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When we read about brothers in the Torah, we find that the concept of brotherhood as we understand it today, took much time and difficulty to emerge.
The first brothers we know about are Cain and Abel, and the story of their brotherhood is a tragic one .
Then the Torah relates the stories of Abraham and his family, and the first set of brothers we have are Yitshak and YIshmael. Yitzhak carries on the tradition of Abraham, but Yishmael separates, goes his own way and forms a separate nation.
A similar division takes place between the children of Yitzhak : Yaakov and Esau. Yaakov remains in the framework of holiness, carrying on the tradition of his fathers, but Esau again goes his own way, and from him comes other nations.
We learn in the Zohar that all the individuals mentioned are, in fact, aspects of the yetzer hatov, the good inclination and the yetzer hara, the evil inclination, as they appear as different elements within our psyche. Avraham Yitzhak and Yaakov embody elements of the framework of holiness, whereas, Yishmael and Esau represent the framework of evil within us.
Now we can see why in each pair of brothers there was distance and separation. The causes of separation between the brothers of each pair are the same issues that we struggle within ourselves: the difference between the desires of the soul, the yetzer hatov which wishes to be in dvekut, unity with God, and the desires of the body, the yetzer hara which wants to receive self-gratification.
But in the family of Jacob, the situation is different. Jacob begets twelve brothers, who become the twelve tribes of Israel; brothers, whose names are destined to be inscribed on the breastplate of the Kohen Gadol, the high priest in the Temple. All of them are destined to serve God i. So, at a superficial glance, brotherhood should have been straightforward and easy. But, as we find in the parshiot of the Torah that tell of the relationship between Joseph and his brothers, it was anything but.
The Kabbalah, as taught by Rabbi Yehudah Leib Ashlag, teaches us, that no light can be attained without the appropriate vessel for it. What is a vessel? A vessel is a desire. Therefore, in order to attain brotherhood, the Children of Israel first had to lose it. Only then would they be able to value brotherhood and desire it, ultimately understanding that brotherhood is a prerequisite for redemption.
The issue seems to have been that since the brothers had no role model for brotherhood, they didn’t know they needed it. They were careless of it, and all sides acted in ways that showed it was not something they considered as important. The story of Joseph and the brothers opens with the Joseph acting badly toward the brothers, and they, on their part, hating Joseph. The defining moment when brotherhood is lost, is the selling of Joseph as a slave to Egypt. And then all sides have to live with the dreadful knowledge of where their actions have led .
The moment when, convinced of his brothers’ complete Teshuva, repentance, Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers, is seen in the Zohar as a moment of redemption. The vessel for brotherhood had finally been made, and the moment of redemption filled it with light.
Finally , the concept of brotherhood widened, not only to relate to the members of one family but to the members of one nation. It was with this brotherhood that the Children of Israel started the exile in Egypt, and it was this they needed to invoke in order to stand at Mount Sinai as “one man with one heart.”
We await the time, when all humanity will unite in brotherhood, at the end of the tikkun ,
“When the glory of God will be revealed and all flesh shall see together that the mouth of God has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:5)
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