Today's Learning Beitzah 4:6-7 O.C. 90:27-91:2 Bava Batra 40 Yerushalmi-- Sukkah 13 HAMAAYAN/THE TORAH SPRING edited by Shlomo Katz VAYEISHEV Vol. IX, No. 9 (393), 23 Kislev 5755, November 26, 1994 The Torah relates that Yaakov was inconsolable after Yosef's disappearance. Chazal say that the 22 years of Yosef's absence were in kind for the 22 years that Yaakov was away from home and did not honor his parents. Rav Simcha Zissel Ziv zatz'l (the "Alter of Kelm") notes that what G-d chose as a fitting punishment for Yaakov was ignorance, i.e., that Yaakov was ignorant of Yosef's fate. G-d did not consign Yaakov to gehinnom and He did not bring him illness or poverty; the worst fate that can befall a person is ignorance! This should teach us how we are punishing ourselves when we remain ignorant. A person who does not study Torah to the best of his ability is bringing on himself a fate worse that gehinnom. (Ohr Rashaz) ************************************ "Yehuda said, 'What gain will come from killing our brother, and covering up his blood?'" (37:26) The gemara (Sanhedrin 6a) states: "Whoever blesses Yehuda is called [roughly translated], 'One who destroys '." Rav Mordechai Yosef of Izbica zatz'l explains that Hashem may test a person's inner thoughts by causing him to forget the severity of a prohibition. In such a case, the person has only his instinct to guide him on the right path. So it happened to Yosef's brothers; Hashem hid the severity of murder from them, but Yehuda realized instinctively that they would accomplish nothing by killing Yosef. Nevertheless, one should follow his instincts only in an emergency, when he forgets his learning. Otherwise, the Torah should be one's guiding light. Thus, whoever blesses Yehuda, i.e., the manner in which he saved himself on this occasion, is actually behaving in a destructive manner. (Mei Hashiloach) ************************************ "And it was on the third day, Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast for all his servant and he counted the butler (sar hamashkim) and the baker (sar haofim) among his servants." (40:20) We can understand that due to Pharaoh's happiness at his own birthday he would grant an amnesty to the butler, says Rav Chaim Friedlander zatz'l. But why would his birthday cause him to kill the baker? Pharaoh made himself out to be a god, Rav Friedlander explains. Therefore he saw his birthday as a time to judge the world. This is not so far off from the truth--it is what Hashem does on Rosh Hashanah, which is the world's birthday. (Hashem, of course, does not have a birthday.) On Rosh Hashanah, as on Pharaoh's birthday, each servant of the King is judged to determine whether he has met his obligations sufficiently that his "services" will be required for another year. (Siftei Chaim I p.84) ************************************ In this parashah we read how the wife of Potiphar attempted to seduce Yosef. According to the midrash, Yosef responded, "At any moment, I may be called upon to become a sacrifice like my grandfather Yitzchak. How can I render myself unfit? At any moment, G-d may come to me in a prophetic vision. How can I render myself impure?" Why didn't Yosef just say that what Potiphar's wife wanted was wrong? asks Rav Meir Rubman zatz'l. Why did he need these contrived defenses? We learn from this, answers Rav Rubman, that a person should have a spiritual "game-plan" guiding him. Yosef did not turn down Potiphar's wife merely because her request was immoral--that was certainly true--but because her request was not consistent with Yosef's plan for his spiritual development. When a person learns gemara, says Rav Rubman, he might do it because he wants to know that page of gemara or he might do it because learning gemara is part of attaining spiritual greatness. Clearly the latter will have a more beneficial and long-lasting effect. In Parashat Kedoshim we read of the commandment to be holy. After discussing several other mitzvot, the Torah commands that we avoid incestuous relationships. If G-d wants us to be holy, is this what He needs to tell us? The answer is the same as above: Don't avoid incestuous relationships only because they are wrong. Avoid them because they will divert you from a path of holiness. (Zichron Meir) ************************************ Yahrzeits This Week Rav Zvi Yehuda Rabinowitz-Teomim was the twin brother of Rav Eliyahu David R-T, av bet din of Yerushalayim. Rav Zvi Yehuda held a number of rabbinical positions in Lithuania. Each of these brothers, in turn, was the father-in-law of Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook; Rav Kook's only son was the grandson and namesake of Rav Zvi Yehuda. Rav Zvi Yehuda died on 24 Kislev 5648 (1887) at age 48. Rav Chaim Chizkiyah Medini was the author of the encyclopedic halachic work Sdei Chemed and of other works. He was born in Yerushalayim in 1833. He was ordained at age thirteen and shortly after was appointed a dayan (rabbinical court judge) in Costa, Turkey. In 1891, he was appointed Chief Rabbi of Chevron, where he was highly respected by Jew and Arab alike. He died on 24 Kislev 5665 (1904). Rav Avraham ben haGRA was one of the sons of the Vilna Gaon and was himself a great scholar and author. Like his father, he never took a rabbinic position. He died on 25 Kislev 5569 (1808). The Vilna Gaon's father had passed away on the same day fifty years earlier. Rav Yaakov Yokel Ettlinger was Rabbi of Altona and elsewhere and author of several importants works, including She'eilot U'Teshuvot Binyan Zion and the Talmud commentary Aruch LaNer. Some Talmud tractates (e.g., Sukkah) are not studied in depth without the latter work. Best known among Rav Yaakov's students was Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch. Rav Yaakov died on 25 Kislev 5632 (1871). ************************************ DONATIONS TO HAMAAYAN ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE