Window to the Future | Rabbi Yoir Adler

Chazal Hakedoshim tell us, when Yosef Hatzadik was faced with his most difficult challenge, He decided, enough’s enough, I can’t withstand this anymore, and he was about to sin with אשת פוטיפר. All of a sudden, He saw the image of his father through the window, and that gave him the strength of character to say ״וימאן״. Why did Chazal emphasize that he saw the דמות of his father through a window? Perhaps the Pshat is based on something I once heard by a הספד. The Passuk says The death crept through the window. How does death come to a window? So this מספיד explained, the concept of a window is a person’s confined in a certain area. Through the medium of a window, he can see what’s going on miles away from where he is. Many people, when they pass away, that closes a window. Many people, during their lifetime, are a link for us to a previous generation, to something that is distant, something that’s far away. When they pass away, it’s עלה מוות בחלונינו. Yosef Hatzadik was in מצרים, living in the moment. The way how he overcame the challenge is to broaden his horizons, to look through the concept of window. It’s not about today. It’s not about this minute. It’s about future. It’s about the past. My saintly great uncle Rav Segal, the Manchester Rosh Yeshiva Zt”l used to say it in Yiddish, A Nisayon, a challenge, is for איין מינוט, is for one minute. .אבער נאכדעם איז מען גליקליך After that, when we overcome that moment, we are lucky, we are fortunate. All it takes is not to be trapped in the moment, to think bigger, to think about future, to think about what’s going to be the result if I do this, and how glorious will the result be, if i say, “וימאן.”