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    What if… – Vayyeshev

    What_ifAt the age of 17 Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites by a group of Midianite traders (Gen. 37:28).

    If this had not happened, would the whole of history have been different?

    Probably, but “if” is a rather useless question. There are so many “ifs”, and one leads to another.

    Perhaps you remember the discussion – clearly emanating outside the Jewish people by reason of the foods involved – “If we had any eggs we could have bacon and eggs, that is if we had any bacon”.

    Just start imagining the “ifs” from the beginning of history: if God had not created the world, if He had created the heavens but not the earth, if He had created the dry land and not the sea… if He had not created human beings, if He had created woman but not man, if Eve had not been tempted, if Cain had not killed Abel…

    In a sense, “if” is what you do when you play certain types of computer games, but real life has so many permutations that you can’t possibly handle them all.

    Maybe the only thing we can do is to take the facts as they are and make our decisions as wisely as we can.

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