The gemarra (pesachim 68b) records that Rav Yosef used to cook a special calf-meat to eat on Shavuos, for ‘if it was not for that day [of mattan torah] how many Josefs would there be in the market.’ Rashi explains that Rav Yosef is saying that if he had not toiled in learning the precious Torah, Rav Yosef would have just been plain old ‘Joe’ – and so he made a feast as a sign of grattitude. Rav Mendel Wienbach offers an insight here. Why does it say in the plural ‘how many josefS would there be in the market’ – just say ‘i would be a differetnt josef?’ He answers that the message here is that without attachment to Torah one is a million different things because they have not found their true self. One day you might like to do ‘x’ and another day ‘y,’ and will be always
searching for happiness and being another person. If not for the Torah, Rav Yosef would have been many different ‘yosefs’ – but now he found true attachment to Torah, he was one person; his true, happy, accomplished self.
