When a woman goes through the pain of labor and childbirth, it is the labor itself which pushes the baby along the birth canal. Therefore, the physical travail and pain of the process of childbirth are necessary to actually produce life. When Yosef tested his brothers when they came down to Egypt to seek food, he put them through a painful ordeal. Through their ordeal, Yosef manoeuvred his brothers into position to do teshuva for having sold him into slavery.

Yosef accused his brothers of being spies; he held Shimon captive while they returned to Israel to bring Binyamin to Egypt. They were shocked to find money in their sacks on the way back to Canaan, and were falsely accused of theft. They returned now only to have Binyamin's sack found to contain the cup of the king. They were told to leave Binyamin as a servant of Yosef. What was going through their minds as they went through these trials?

The Rambam in Hilchos Teshuvah sets out the three-step teshuvah process as follows:

1. Charatah -remorse over the transgression;
2. Vidui -verbal confession;
3. Kabalah le'asid -resolve never to repeat the transgression.

When Yosef took Shimon from his brothers, they were reliving their transgression: they had taken Yosef from their own midst and dragged him into the pit. The brothers exhibited remorse for their past actions when they said: "We are guilty on account of our brother when he pleaded to us and we did not hear his pleas: therefore this evil comes upon us." They thus completed Step One of the teshuvah process by showing that they regretted their actions.

They then fulfilled Step Two of the teshuvah process when the cup of the king was found in the sack of Binyamin, and Yehudah, speaking for his brothers, confessed: "What can we say to our master, when can we utter, how can we justify? The Lord has found the transgression of your servants."

Finally, they were placed in precisely the position to repeat their transgression by being given the option of abandoning Binyamin in Egypt and returning to Israel. Yehudah, who originally suggested the sale of Yosef, said: "And now let me be a slave to my master instead of the lad, and let the lad go up with his brothers."

It is with this action that the brothers achieved teshuvah gemurah - "complete" teshuvah. The pain of the ordeal itself created a transformation of the brothers from "sin" to "repentance" and thus achieved the forgiveness of G-d. When they realised that the ordeal Yosef put them through itself served to rectify their flawed character, they then understood that the ordeal was for their ultimate benefit. In retrospect, they would never have foregone their ordeal, because through it they achieved repentance and a closer relationship with G-d.

Yosef, who was the organiser of their torturous ordeal, was also the source of their redemption when he revealed himself to them with the words: "Ani Yosef, ha'od avi chai? -I am Yosef, is my father still alive?"

The one who caused their ordeal was also their redeemer. He was the one who put them through the ordeal, and he ended the process by revealing himself to them. The message is clear. The ordeal itself, if it is successfully met, is the redemption. Even though we might not know why we are going through a particular difficulty, the realisation that the process itself is necessary to attain a required development of our character or personality gives us the strength to withstand the test. What looked like pain is actually the medium which led to our change in character, which in turn creates within us simcha -the sweetness of achievement, growth, and thus, inner peace. The transition from one level of personality to the next gives rise to real inner joy. The external sadness produced by the ordeal remains superficial to our internal realisation of our service of G-d b'simcha -when we extract spiritual growth from our ordeal.

This Dvar Torah is based on Rabbi Yisroel Roll's book, "Inner Peace -Achieving Self Esteem Through Prayer." You can find the book at www.feldheim.com.