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Parshat Vayigash - Yehudah meets Joseph

Yehudah and Joseph meet twice in the span of Jewish history. The first time was in the distant past when Yehudah stood in front of Joseph. The second encounter will be in the very near future which is recounted in this week's Haftorah . In the first encounter, Joseph was the ruler. In the second encounter, Yehudah, the King Moshiach, will be the ruler.

	The encounter between Yehudah and Joseph can be described as three different situations
	Yehudah meets Joseph. Yehudah thinks he's standing in front of the Egyptian ruler. The truth is that Yehudah is standing in front of his brother Joseph. All of this is a reflection of what's going on in the spiritual realms.
	[ For further reference click: התוועדויות שנת תנש"א כרך ב' עמוד 87]
	The fast on the tenth day of Tevet is the day the king of Babylon came close to Jerusalem.
	The tenth day of Tevet is the day that the king of Babylon came close to Jerusalem. Although he didn’t actually cause any harm to Jerusalem then, his proximity is already classified as a siege of the holy city. In Hebrew, the word for Jerusalem is“Yerushalaim”. When we divide the word into two, we have the words yirah shleima, when translated into English means a complete fear of Heaven. In Hebrew, the word for Babylon is “Bavel”. This word is related to another word in Hebrew, “bilbul”, when translated into English means the world that “confuses” a Jew in his/her service to G-d. What can we learn from these two words, “Yerushalaim” and “Bavel”, and subsequently apply it in our daily service to G-d? The answer is that a Jew must distance him/herself from things in the world that confuse him in his/her daily service to G-d and strengthen his/her complete fear of Heaven, thereby allowing for a situation where Jerusalem in this physical world will expand in size over the entire Land of Israel. A Jew’s job is to influence his/her immediate and more distant surroundings, to the point, as the Rambam quotes at the end of his “Yad Hachazakah”, where “The Earth will be replete with the knowledge of G-d, as the waters of the sea cover the land”.
	[ For further reference click: התוועדויות שנת תשמ"ב כרך ב' עמוד 654]
	Can we be happy on the tenth day of Tevet?
	How is it possible to adhere to the custom of administering words of rebuke to the congregation when the tenth day of Tevet, a fast day, occurs on Friday?
	[ For further reference click: התוועדויות שנת תשד"מ כרך ב' עמוד 726]
	It's important to bear in mind that the country's ruler is inherently Joseph
	Sometimes it could happen that a Jew has to approach the leaders of his country in order to take care of the needs of the Jewish nation. It's important to remember that the leaders of the country are referred to as "Joseph". The ability to see such a phenomena is achieved by the Jew's tie with the Creator of the universe.
	[ For further reference click: התוועדויות שנת תנש"א כרך ב' עמוד 88]
	Only Yehudah can open up a yeshiva in Egypt. A sicha in Yiddish
	"...Jacob sent Yehuda to Goshen to set up the area"... Joseph is the ruler of Egypt. However, in order to open up a yeshiva ("to set up an area"), Jacob sends Yehudah. This is a reflection of Yehudah's higher status over Joseph.
	[ For further reference click: לקוטי שיחות כרך ג' עמוד 827]