Why Reuven saved Yosef

Joseph's about to be sold. But, initially, the plan was not to sell Joseph. It was actually to kill Joseph. It sounds like the brothers are on board. Spoke out there on buying in the previous parsha. Even the Benei Billam and the Benei Zilpa seem to be on board, right? Everyone's on board. Let's go ahead and kill him. Let's go ahead and kill him. Reuben saves the day. Vayishma Reuben vayatzileihu miyado. And Reuben gets them to agree not to kill him biyadayim, but rather to kill him ba'al yifnei grama, with his intention to go ahead and to to save the save Joseph later. And then Yehuda doubles down on Reuben's idea. He's also a hero in the story. And he says, "I don't even think we should kill him bederech grama. I think even that's inappropriate. I think the appropriate punishment for Joseph, what we should do to him, is we should go ahead and sell him. And by the way, if we sell him, we'll make a little bit of money." And that's exactly that's exactly what the brothers are about to do. Now, what caused Reuben to act the way he acted? So, I think partially you would say, "I don't know. Reuben saw differently than the brothers saw it. The brothers, for whatever reason, thought that this was the appropriate thing to do." As painful as it is to learn, and as difficult as it is to understand, but it seems like that's what the brothers believed. And Reuben somehow saw it differently. Right? Reuben saw it differently. And you should walk away saying, "Wow, Reuben's a tzaddik." Right? In parshas Vayechi Vayishkav as billah kol Yisrael chata imi al yedaya. But this is the second story that we know about Reuben. And over here, fakaret vayishma Reuben vayatzileihu miyado. Rashi, very mysteriously, is quoting a midrash, seems to have a little bit of a different spin. Omar, Rashi says, quoting Reuben, "Ani bechor, the godol shebakolam, lo yikach lo Yisrael sirchan elav." It's not so much that Reuben was such a topic, but Reuben felt that at the end of the day, at the end of the day, the blame is going to stop at his doorstep, right? The buck stops here. And that's what he was worried about. Reuben says, "I'm the I'm the oldest, and when this is all going to go down, who's my father going to be upset at? The little kids? No, he's going to be upset at me. I know how this is going to happen." By the way, we've spoken on the ancient world idea of the right. A is a huge deal. It's different than the way we see it today. Today, you have a you write a he doesn't even get the that he's entitled to. Once upon a time, a is father, mother. That's the way it was. So, Reuben understands that at the end of the day, I'm going to be the one that's going to be in trouble, and therefore you got to have and that's why Reuben is so motivated to go ahead and save him. Now, what caused not to just be and turn Reuben into a I'm not sure. And the there are that make a big deal about Reuben being a I'll just mention one, and that is saying that because Reuben was that's why that's why the first was in the which was in the land of Reuben. So, you see Reuben this about it's a actually has a little bit of a take. Actually says, "No, I'm just afraid that at the end of the day it's for that reason Reuben is the one that went to bed." But, I'll tell you a that that I saw in the the from my office right here on this Reuben I actually lay on me out of my office and he brings it from his I don't know what that was, but that brings this from his said, "I heard from my grandfather who said that what in the Russian Reuben." Reuben heard. And he heard of course he heard, he was there. They were all sitting together. That Reuben. So, he said based on the that we've spoken about a countless amount of times. The actually tells us tells the story about Reuben and and Reuben together in Beit Midrash and they were very, very poor and they said the possuk says "Efes ki lo yivcha evyon" we have to leave Beit Midrash and we have to go make parnassah. So they go together and as soon as they leave Beit Midrash they sit down to eat and they sat down next to some dilapidated wall and they were in a matzav of sakanah. As they're sitting Rabbi Yochanan Rabbi Yochanan hears two malachei hashareis having a conversation. One malach says that I think we should take this wall, we should knock it down on top of these two young guys because these people were just maneiach oilam to be oisek b'Torah. So the other malach said "You can't do it. You know why you can't do it? Because one of these two chevra are destined to become a great leader of the Jewish people, someone whose Torah is going to reverberate in Klal Yisrael Beit Midrash and be a gadol tzaddik and this is not something that we can do." So Rabbi Yochanan hears this and he gets very, very taken aback. He turns to Ulla and says "Ulla, tell me, did you just hear anything?" Ulla is like "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm enjoying my lunch." He says "Uh-oh, must be that that one person is me." So Rabbi Yochanan turns to Ulla and he says "I had a change of heart, I'm going back to Beit Midrash." Rabbi Yochanan goes back to Beit Midrash, Ulla goes, makes parnassah. The Torah Matikon, the introduction to Maggid Mesharim, the Inyan Amok L'Aharach. Ready for this? "Shnei daf l'chayav Maseches." Then Maseches said "What's the possuk right before Vayishma Reuven?" The brothers said "V'atah Reuven al gayl." V'nashlicheihu ba'achas hagoyos. V'ha'amarnu "Lo chayei rach alav." The end of the possuk is "V'nireh ma yihyeh acharis moiso." Rashi said "Amar Rabbi Yitzchak, what does it mean 'V'nireh ma yihyeh acharis moiso'?" Ruach hakodesh im Me'aras Hamachpeilah. There was a bas kol that came out. The Ruach Hakodesh said "Really, you're going to kill him?" V'nireh ma yihyeh acharis moiso. So the brothers are all sitting and there's a bas kol that comes out. But there was one brother that heard it. Vayishma Reuven. Reuven heard the bas kol. The other brothers didn't hear anything. Ruvein heard it. And when Ruvein heard the bas call and he thought no one else heard it, this was a message that was talking to him. Cuz if he's the only one that heard it, his job now is Vayishma Ruvein the words right before Vayishma Ruvein. Vayishma Ruvein said that said my Zayde said Peter Meisler with an Ruvein and Shimon Ruvein Ruvein Ruvein was the only one that heard the bas call. And that meant that they were talking to him from Shamayim. You need to go ahead, you need to save Yosel ben Tzaddik because you're going to see his dreams are going to play themselves out. And you're doing whatever you're doing for whatever it is you have, but I'm telling you this is the wrong move. And that's why Ruvein had to get strong. Vayishma Ruvein said I can do this.