Parashas Vayechi - Hating Someone Internally = Hypocrisy

I am going to keep this dvar Torah shorter than usual, because, Baruch Hashem, a good friend of mine made a bris today and I am pretty limited on time (aren't we all?)

I've been trying to find sources in the Torah about hypocrisy. There's a gemara in Brachos [28a] that states in the name of Rav Gamliel, “A person should have his outsides be like his insides.” This means that whatever is going on internally, should also reflect externally. The Torah says, “Don't hate your brother in your heart.” Hating your brother in your heart, while showing him love on the outside is being two-faced, also known as hypocrisy.

By definition it's 'pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not really have'.

In this week's Parasha, Yaakov summoned Yosef because he had an important request! He explained to Yosef that he wanted his bones to be taken out of Egypt and be buried with his fathers. He makes Yosef promise him that he'll bury him in Ma'aras HaMachpeila.

Doesn't this seem a bit hypocritical? Yaakov buried Rochel Emainu on the side of the road and now he requests Yosef, the son of Rochel, to take his bones out of Egypt to be buried with Avraham, Yitzchak, Sarah, etc?

Rashi points out that Yaakov explained to Yosef the reason why he buried Rochel on the side of the road, and did not bring her body to Ma'aras Hamachpeila. He explained that Rochel will need to be there to help save us in the future. Yaakov had to explain this to Yosef. He saw that Yosef felt resentment (as Rashi says,) and needed to set things straight. He also needed to explain his reason so that he did not seem like he was being hypocritical. After all, the Torah tells us not to hate one's brother in his heart and love him outwardly. It doesn't only apply to hatred because we know Yaakov loved Yosef. However, that posuk also means that one should not contradict himself.



Have a wonderful Shabbos,
Nisso