One of my favorite explanations in this week’s Parasha is the part where it says that a new King got up that didn't know about Yosef, And he said to his people, let's outsmart God. Let's come up with a plan. What does it mean that He didn't know Yosef ? Simply, it means either that he made it like he didn't know Yosef or that he actually didn't know Yosef. But the Kli Yakar says it means that he didn't he didn't learn the lesson of Yosef What's the lesson of Yosef? The brothers were concerned that Yosef would take over and become the king. So, what did they decide to do? “ You know what? We'll sell him as a slave to Egypt and we'll stop the plan.” What ended up happening? They actually made the plan come to be. They made Yosef into a king, by sending him down to Mitzrayim. They didn't realize the lesson that you can never outsmart God, because whatever you try to do will backfire. It will cause it to happen. Paroah himself is the very example of this. Paroah didn't know Yosef’s lesson. By making the decree to throw the Jewish baby boys into the Nile (and with his own daughter taking Moshe out of the Nile), Paroah himself raised the leader! He raised the one Jew without a slave mentality, who would become the leader. Unbelievable! Paroah himself! But his decree backfired, and he raised the leader in his own home. And this lesson repeats itself constantly. The Ben Ish Chai, in his sefer Ben Yoyada, on Masechet Shabbat, tells the famous story of Yosef Mokir Shabbat/Yosef who respected Shabbat . He would always buy the most expensive things for Shabbat. His gentile neighbor was told by the astrologers that all his wealth would end up with Yosef. Now, he didn't want that to happen. So, what did he do? He came up with a plan to, so to say, outsmart his future. He sold off all of his wealth and bought a jewel. He put the jewel in his turban, and that way, he'd be guaranteed that there was no way it would end up in Yosef’s hands. One day, he was walking over a bridge when a strong wind blew, and his hat blew off with the jewel. He lost his entire fortune! He consoled himself that at least it hadn’t gone to Yosef. Then a fish swallowed the jewel. It was a large fish, and it was brought to the port right before Shabbat. They wondered what they’d do with it. (They didn't have refrigeration) Who would buy it now, at this hour, and spend so much money? They decided to take it to Yosef. Of course, he bought it, in honor of Shabbat. And sure enough, when they opened it up, there was the jewel, and Yosef got all the money. So again, his plan to prevent Yosef from getting all the wealth backfired, and he actually played into it. Another example of this concept is Haman. He wanted to make a pole to hang Mordechai on. Not only didn’t he hang Mordechai on it, he himself got hung on it. But more than that, part of the story was that Haman had wanted to increase his happiness at the second party, by seeing Mordechai hanging from the gallows. He built the very high gallows, so that he’d be able to see Mordechai hanging, though the window, as he was eating this meal. Hence, the pole was visible through Ahashverosh’s window, and that’s why they were able to say to Ahashverosh, “ And look, there's the pole!” That further cemented the Haman-conspiracy plan that Haman had been trying to kill Ahashverosh’s first wife, then his second wife, and now his wife's relative. And again, Haman's plan backfired. Another example, in the Gemara, says that Shlomo Hamelech saw that the Malach Hamavet was sad. He asked why, and the Malach Hamavet answered, “ Because there are these two servants of yours, that I need to kill but I’m having difficulty getting them .” Shlomo Hamelech knew that there was a certain town called Kushta , where people lived a very long time, they didn't die at all. So he decided to send them there, so that they’d be protected. But little did Shlomo Hamelech know that every person has a time to die and a place to die, and their place to die was right on the outskirts of that city. Shlomo Hamelech sent them to this city in order to save their lives, but it backfired and ended up causing them to be taken by the Satan. The examples are endless, because this is the way God works. Loked Hachamim B’Urmam/ He catches the wise in their cunning . Their cunning plans backfired. And that is our lesson from the Parasha. So , what then , do you do, asks the Ralbag, when you have a problem, if all your plans are going to backfire? You have to connect yourself to Hashem, you have to rely on Him, and you have to do Teshuva. And then things will turn around. Have a wonderful day and a Shabbat Shalom.