out what happens next. All good serials - books, magazines, or shows - use a cliffhanger to ensure interest in the next segment.
While the holy Torah is not a history book, it does relate stories. Those stories are meant to guide us and teach us about contemporary living.
There is no greater cliffhanger in the Torah than between the parshios of Miketz and Vayigash. At the end of Parshas Miketz, the chalice of the Egyptian vizier has been found in Binyamin’s sack. The vizier tells the brothers that they are all free to go, save for the culprit himself. And then?
We wait a week before we read about the dramatic crescendo of the story, wherein Yehuda poignantly addresses the vizier before Yosef reveals his true identity to his brothers.
Every year when the ba’al korei completes Parshas Miketz by reading the words Yosef says to the brothers, “And you, go up in peace to your father,” I feel like an elementary school child who begs his teacher not to stop reading.
The parshios that detail the saga and journeys of Yosef provide us with incredible lessons of faith, resilience, reconciliation, and patience. We want life to be clear and easy but, more often than not, it’s anything but that.
In the words of my rebbe, Rabbi Berel Wein, “Life is like a piece of chewing gum. There’s a little bit of flavor, but most of the time it’s just chew, chew, chew.”
It’s surely not by chance that Parshas Miketz concludes at such a dramatic moment. Much of life is spent in cliffhanger moments: A young man or woman waiting for his/her shidduch, one who is ill and hoping to regain his health, a person looking for a job or waiting for his big break to become successful, a young couple hoping and waiting to have a child, parents struggling with the chinuch of their children, spouses and children who live in broken homes, etc.
At present, the entire Jewish people are collectively in a cliffhanger state. While we mourn the past and current losses, we are also anxious and unsure about the future. Thousands of families are displaced, living for months in hotels far from their homes. Families and friends of soldiers and captives live in a state of constant anxiety.
At times, the tension can feel unbearable. Being able to plunge ahead is a mark of true greatness.
Part of the challenge is that such greatness is not recognized by others. Others don’t see it, but for those whose lives are at a cliffhanger juncture it can be heroic for them just to get through their day. That’s why it is vital that those in such situations recognize how valuable their own efforts are.
In the Torah, from when they arrive in Egypt to procure food, Yosef’s brothers’ lives are like a cliffhanger. They do not understand what is happening to them and do not know how things will proceed.
Yosef is given the title of “hatzadik” because he maintained his integrity despite all the travails he endured. If there was ever someone living a “cliffhanger life,” it was Yosef.
The test of greatness is how one handles such moments, even more than how he conducts himself when life is smooth sailing.
Rabbi Dani Staum, LMSW, a rebbe at Heichal HaTorah in Teaneck, New Jersey, is a parenting consultant and maintains a private practice for adolescents and adults. He is also a member of the administration of Camp Dora Golding for over two decades. Rabbi Staum was a community rabbi for ten years, and has been involved in education as a principal, guidance counselor, and teacher in various yeshivos. Rabbi Staum is a noted author and sought-after lecturer, with hundreds of lectures posted on torahanytime.com. He has published articles and books about education, parenting, and Torah living in contemporary society. Rabbi Staum can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. His website containing archives of his writings is www.stamTorah.info.
