VAYIGASH

There are tears of Joy and tears of grief.  In the Zohar when Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and then embraces his younger brother Benjamin, it says in Torah text that he kissed his neck and cried. Were these the tears of joy brought on from reconnecting to a loved one?  Or were they more than that? The Zohar says that he also saw on Benjamin’s neck the sad future of the disappearance of the tribes and the destruction of the Holy Temples and inevitable diaspora of our people. The greatest of visionary dreamers foretold our history and cried for the oppressions we have suffered in our past and some even now.  The journey is not smooth but through grace and our own actions we survive.