When Yosef is looking for his brothers, the passuk tells us that he gets lost and finds a man in the field who points him in the direction of Dotan. Why do we need to know this seemingly insignificant detail? So he got lost and someone gave him directions - what’s special about that?

The Rashbam answers that it tells something very important about Yosef. He knew that he was on a dangerous mission and that his brothers hated him, but out of his love for his father and a desire to fulfill the mitzva of kibud av va’eim he went anyway. But once he made the effort and didn’t find them where his father said they would be, he could easily have gone back home and said he tried but they won’t there.
Instead, Yosef persisted. He found a stranger and asked. He refused to take the easy way out - "I couldn’t find them" - and use it as an excuse to not do something he was afraid of to begin with.

We need to learn from Yosef Hatzadik not to be afraid, not to use excuses not to fulfill mitzvot. How many more American Jews would be living in Israel today if they adopted this principle and weren’t content to find a good excuse for not making aliya?

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This is a weekly column contributed by Aloh Naaleh an organization devoted to motivating Jews to make Aliya.
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