Thoughts on R Wallerstein shiur/bullying

amother

Mon, May 09 2022, 9:39 am

So this past week I've been binge- listening to shiurim by R Wallerstein that I found online. I wasn't an avid listener before, but now I am captivated by his shiurim.

I listened to a shiur on the story of Yosef being sold by his brothers. He mentioned the midresh that says that the brothers hated Yosef because he tattled on them to their father Yaakov. Why did Yosef say lashon hara about them? Because he saw that the sons of Leah were mistreating the sons of the maidservants and it pained him greatly. He saw they were "bullying" the other tribes (R Wallerstein used that word. )

Yaakov was bothered that his sons were not getting along and later sent Yosef to check on his brothers. When Yosef arrived, the brothers immediately threw him into the pit, and eventually sold him.

All this is well known. But it made me think about the story in a new light.

It occured to me to wonder the following: If Yosef told his father about how the older brothers were treating the younger brothers, I can understand why the older brothers would hate Yosef. But why would the sons of the maidservants resent him? If anything, they should feel grateful to him for standing up for them!
When Yosef arrives in Dosan, and Yehuda suggests that they should throw him in the pit, why did the sons of the maidservants go along with it? Yosef was the one brother who actually cared about them and didn't treat them as "less than" because of their status. Shouldn't they have tried to save Yosef?
And yet we know that they were all equally culpable in the sale.

I don't think I have ever heard anyone discuss the question. I would love to hear what some of you think.

(Please note that we know that the shevatim were tremendous tzadikim, way above anything we could understand, and they believed their actions were lesheim shomayim. Nevertheless the Torah is for taking lessons and I am following the theme set up by Rav Wallerstien. Z"l.)

These are my thoughts...
I'm thinking of a common classroom situation where there is bullying going on.
You have a situation of a class "queen" mistreating all the underlings. Every day, the class queen and her click put down and mock some of the more nerdy girls. One of the "more popular" girls, who could have been included in the social circle of the class queen, stands up for the other kids in the class, and ignite the ire of the class queen. She then turns her wrath on the instigator, and mercilessly attacks her. She manages to get the whole class behind her to join in hounding the girl. As is common, even the girls who were previously bullied now join in bullying the instigator because
A- they are happy for once that THEY are not on the receiving end of the bullying
B- they are scared that if the queen sees they aren't following her lead, she will turn the class on THEM. They are also scared of starting up with her.
C -there is a certain satisfaction in being able to do to others that which has been done to you.

Could it be that the brothers didn't appreciate Yosef standing up for them? What would cause them to join together with the brothers that always put them down, against the one brother that actually stood up for them?

Any thoughts?