ולא זכר שר המשקים את יוסף וישכחהו (וישב מ:כג)

It became customary for people to prepare a sign—for example, by tying a knot in a garment or pocket—to help them remember something. This practice seems to go back a long way. For instance, the Sar Hamashkim, who wished to remember Yosef’s request (as brought down in Midrash Rabbah), acted according to the principle: “היה קושר קשרים ומלאך בא ומתירם” — he tied a knot, and the Malach untied it. Yosef could not be released before a specific time, as Chazal explain in the Midrash.

Harav Aharon Titiver zt’’l, the Baal Shem Tov’s grandson, experienced a lesson in bitachon (trust in Hashem) before he was inaugurated as Rebbe. At that time, he lived in Constantinople in great poverty. One Erev Shabbos, finding no food at home to make Shabbos, he approached a few worshippers and pleaded: “How could it be that no one has mercy on the Baal Shem Tov’s grandson? My children are suffering from hunger!”

The worshippers were deeply moved and decided to give Reb Aharon a weekly stipend. However, on his way home from the Beis Medrash, Reb Aharon was seized by deep regret. How could he have done this? In his whole life, he had never asked anyone for help. How had he lost his bitachon and invoked his holy grandfather’s name to seek aid?

From this pain, he began crying and davening to Hashem, asking that the worshippers forget their promise to provide for his family. Indeed, this happened—everyone forgot about their commitment by Erev Shabbos.

Reb Duvid Moshe of Tchortkov zt’’l (the holy Ruzhnier’s son) added that this story helps us understand the Midrash in Parshas Vayeshev: “אשרי הגבר אשר שם ה’ מבטחו ולא פנה אל רהבים זה יוסף” — “Fortunate is the man who places his trust in Hashem and does not turn to the proud — this is Yoseph.”

Instead of fully relying on Hashem, Yosef initially asked the Sar Hamashkim to remember him and speak to Pharaoh on his behalf. The Tchortkover Rav explained that Yosef must have regretted this action and davened that: “ולא זכר שר המשקים את יוסף וישכחהו” — that the Sar Hamashkim should forget him. The word “וישכחהו” can be understood to mean that Yosef, through his tefillah, caused the Sar Hamashkim to forget him, leaving his salvation entirely in Hashem’s hands.