Part 1
After years in jail, Yosef had finally had the opportunity to attempt getting freed. All he had to do was ask the Sar Hamashkim to tell Pharaoh about him. But the Medrash (Yalkut Miketz 41:147) tells us that Yosef made a mistake. He asked the Sar Hamashkim twice to remeber him. Because of this little error, two years were added on to his jail time.
What was so terrible about Yosef’s mistake?
Before we try to answer this, let’s analyze why Yosef wanted to leave prison.
Yosef surely didn’t need to leave prison for physical reasons or because it was unpleasant there. We see many “ordinary” people who go through trying circumstances but are still happy even with the difficulties. They know it’s what Hashem wants for them. Surely Yosef was accepting of his challenges.
Yosef surely wanted to leave Egypt so he could go back to learning Torah from his father as he had done before he was sold. For spiritual desires it should have been a mitzvah to put in effort to be freed! What was wrong with what Yosef did?
To further complicated the matter, Yosef already did hishtadlus by asking the Sar Hamishkin to remember him once. Why was the second time worse?
Why was Yosef punished severely for this tiny lack of bitachon?
To be continued.
